Baseball: The San Francisco Giants rode workhorse left-hander Madison Bumgarner all the way to their third World Series crown in five years with a Game Seven victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. Ace starter Bumgarner worked his magic as a reliever this time, coming out of the bullpen to throw five shutout innings and earn the save in a 3-2 win that clinched the best-of-seven Fall Classic. It was the eighth World Series title for the Giants and third in five seasons after victories in 2010 and 2012.

Rugby Union: Michael Cheika’s first team as Australia coach has a decidedly retro feel to it, with halfbacks Quade Cooper and Will Genia restored for the European tour opener against the invitational Barbarians tomorrow. Flyhalf Cooper and scrumhalf Genia were a fixture of former coach Ewen McKenzie’s tourists last year, but injuries put the pair out of the June series against France and they were overlooked for the latter part of the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship when fit. Cheika, who took over from McKenzie last week, has put flyhalf Bernard Foley on the bench while leaving scrumhalf Nick Phipps out altogether.

Snooker: Mark Williams scored his first win over Ronnie O’Sullivan in a ranking event since the 2002 Thailand Masters with a 6-5 victory to reach the semi-finals of the International Championship.Williams had lost eight consecutive ranking matches in a dozen years against Ronnie O’Sullivan and his barren streak looked likely to continue when he trailed 3-0 in Chengdu yesterday. But Williams fought back to win a thrilling contest and will now face Mark Allen in the last four tomorrow.