England run riot against Wales to maintain 100% start

Another day, another emphatic win for England.

The Red Roses jamboree roared into Bristol, attracting a record crowd for their third consecutive match at this Six Nations and bringing with it a sea of white shirts, red cowgirl hats and rose-petal headwear galore. And, most importantly, tries.

Fresh from crossing 12 times against Scotland at Murrayfield last week, England scored another 10 tries in a 62-24 victory over Wales – a result that leaves John Mitchell's side top of the table with maximum points from three matches.

With a fifth consecutive Triple Crown secured, they remain on course for a record eighth straight Women's Six Nations title.

Impressive statistics. But attack coach Emily Scarratt told BBC Two the dressing room was a little "muted" after the game.

Yes, England won comfortably and without ever losing control to extend their record unbeaten run to 36 Tests, but this wasn't the steamrollering many expected, with Wales – to use Mitchell's word – "surprising" them.

The visitors scored four tries – including two in the final 10 minutes as England's concentration wandered – to pick up a valuable bonus point, and twice profited after bamboozling England with their line-out routine.

England were, at times, guilty of poor discipline – giving away nine penalties – and sloppy handling. Improvements will need to be made by the time they face title rivals France in round five.

"You're always in a Test match when you play a team like Wales," said Scarratt. "I thought they really brought it today and posed some different challenges for us, which is pretty awesome in our development.

"We still got a pretty good job done. There's a muted sense in the group, which is obviously a really good feeling when you put a score on like that."

But while Wales fired a couple of warning shots, this was another routine win for England and one that does little to assuage concerns the Six Nations is too predictable and their dominance may not benefit themselves and the game.

England sweep aside Wales to continue dominant run

England have won 37 consecutive Six Nations matches, with their most recent defeat against France in 2018. They haven't lost to another home nation since 2015, and both Scotland and Italy are yet to beat them in the six-team format.

During that run, they've scored an average of 53.4 points per match – conceding nine – and have kept teams to 10 points or under 26 times. Only six of their wins have been by a margin smaller than 20 points – all against France.

This year alone they've scored 179 points – including 27 tries – and conceded 43 despite missing more than a dozen players because of injury, pregnancy or retirement, producing a "rusty" performance against Ireland and leaving points unscored against Wales.

Provided France play their part with victories over Ireland and Scotland – and England produce the expected one-sided win over Italy – Mitchell's side will head to Bordeaux in round five for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam decider.

Even Les Bleues – England's closest challengers with a string of second-placed finishes and narrow defeats in 2023 (38-33) and 2025 (42-41) – have only beaten them twice in the past 10 editions.

Six Nations: Wales showing improvement says England coach Mitchell

The reason for the gulf is obvious: England's level of investment has left other nations playing catch-up.

They were the first of the six teams to introduce full-time professional contracts – doing so in 2019, two years after the restructure of the domestic competition required clubs to meet a number of on and off-field minimum standards to secure a franchise in the Premiership Women's Rugby (then known as the Premier 15s).

Speaking in the Telegraph, external this week, captain Meg Jones challenged other unions to match their investment to give her fellow players the resources "they deserve". Head coach Mitchell, meanwhile, is confident "somebody will come and get us at some point".

Speaking on BBC World Service's More than the Score podcast, former Scotland captain Lisa Martin said it would be five years before another team – most likely France or Ireland – beat England to the title,

"The Six Nations is so synonymous with rugby," said Martin. "But if it's constantly a thing of 'England will win it again and again', there's no jeopardy, there's no competition with regards to how matches will turn out, how the tournament will turn out.

"How long is it going to keep of interest to fans if they know what's going to happen?"

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FA Cup highlights: Manchester City v Southampton

Manchester City were in a state of turmoil this time last year, staring at a first trophyless season since 2017.

Just 12 months on, Pep Guardiola has reshaped and galvanised a side that now have a real chance of becoming just the second English team to claim a domestic treble of trophies.

The other side to achieve the feat? Guardiola's City in 2019.

The Spaniard's troops have already lifted the Carabao Cup at Wembley this season, remain in the Premier League title race and are now set to return to the national stadium on Saturday, 16 May after sealing a record fourth consecutive final appearance.

They did it the hard way, coming from behind with two late goals to edge past Championship high-flyers Southampton and avoid an embarrassing defeat.

City's recent finals in this competition are mixed, beating Manchester United in 2023 en route to claiming the ultimate Treble, but losing to their rivals the following year and being shocked by Crystal Palace last May.

"Too far away," said Guardiola when asked about the possibility of a treble. "Before the final [league] game against Aston Villa, after we will tell you if there is a chance, but at the moment is it far, far, far away.

"Now it is important that the players have three days off. I told them not to think about football and just rest. The season starts with five games and an FA Cup final. I would say the Premier League is almost gone, we are back to second, we will see how we arrive [at the end]."

'Unstoppable' Gonzalez strike gives Man City the lead against Southampton

This time last year, Liverpool were thrashing Tottenham to win the Premier League, and City were 18 points behind during a season in which they failed to win a major trophy.

Boss Guardiola had pointed out that his side did win the Community Shield but by his impeccable standards, the campaign had been a major disappointment.

