Rugby Union: Super Rugby will be cut from 18 teams to 16 for next season following a meeting of governing body SANZAAR in London last week, Harold Verster, chief executive of the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs told South African media. SANZAAR, which is made up of the South African, New Zealand, Australian and Argentine rugby unions, met last Friday to address criticisms of the unwieldy 18-team format, which was introduced last year. Verster said one of South Africa’s six teams and one of Australia’s five would now be cut from the competition for 2018.

Basketball, NBA: The San Antonio Spurs joined the Golden State Warriors on 52 wins for the NBA season after they beat the Atlanta Hawks. The Spurs’ 107-99 success puts them level with the Warriors for most wins this term as Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points.

Cycling: Briton Joanna Rowsell Shand announced her retirement from international cycling yesterday, calling time on a stellar 10-year career that garnered two Olympic golds and five World Championship triumphs. The 28-year-old track and road cyclist, who is also a four-times European champion and won the individual pursuit at the last Commonwealth Games, claimed gold in the team pursuit at the 2012 London Olympics and repeated the feat in Rio last year.

Athletics: Ed Whitlock, the first septuagenarian to run a marathon in under three hours, died yesterday aged 86.  Whitlock, at 72, became the first septuagenarian to crack the three-hour mark with a world marathon record of two hours 59 minutes 10 seconds at the 2003 Toronto Waterfront Marathon. He then set world master’s marathon records for ages 75-plus, 80-plus and, most recently, 85-plus.