Rugby: Jack Kyle, one of Ireland’s all-time rugby greats, has died aged 88. The former Ulster, Ireland and British and Irish Lions fly-half passed away on Thursday night. Belfast-born Kyle won 46 caps for Ireland and six for the Lions, and guided his national side to their first-ever Five Nations Grand Slam in 1948. In 2002 Kyle was voted Ireland’s greatest-ever player, underlining his standing alongside the likes of Brian O’Driscoll and Willie John McBride as the country’s most-celebrated rugby stars. Kyle spent more than 30 years working as a consultant surgeon in Zambia.

Motor Racing: Spanish youngster Carlos Sainz, whose father and namesake was a double world rally champion in the 1990s, will race in Formula One next season with Toro Rosso in the youngest lineup on the starting grid. The Red Bull-owned team said yesterday that the 20-year-old would partner 17-year-old Dutch rookie Max Verstappen whose father Jos was a Formula One regular. Team principal Franz Tost said in a statement that the all-new lineup continued “the Toro Rosso tradition of providing youngsters from the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme with their first steps in Formula One”. “I am really happy to have landed the drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso,” said Sainz. “Ever since I have been part of Red Bull's Young Driver Programme this has been my aim.”

Basketball: Red Star Belgrade boosted their hopes of reaching the Euroleague Top 16 with a 79-62 home win over Neptunas Klaipeda in a sombre atmosphere late Thursday as the Serbian club mourned last week’s death of a supporter killed in fan violence in Istanbul. The round seven games started with a minute’s silence for Red Star’s 25-year old fan Marko Ivkovic, who was stabbed to death when rival supporters clashed before last week’s match with Galatasaray. The Serbian side paid tribute to Ivkovic with a huge banner displaying his name in a half-full Belgrade Arena, which is usually sold out for home games in Europe’s elite club competition.