City sealed qualification for the Champions League on the final day of the season, which proved to be high point, as further dismay followed in the Club World Cup in America.

Established stars such as Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish and Ederson were allowed to leave in the summer and there were questions marks over the rebuild with a cohort of younger players brought in.

Doubts only amplified with a sticky start featuring two defeats in their opening three games this season and then starting 2026 with three consecutive draws, but the new blood appears to be peaking at the right time and are hungry for more silverware.

They got a taste by lifting the Carabao Cup and they will be heavy favourites in the FA Cup final whether they face Chelsea or Leeds United, but regaining the Premier League may prove the toughest challenge.

City went top of the table on goals scored by edging to victory at Burnley on Wednesday but find themselves back in second and chasing Arsenal once more after the Gunners ground out a victory over Newcastle.

Guardiola has won six Premier League titles, five Carabao Cups and the FA Cup twice during his near-decade reign and remains in the hunt to land them all in a single season, as happened seven years ago.

The Spaniard said: "Six games – if we win we will be there, if we lose it is over. People ask to define [City], how many Champions Leagues? How many this and that? To define the club, five Carabao Cup [wins] and playing four FA Cup finals in a row.

"You can always have a bad afternoon, a bad day with injuries and you cannot be there. In the Premier League, always we were there. We are in the final again, we have time to prepare with our fans. Now it is easy because it has been a tough week mentally and physically."

Former City defender Micah Richards added on BBC One: "When it looked like Manchester City were down and out, they found it from somewhere and that is what champions do.

"I still see some frailties in City's game on transitions, but at this moment in the season it is all about big moments, and they are taking the big moments."

City were staring at being on the receiving end of one the of the great FA Cup semi-final upsets against Championship side Southampton before late goals from Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez rescued the last-four tie.

The result means Guardiola has now won 45 of his 53 matches with City in the competition – his 85% win rate being the highest of any manager to have managed a significant number of games in the competition's history.

Match-winner Gonzalez told BBC One: "It has been a really important week for us. We are alive in the league and in another final. This will be my second FA Cup final and I hope we can win it."

Winger Doku, the first Belgian to score in an FA Cup semi-final since Eden Hazard in 2017, added: "Every time you reach the final you're like, 'wow, what a journey it has been'. Reaching the final again is unbelievable."

Guardiola added: "It's always nice to be here fighting against top teams. No team has made four finals in a row [before].

"It's extraordinary and hopefully we can arrive with a good momentum."

Starting with a trip to Everton on Monday, 4 May, City face a run of six games in the space of 21 days. That period will define whether Guardiola's men end the season in delight or disappointment.

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A key figure in the row over Lord Mandelson's vetting will not appear before a parliamentary committee of MPs to give evidence.

The Foreign Affairs Committee had asked the Foreign Office if Ian Collard, a civil servant who ran the security team within the department, could attend next week.

But the committee's chair Dame Emily Thornberry said the department made the "decision to decline" the request and Collard will only be giving evidence in writing.

She added, on X: "To be clear, I am satisfied by the reasons behind Ian Collard not giving oral evidence.

"If we have further questions, we will consider at that point whether we need to ask him to give evidence orally, or whether a further written statement is sufficient".

Collard was the official who briefed the then-Foreign Office boss Sir Olly Robbins about UK Security Vetting's (UKSV) recommendation not to give clearance to Mandelson.

Sir Olly was sacked last week after it emerged that he had granted clearance against the recommendation and had not informed No 10.

The government says UKSV gave an explicit recommendation to the Foreign Office not to approve vetting for Lord Mandelson ahead of his confirmation as ambassador to the US.

But speaking to MPs on Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee this week, Sir Olly said he had never seen that explicit recommendation and only received a verbal briefing which described UKSV's view as "borderline" and "leaning towards recommending that clearance be denied".

The government is investigating whether Sir Olly was given the correct information before he approved security clearance for the peer.

Sir Adrian Fulford, a retired judge, is conducting a review into the process and it is understood he will look at whether the briefing given by Collard correctly summed up the vetting team's view.

That information could be crucial to determine whether Sir Keir Starmer was right to sack Sir Olly last week.

In a letter to the interim Foreign Office boss, Dame Emily set out some questions for Collard to answer in writing, including: "How often did his team make a different recommendation on vetting to that contained in the UKSV report?"

The Foreign Office has not commented on Collard not appearing in front of the committee.

Sir Keir's former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney will give evidence to the committee on Tuesday.

McSweeney, who advised the prime minister to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US, is likely to face questions about whether he put pressure on civil servants to speed up the vetting.

It comes after Sir Olly accused No 10 of a "dismissive" attitude towards the process – a claim Downing Street has denied.

The row over Lord Mandelson's vetting has reignited questions among Labour MPs about Sir Keir's judgement and leadership.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Sir Keir said Sir Olly faced only the "everyday pressure of government" during the process.

"There are different types of pressure," he said. "There's pressure, 'Can we get this done quickly,' which is not an unusual pressure."

And asked whether he regretted sacking Sir Olly so quickly, Sir Keir said: "I do not accept the argument that that is something which should not be told to the prime minister."

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