Dupont stars as France thrash Wales, Villa’s Duran heading to Saudi league for US$79 million

France No 8 Gregory Alldritt hailed his team’s collective performance in a seven-try 43-0 thrashing of Wales in their Six Nations opener in Paris on Friday. The French, with returning scrum-half and skipper Antoine Dupont returning in full glory after helping France to Olympic rugby sevens gold in the Paris Games last summer, raced out to a 28-0 half-time lead in a totally dominant display at the Stade de France. Wingers Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey both crossed for two tries, while Julien Marchand, Emilien Gailleton and Alldritt also scored, Thomas Ramos kicked four conversions. It was the first time Wales failed to score a point in a Six Nations match since a 51-0 loss to France at Wembley in 1998, when it was still the Five Nations. “I think we did well, we got forwards and backs tries,” man-of-the-match Alldritt. “We are happy with the win tonight, but we only did 20 per cent of the job, we’ve got four more games to go.” The defeat marked Wales’ 13th in a row stretching back to October 2023, heaping yet more pressure on coach Warren Gatland, for whom the game was his 150th in charge. “I think we started off all right, we tried to play some rugby, probably on a couple of plays overplayed a little bit,” Gatland said. “We’ve just got to make sure we get back on the horse and look forward to preparing for next week.” Duran joins Saudi exodus Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran joined Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr on Friday in a deal worth a reported £64 million (US$79 million). Duran was unable to break into Villa’s team on a regular basis despite a series of impressive substitute appearances, including scoring the winner in a memorable Champions League victory over Bayern Munich earlier this season. “Everyone at Aston Villa would like to wish Jhon all the best in the next step of his professional career,” the Premier League club said in a statement. Duran will link up with Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane in the Al Nassr attack after completing his move on the Saudi transfer deadline day. It is the second biggest transfer fee Villa have received behind the £100 million Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish. Langer wants Woods challenge Golfers competing on the PGA Tour Champions would welcome the chance to play against 15-times major winner Tiger Woods on the senior circuit, two-times Masters champion Bernhard Langer said on Friday. Woods will be eligible to play on the Champions Tour – where players are allowed to use golf carts at most events – when he turns 50 on December 30. Langer, who owns a record 47 career wins on the Champions Tour, said the golfing great was still very competitive. “I’m going to gradually get older and older here, and I may not be at the very top of my game when he comes out, but he always moves the needle,” the 67-year-old Langer said. US get better of Taiwan Fresh from his Australian Open heroics, Alex Michelsen gave the United States a 2-0 lead over Taiwan on his Davis Cup debut in the first round qualifiers on Friday. Another debutant, Marcos Giron, had put the US ahead by beating Tseng Chun-hsin 6-2, 6-2 in the first rubber before Michelsen beat Wu Tung-Lin 7-6, 6-3 to give the Americans a commanding lead in Tapei City where the action will continue on Saturday. The first round has 26 teams playing for a place in September’s second round of qualifiers, where last year’s runners-up, the Netherlands, will join the competition, in a battle to make November’s Final 8 alongside hosts Italy. Argentina will face the Dutch in the second round after they beat Norway 3-2. Casper Ruud downed Tomas Etcheverry 6-3, 6-3 to draw the Norwegians level before Mariano Navone overcame Nicolai Budkov Kjaer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to seal Argentina’s win. Vonn, Shiffrin resume rivalry Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin have both been named in the United States ski team for next month’s Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach, Austria. Vonn quit the sport after taking a downhill bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship, her eight world championship medal, but the 40-year-old came out of retirement in November. Since then, Vonn marked her return to the World Cup circuit by finishing 14th in the super-G at St Moritz, Switzerland in December and was 13th in the same event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in her most recent run on Sunday. Shiffrin, a seven-time world champion, will aim to add to her 14 medals overall, having returned to action on Thursday following a two-month absence after she crashed during a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont. That incident left her with a puncture wound in her abdomen, and put the 29-year-old’s quest for her 100th World Cup win on hold. Shiffrin finished 10th in Courchevel, France in her comeback race.

Dupont stars as France thrash Wales, Villa’s Duran heading to Saudi league for US$79 million

France run in seven tries in 43-0 trouncing, as Wales make it 13 straight games without a win. Striker Jhon Duran to team up with Ronaldo