Three Hibees make TOTW after four-goal thriller
Hibernian ended a stellar season with a four-goal thriller against Rangers at Easter Road and three of David Gray's men have made my team of the week.Jordan Smith: Seven saves kept his side in it against Barry Ferguson's side.Nicky Cadden: A seventh assist of the season for the Hibs wing-back who has been superb for the Easter Road side.Martin Boyle: A goal to take his tally for the Premiership campaign to 15 and 21 goals for club and country this season.
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The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Tottenham assistant Ryan Mason appointed West Brom manager
Mason quickly emerged as a leading candidate for the Championship club after they dismissed Tony Mowbray on 21 April. Spurs' roller-coaster 2024-25 campaign - in which they secured Europa League success - only ended on 25 May and forced West Brom to bide their time but Mason, after a short holiday, decided to accept their offer and take his first step into management. "I'm absolutely thrilled to have been appointed head coach of West Bromwich Albion," Mason told the club's website. "This is a huge club with a fantastic infrastructure and an incredible fan-base and I am excited about what we can achieve together. "Having spoken at length to the board and those at the club, I am convinced that Albion is the perfect place for me to be and I can't wait to get started. "I will bring with me a huge amount of enthusiasm, dedication and ambition and look forward to a positive future together at such a fantastic club." At the age of 33, Mason becomes the youngest boss in the Championship and this move ends his seven-year coaching career at Tottenham. Mason, who progressed through Spurs' academy to play 70 times for his boyhood team, was forced to cut short his playing career in 2018 after he sustained a fractured skull in a Premier League match for Hull at Chelsea a year earlier. A decade on from earning his solitary England cap against Italy, the London-born coach will embark on his first managerial role in the 2025-26 season. Highly-rated coach Mason held talks with Belgian club Anderlecht in October before a mutual decision was made to remain at Spurs, which enabled him to play his part in the club's first trophy since 2008. After two previous caretaker stints at Tottenham, including leading the club in the 2021 Carabao Cup final, Mason has long been tipped for a future in management. Mason initially started coaching at youth level for Spurs upon his playing retirement before being promoted to Antonio Conte's coaching staff three years later, not long after a seven-game spell as interim boss. Another caretaker role came in 2023 following Conte's departure before Ange Postecoglou kept Mason as part of his backroom team. After a further two years as Tottenham first-team coach, Mason will take over West Brom after they finished ninth in the Championship. Mowbray was dismissed in April after their play-off hopes ended despite only being hired in January to replace Carlos Corberan, who left to take over at Valencia. Mason, whose contract at Spurs was up this month, will be tasked with leading West Brom back into the top flight for the first time since 2021. PA
Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Every sport fan thinks they could be a commentator, so I gave it a go
'Okay commentators… one minute until commentary… 'Commentators - 30 seconds until start of commentary - stand by… 'Cue count into the start of commentary in…10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 until the cue…4, 3, 2, 1…cue commentary.' And with those words ringing in my ears at Ashton Gate – and after a brief moment where I thought I might have been in too deep – I pressed the microphone to my mouth, and my first experience of live commentary began. It is worth clarifying two points at this juncture. Although I was commentating live on Bristol's victory over Harlequins last Saturday, in conjunction with TNT Sports, the audio was not available to the public; so everyone was spared my mumblings and mutterings during the instances when getting words out might have been easier said than done (more on that to come). Nor am I set to appear on TNT Sports's broadcasts any time soon – you're stuck with me at Telegraph Sport for the foreseeable! Every fan across every sport has always questioned the difficulty of matchday commentary; a dream job for so many. So, the aim of this project was to find out just how tricky and demanding the art of commentary truly is by having an authentic experience in the role at a live fixture. This all began earlier in the season when a senior executive at TNT Sports was explaining just how hard commentary and punditry really is. He was singing the praises of the likes of Austin Healey, Ben Kay and – more recently – Chris Ashton and Sam Warburton for how smoothly that troupe had turned their hands to punditry after hanging up their playing boots. There was only one way to verify this. And, over a two-hour period commentating at Ashton Gate, I can confirm it really is incredibly difficult. The timing is militaristic, the language is incomprehensible to the untrained ear (me), and the assault on the senses is ferocious. While commentating last Saturday, with the match unfolding in front of me, I had nine voices in my ears, through the same pair of headphones: the television director, the producer, the PA (production assistant), the referee, TNT's actual pundits, my own voice, and the sounds of the crowd around the stadium. It was like listening to a nine-part vocal harmony, all out of sync and, crucially, not in harmony, while also trying to offer clean and crisp commentary of my own. Thankfully, I had been well prepped and briefed by the avuncular Ali Eykyn and the wider TNT team. I had done my pre-match prep, had been sent all of the broadcaster's preview material – detailing every stat under the sun, from the amount of caps a certain player has won almost to what car they drive and what they ate for breakfast – and I was ready to masquerade as a commentator for the day. My notes were ready, but sadly I was unable to mirror the colour-coded fastidiousness of Eykyn's colleague, Nick Mullins.'I hope it goes well, mate,' Eykyn said just before the match kicked off. 