Alex Mitchell was on Thursday named at scrum-half in a surprise call by coach Steve Borthwick for England's World Cup Pool D opener against...

First came the crack in Alexander Volkanovski‘s defence. Then, the crack in his voice. If the first crack was consequential, allowing Islam Makhachev to skim his shin off the Australian’s head, the latter was a consequence in itself – a consequence of one of the best fighters alive staying silent on his struggles with mental health. That is, until now. Volkanovski would have emerged from UFC 294 with credit anyway; he stepped in on 11 days’ notice and moved up in weight to challenge a man who had beaten him eight months prior. Even in this surprising, first-round defeat by Makhachev, Volkanovski lost very little. His featherweight title still rests firmly on his shoulder, and he will soon return to that weight class where he has been unbeatable. But soon may be too soon. In his post-fight press conference, Volkanovski began the dissection of this defeat – his second this year, but just his third as a professional mixed martial artist, with his first having occurred a long decade ago. The 35-year-old started to dissect the technical reasons for this knockout loss, but it soon became apparent what was of greater importance: the psychological reasons for his presence in Abu Dhabi. “He’s not somebody you should be taking a short-notice [fight] with, but I needed it,” Volkanovski began. “Obviously a lot of people will say it’s for the money and all that, but it was much more than that. It is hard, it is really hard for athletes... Sorry, um... I never thought I would struggle with it,” he continued, ignoring the blood over his eye, instead wiping a tear from beneath it. “But for some reason when I wasn’t fighting or in camp... F***, sorry,” he said, attempting a laugh, looking away and to the ceiling, then gently rapping his hand on the table to bring himself back into the room. “I was just doing my head in,” he continued, tears floating at the bottom of his eyes. “I needed a fight, and this opportunity came up. I’ll be honest: I wasn’t training as much as I should have, but I thought I had to do it. I had to take it. I’m telling myself, ‘It’s meant to be.’ I was struggling a little bit not fighting, doing my head in. I don’t know how; everything’s fine, I’ve got a beautiful family. But, I don’t know... I think you just need to keep busy. I need to be in camp, otherwise, I’m going to do my head in. “It’s weird, [it’s not that I] never ‘believed in that stuff’, but I never got it. It was something that – I don’t know – maybe the more and more I learn about myself, the more I understand. I talked about us having a smile on my face, me and my wife. My wife could see it does get hard, I don’t know why.” Volkanovski pointed to the birth of his third child, in August, and surgery on an injury this summer as reasons why he had not been training. Clearly, the knock-on effect of those moments – as joyous as the former seemed to be – has led Volkanovski’s mental health to suffer. Last week, all the talk was of how brave the Australian was to face Makhachev on short notice; braver was this admission that he is struggling, which simultaneously offers a different lens through which to view his choice to fight. Keeping himself engaged and busy is healthy, but that is complicated by the inherent risk in his profession. “Maybe it was just a silly decision under the circumstances,” he admitted. Perhaps it was, though it was also understandable. Volkanovski’s next challenge, however, will come outside of the ring. It must. He naturally sees the antidote to his current struggles as a quick turnaround to fight again, likely against the dangerous Ilia Topuria in January. Yet, that fight could go the same way as Saturday’s against Makhachev, if the Australian does not first tackle these thoughts and feelings, and find the right balance for him. We knew Alexander Volkanovski was brave. That is even clearer now than it was last week. Now, however, he must be sensible, and get to work outside the ring before he can return to work in it. Read More Islam Makhachev stuns Alexander Volkanovski with head-kick KO in first round at UFC 294 Conor McGregor reacts to ‘illegal’ strikes in Islam Makhachev win at UFC 294 Khabib explains why he wasn’t in Islam Makhachev’s corner at UFC 294

