Rugby Union: Johnnie Beattie and Sean Lamont have both been ruled out of Scotland’s final Six Nations clash against Wales. The pair both picked up injuries during Scotland’s last-gasp 19-17 defeat by France and will miss next weekend’s encounter in Cardiff. Back-row forward Beattie injured his right ankle and Lamont damaged ligaments in his right knee on Saturday. The Scottish Rugby Union announced that seven more Scotland players were undergoing treatment but none of their injuries are thought to be serious.
Tennis: Top seed Rafa Nadal survived a scare from Radek Stepanek before winning his BNP Paribas Open second round match in three tight sets at Indian Wells. The Spaniard, in his first match as defending champion, was stretched to the limit before prevailing 2-6 6-4 7-5 in a night match that lasted two hours, 24 minutes in the California desert. Earlier, Briton Andy Murray recorded his 300th hardcourt victory when he beat Stepanek’s compatriot Lukas Rosol in three sets. Fifth seed Murray recovered from a slow start to beat his Czech opponent 4-6 6-3 6-2 as the top seeds took to the courts for the first time after receiving first round byes.
Rallying: Sebastien Ogier moved back to the top of the World Rally Championship standings with victory in Mexico for the second successive year, yesterday. Ogier beat Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by just over a minute, and also added three bonus points for winning the closing power stage in El Brinco. Belgian Thierry Neuville completed the podium in only his Hyundai team’s third rally.
Golf: American Patrick Reed took a two-shot lead into the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship while Tiger Woods stormed into contention with the lowest round of the tournament on Saturday. With the punishing winds that created havoc on Friday giving way to calm conditions, the Blue Monster course lost much of its bite allowing emboldened golfers to attack the pins. Reed, who had a share of the four-way overnight lead, fired a three-under 69 to secure a two-shot advantage over compatriots Jason Dufner (68) and Hunter Mahan (71). The 23-year-old, however, might be looking a little further down the leaderboard where Woods is one shot further back after a sizzling 66 left the world number one well-placed and in contention.
Basketball: American point guard Jacob Pullen set a Spanish league record for most three-pointers in a game when he drained 12 in Barcelona’s 111-66 victory at Valladolid on Saturday, beating the previous best of 11 set by Oscar Schmidt 20 years ago. The 24-year-old from Maywood, Illinois, who joined Barca last year after stints in Italy and Israel and has a Georgian passport, scored his 12 three-pointers from 15 attempts in less than 23 minutes. Brazilian Schmidt, 56, known as “Mao Santa” (Holy Hand) and considered among the most prolific scorers in the history of basketball, set the previous record playing for Valladolid in the 1993-94 season.