Monday 18 August 2014 11:52, UK
Another busy period of action has thrown up plenty of contenders for our weekly pick of the winners and losers.
There were jubilant scenes for the England Women’s rugby team in Paris, while London Broncos finally posted a win in Super League.
But Louis van Gaal’s reign as Manchester United boss got off to a losing start in the Premier League and in cricket, India’s batting problems persisted.
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England claimed a second Women's Rugby World Cup crown with a deserved 21-9 victory over Canada in Paris on Sunday.
England had lost the last three finals but made no mistake in 2014 at Stade Jean Bouin, with Emily Scarratt inspiring the victory for Gary Street's side.
After Danielle Waterman had scored the only opening try of the contest, Canada closed to within two points during the second half thanks to Magali Harvey's penalties.
But Scarratt scored England’s decisive second try late in the game to kill off any threat of a comeback, while she also kicked 11 points from the tee to help her side reclaim the title first won in 1994.
London Broncos earned a first win of the Super League campaign at the 24th time of asking with a stunning 40-36 victory over the Leeds Rhinos.
Joe Keyes ran in a hat-trick as the Londoners bounced back from 30-8 down to earn the win.
A grandstand finish was on the cards when Keyes burrowed over for his second try on 70 minutes, cutting the deficit to 36-32, and the comeback was complete when Keyes showed great footwork to race over three minutes later, Josh Drinkwater booting a late penalty to seal victory.
For an under-strength Rhinos it was a setback ahead of their Tetley's Challenge Cup final date next weekend, missing the chance to claim second spot in the process.
Roger Federer claimed his landmark 80th title on the ATP Tour – and his first Masters 1000 title in two years - by beating David Ferrer in the final of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Sunday.
The 17-time grand slam winner breezed through the first set 6-3 but collapsed to a 1-6 reverse in the second.
However the Swiss ace recovered to take the decider 6-2 and so claim his biggest title since he took the spoils at the same event in 2012.
His sixth victory in Cincinnati sets Federer up for another crack at the US Open later this month, where he has prevailed five times.
Kell Brook fulfilled a childhood dream as he out-pointed Shawn Porter to claim the IBF welterweight title from the American in Carson, California.
The Sheffield fighter overcame the odds to take the belt on a majority verdict at the StubHub Center, two judges giving it in his favour by scores of 117-111 and 116-112, with the other official at ringside making it a 114-114 draw.
Porter had been the stronger of the two fighters in the early rounds but seemed to tire as the bout wore on and Brook – who suffered a cut above his eye in the second round – took his chance.
The win saw Brook finally get his hands on a belt he must have wondered if he would ever even get to fight for after three previous attempts were all scuppered by injuries.
The British runner replicated his Olympic Games and World Championships heroics by winning the men’s 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres at the European Championships.
The 31-year-old took gold in the 10,000m on Wednesday and followed that up with another triumph on Sunday, crossing the line first in 14 minutes 5.82 seconds.
It is the third straight year Farah has won the two races at a major championships, doing so memorably at London 2012 and at the worlds in Moscow 12 months later.
His achievements in Zurich remedied what had previously been a difficult year for Farah, who was disappointed by his display at the London Marathon and frustrated further when illness forced him to miss the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The Dutch tactician saw Manchester United slump to a shock 2-1 defeat to Swansea City in his first competitive game in charge.
The Red Devils had enjoyed an unbeaten pre-season campaign, but came unstuck as the Swans posted a first league win at Old Trafford.
New captain Wayne Rooney scored an acrobatic equaliser early in the second half after Ki Sung-Yueng had put the visitors ahead on 28 minutes.
But Gylfi Sigurdsson restored Swansea’s lead with 18 minutes remaining and Garry Monk’s side held on for a precious three points.
Van Gaal admitted: "When you have so much preparation time and work so hard, it can't get worse than this.”
It was also a bad week for Premier League side Crystal Palace, who saw their manager Tony Pulis walk out fewer than than 48 hours before the start of the season, and then their players lose to a last-gasp Aaron Ramsey goal at Arsenal.
The former Stoke boss, who led Palace to 11th place in the Premier League last season, was reportedly at odds with the club's board over their dealings in the transfer market this summer, having missed out on several of his top targets including Gylfi Sigurdsson and Steven Caulker.
So it was left to caretaker boss Keith Millen to take the Eagles to the Emirates, where his side took the lead through Brede Hangeland, but were pegged back before the interval by Laurent Koscielny.
Millen’s side were then reduced to 10 men in the closing stages as Jason Puncheon was shown a second yellow card, and Arsenal made their numerical advantage count almost immediately as Ramsey pounced in stoppage-time.
India scored just 148 and 94 at the Kia Oval as England wrapped up victory in the fifth Test by an innings and 244 runs to win the series 3-1.
The latest abject batting displays followed defeats at Old Trafford and the Rose Bowl as the tourists struggled with England’s bowling attack.
The current situation is a far cry to less than a month earlier when MS Dhoni’s men had won at Lord’s to take a 1-0 lead in the series – and increase pressure on opposite number Alastair Cook’s captaincy.
However, after three straight defeats it is Dhoni who now finds his position under scrutiny, with some fans calling for the Indian captain to be sacked, with others saying players should forfeit their wages.
Lincicome was left in tears after a late slump handed the LPGA Championship title to defending champion Park Inbee.
The American was closing in on the fourth LPGA major of the year as she approached the 18th tee, but she bogeyed the last regulation hole after missing an eight-foot putt to drop into a playoff.
Lincicome was then left wondering what could have been after she bogeyed the same hole, with a poor chip followed by a missed six-foot putt opening the door for Park to win.
She admitted: “I was really nervous coming down the stretch, especially the 18th hole and then the playoff. That putt I had (in regulation) and then the chip I had (in the playoff), I was shaking like a leaf.
"It's hard to do anything while you're shaking. Obviously I'm human and it's part of life, so hopefully I learn from this."