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Scotland manager Steve Clarke hailed the character and depth in his squad following their sensational late Euro 2024 qualifying comeback in Oslo. Clarke’s men stunned Norway with an unlikely turnaround as goals from Lyndon Dykes and substitute Kenny McLean in the final four minutes of normal time earned the Group A leaders a 2-1 victory. McLean was one of three changes Clarke made in the 79th minute and it proved just in time after Scotland struggled to pose a threat and fell behind to Erling Haaland’s 61st-minute penalty after the striker went down when Ryan Porteous got hold of his shirt. With Spain not playing, Scotland extended their lead at the top of Group A and moved eight points ahead of third seeds Norway. Clarke said: “I was pleased with the performance, we were disciplined and passed it quite well at times. “Obviously, you have got to soak up a lot of pressure against a good Norwegian team. And we never stopped believing. We keep going to the end and got our rewards. “It says a lot about the character, the spirit, the quality from the bench. One of the things I keep banging on about with this group of players, the quality we have got, they want to do well for their country. “And when I turn to the bench and I know I need to make changes to freshen it up, I am putting top-quality players on the pitch. “It was just about getting the timing right. After losing the goal, I felt it was better just to stay in the fight for a little bit to make sure the game didn’t run away from us. “After that we had to chase the game, it was pretty logical – you are going to take off a defender and push John McGinn a little bit further forward. “We brought Kenny to the game, Billy Gilmour to the game, brought Stuart Armstrong to the game, fresh legs to try and get forward and they were involved in most of the best things towards the end of the game. “Even Dominic (Hyam) comes on at the end and sticks his head on a couple. Congratulations to Dominic, first cap, not a bad place to do it, not a bad score.” Scotland’s win already puts them in a strong position with a perfect record ahead of Tuesday’s visit of Georgia, which will mark the halfway point in the campaign. Clarke said: “If we want to qualify for major tournaments, you know you have to go away from home against good teams and pick up points. This is three points which is big but we have to go again. “They are all in there recovering in an ice bath and we have to make sure we get three points on Tuesday to capitalise. It sets us up nicely for Tuesday, I am not looking beyond that.” Porteous is suspended for Tuesday after picking up a yellow card but Kieran Tierney could feature despite hobbling off, not long after the opener. When asked how the Arsenal defender was, Clarke said: “Tired. Just tired. He didn’t join us for the training camp. Not released by his club. “He joined us at the start of this week and felt a bit of tightness in his quad so we just protected him all week. “To get a good hour out of the lad was fantastic and shows that everybody is prepared to put their body on the line. And then we are bringing on Liam Cooper who is a top-quality defender.” Norway manager Stale Solbakken – whose side were left bottom of the group – bemoaned the turning point of the game when his defender’s interception fell for Dykes to nudge home. “It was an accident for Leo Ostigrad. I think it was cramp in both legs at the same time,” he said. “That’s how it is, we can’t blame him for that. I will have to take the blame for not substituting him if it was like that. “We are in a very difficult position.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Dejan Kulusevski’s loan spell at Tottenham turned into permanent deal Usman Khawaja’s first ton in England ‘a bit more emotional’ after crowd taunts Frustrated Stuart Broad blames costly no-ball on ‘pushing a little bit too hard’

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Lewis Hamilton fears there is a “high chance” that Max Verstappen will win all 10 remaining races this season – and believes the Dutchman’s crushing dominance could last until 2026. Following a four-week summer shutdown, Formula One fires up this weekend at Verstappen’s home round in the Netherlands. Verstappen has won the last eight races and he will match Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine on the spin for Red Bull in 2013 if he triumphs in front of his orange-clad Dutch fans here on Sunday. Such is the dominance of Verstappen’s machine – and the two-time world champion’s supreme form – there is a feeling in the paddock, not only that Red Bull could become the first team to go through a campaign unbeaten, but that Verstappen could be victorious at each of the concluding 10 rounds. “There is a high chance that he (Verstappen) will win every race,” said Hamilton, 38. “He hasn’t made any mistakes and the team hasn’t made many this year. They might win everything. “But later on in the year, maybe we will get closer and we are hopeful we can challenge them at some point – whether that is this weekend, or who knows where? If there are any mistakes or mishaps, we will be right there to capitalise.” Verstappen has dominated since F1’s regulations were overhauled at the start of last season, with his comfortable victory at the concluding round before the break in Belgium his 10th from 12 so far and his 19th from his last 23 outings. He is a staggering 125 points clear in the standings as he closes in on a hat-trick of titles. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc predicted on Thursday that it would be “very, very difficult” to catch Verstappen and Red Bull before the sport’s next major rule change in 2026. And Hamilton continued: “The fact is Red Bull are ahead and they have most likely started development on next year’s car a month before anybody else. It is very, very possible that Charles could be right. “We are working on the steep gradient to develop our car and close the gap. Whether or not we can, next year will be the proof.” I am hoping we are closer or in shooting range of a podium this weekend Lewis Hamilton Hamilton’s £40million-a-year contract expires at the end of the season and the Briton said on Thursday that were there was no update on his next deal, despite team principal Toto Wolff claiming – ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix on June 18 – that his star driver’s future would be resolved in “days rather than weeks”. Hamilton is fourth in the standings, 41 points adrift of Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez who occupies the runner-up spot, while Mercedes are second in the team standings, an eye-watering 256 points behind Red Bull, but 51 points clear of Ferrari. “It is a huge achievement to be second in the championship and it is something I feel has been overlooked,” said Hamilton. “We want to win but I am really proud of the team and the steps we have taken. “The guys think this track is not too different to Budapest and our car was good in Budapest. Even last year when the car was not great in Zandvoort, we were closer to the front. “George (Russell) finished second and at one point I was hunting down the lead so I am hoping we are closer or in shooting range of a podium this weekend. “We have the belief we will get there. And my goal is to try and keep that second place in the constructors’ championship and hunt down second in the drivers’ standings.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Haas announce Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg staying for 2024 Lewis Hamilton gives blunt response to Felipe Massa’s legal action over 2008 title Charles Leclerc gives gloomy prediction on how quick Ferrari will catch Red Bull