'Just not too well!,' he added, jokingly. The last-minute advice from both him and the BBC's rugby correspondent, Chris Jones, was invaluable. How it went, Telegraph Sport readers can be the judge. But one final plea, given it was my first ever live broadcast, with no dress rehearsal: please, go easy on me. Charles's introduction After all the build-up, being talked through my own miniature sound system to adjust the levels of all the different voices as well as making sure that my set-up was in order, the PA's countdown began. I had a television screen with live footage to my right, my notes in front of me, my iPad giving me live stats as well as the scores from elsewhere on the Premiership's final day – an added, unique complication – as well as some notes from my chat with Eykyn. On that notepad read bits of advice like 'talk to the pictures' and 'the voices in your head will be complicated'. I had listened to the director and the PA exchange phrases like 'is that 45 you're changing?', 'same again please but the bat cam' and 'cameras Mata and Randall we will back up' and now it was time for me to speak. After a nervy start, with voice wobbling, I got into a sort of rhythm, but you can see in the below clip that I forgot one of Eykyn's golden rules: talk to the pictures. When the Bristol starting XV flashes up, I am still banging on blindly about Bristanbul. For full disclosure, I do still manage to fit in a run-through of the Bears' line-up, but it is horribly rushed, with me giving my best impression of an auctioneer. Bristol open scoring This try came at the end of a set of Bristol phases where, until George Kloska had barged over, Harlequins did well to stifle the Bears' momentum and slow them down. All of my energy and flow for the Bristol attack had been used up earlier in the move, with one of those dashing first-phase plays which the Bears love so much. Thankfully, by the time Kloska drives over, I remember I need to sound excited again. There is a real ebb and flow to commentary; it can go from a high to a low very swiftly. Murley scores wonder try This was the clip I was most concerned about re-watching. That is because I realised that, when you are commentating on something of this ilk – a wonder score – in the moment, you never think or realise that the conclusion of the play might end up being a try of the season contender, with the footage replayed over and over again. And there is no chance of re-recording it. You only get one shot. So, before re-watching and listening, I just hoped I had done Cadan Murley justice. I think I just about did, even if there was a little bit of hesitation in my voice as I tripped over a word when Murley rounded the last Bristol defender. And the delivery of 'out of nothing' sounds like an Alan Partridge impersonation, which was not too encouraging. For reference, here is how the real thing sounded... Scorch marks, EVERYWHERE 💨 Harlequins aren't done yet as Cadan Murley produces one of the finishes of the season 🃏 #GallagherPrem | #BRIvHAR — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 31, 2025 Bristol score again If my voice went higher than this in the whole game, then I'd like to hear it. One contender might have been when Quins broke from the restart in the second half to continue a spirited if temporary fightback, when it looked as though the visitors might blow the play-off race wide open, but this was certainly up there in terms of drama, after a sweeping Bristol attack had taken the Bears to within metres of the Quins line. Then, inexplicably, when Bristol actually score, I decide that that is the time for nonchalance. Admittedly, it was a walk-in for Gabriel Ibitoye, but come on, Charles, where is the excitement? This was also the try that launched Ibitoye back into the reckoning for the Premiership's top try-scorer, too, which I simply just... forgot to mention at any point. Sorry, Gabriel. Mixing up 'minutes' and 'metres' is a real blot on the copybook, too. Schoolboy. Bristol kill the game Well, I am pleased that I managed to correctly identify James Williams in this score but unfortunately that came after spending most of the first half getting mixed up between him and Noah Heward (of course, I know the difference between the two, but from a distance, with just one crack at it, with no replays, there was sometimes guesswork at play). I also apologise to Harlequins fans for totally writing them off at this stage – that was just sporting instinct. That try felt as though it was the end of a Bristanbul part-two dream, but if the visitors had come back there would have been a significant amount of egg on my face. Play-off line-up confirmed Eykyn's advice is prescient once again. Max Lahiff looks delighted, Pat Lam hugged his assistant coaches, Bristol fans clap their side off after semi-final rugby is secured – and I mention none of it. I didn't even mention The Wurzels! I also said 'south west' twice but the second time was supposed to be 'west country' but the phrase just escaped me entirely at that moment. At least I got the Bears' play-off opponents correct, however. What I learnt... Reflecting on my afternoon at Ashton Gate, the experience undoubtedly opened my eyes to the complex and arcane art of commentary, giving me a newfound appreciation of the mental and verbal juggling. While I was commentating on live action, the PA would be informing both myself and Ali that there is a replacement on the way, giving the numbers of the departing and arriving players. Then, seconds later, the director would say that Austin needed to talk through a try at Exeter, who were hosting play-off-hunting Sale that day, before coming back to Ben to talk through a maul intricacy at Ashton Gate. Then the referee will be having an interesting chat with Harry Randall about the cleanliness of the ball he is receiving at the ruck, and you'd have to both identify that and, crucially, shut up. There is an awful lot going on, but the experience was exhilarating (and equally as mentally fatiguing). I might not be the next John Motson or Barry Davies, but my afternoon with the mic will stay with me for many years to come.
BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
Kingswood RFC: How investing in the community saved a rugby club
A rugby club says more than a decade of investment in its community is the reason it is expanding at a time when some are the Covid-19 pandemic, Kingswood RFC near Bristol struggled to field a team and its future looked fast-forward five years and the club has three men's teams, a women's team, walking rugby and an inclusive team aimed at getting people with disabilities playing the game."It's more than a decade of hard work to promote youth rugby and when the kids grow up and come through, they have somewhere to go - and now they can stay at Kingswood," said club chair, Ian Starr. Observing the decline of the club's senior teams, club officials decided in the mid-2010s that making rugby as accessible as possible to younger players was the best way to protect its long-term club prioritised ensuring there was always an age-group for players at every stage of their development, and opened the club to more community events. This, they say, made it more likely younger players would go on to play senior also decided to keep the club's annual membership fees low in an attempt to avoid excluding families on lower short, Kingswood RFC would be seen as a local community was a big effort for the club's volunteer coaches, but eventually the younger players started graduating to senior teams."It's probably fair to say most players left us when they went through the youth teams," said Ian Starr."But now, we've got one of the youngest teams in the league - average age of maybe 24 or 25 - and the number of homegrown players in the [men's] first team is brilliant."The club now has more than 700 paying members across senior, youth and specialist teams. The club said the idea that as many people as possible should be able to access rugby was fundamental to making the club thrive.A Wednesday evening walking rugby club was started to encourage older players, with a focus on social events and club now hosts what they believe is the world's biggest festival of walking rugby each July, with teams travelling from around the country to play at all-inclusive rugby (AIR) team was also established to give people with disabilities more opportunities to AIR team was founded by the parents of local children who wanted to play rugby, but who struggled with the physical nature of the approached the club about setting up a new team and were welcomed years on, the club has dozens of members turning up to play every and co-founder, Louise Sims, told the BBC: "I feel really proud to be a part of it."Inclusive sport is hard to access and the number of players we have just proves there needs to be more of it out there."She added: "It also gives coaches in other age groups somewhere where they can direct some of their players who they suspect may have a hidden disability, so it's really good for the club as a whole."AIR team member, Owen, told BBC West: "My favourite part about playing rugby is seeing my friends and having fun together."It makes me feel positive and active - running a lot, scoring a lot of tries and enjoying myself." While Kingswood RFC is not alone in seeing a rise in the number of players, the club said the speed of the rise has been Rugby Football Union (RFU), the sport's governing body in England, told the BBC participation in rugby union is now 5% higher than the pre-Covid 2018-19 season and 7% higher than the 2023-24 includes the adult men's game, for which there have been concerns over player numbers for this increase across the board, Kingswood officials say it is still fairly common for an opposing team to be unable to field enough players and have to postpone or cancel a match as a this year, some clubs expressed concerns about the support they receive from the RFU and questioned how the organisation is run.A spokesperson for the RFU responded: "While the majority of club's are self-sustaining, the RFU funds insurance for all clubs and other things including coaching and match official qualifications, player welfare, competition management, programmes within schools rugby, off-field club support such as legal and licensing support, floodlight funding and over 145 full-time rugby development staff up and down the country."
