Leicester 36-28 Saracens Tigers close gap on top four The temperature was zero at kick-off but when the pluses and minuses were totted up, Leicester were comfortably in credit and Saracens were out in the cold. A clinical and cohesive performance by Geoff Parling’s side has them looking upwards, contemplating the playoffs, while the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, must reflect on his team’s inconsistency. As the regular season reaches halfway this was a highly significant mid-table encounter: Leicester in fifth, and sixth-placed Saracens still have ground to make up on the top four, but the home side narrowed the gap with an accomplished win. There were plenty of illustrious names on the teamsheet but it was Billy Searle, the Leicester fly-half, whose headline-grabbing performance won him player of the match. At 29, Searle has already played for five different professional clubs in England and three in France. On this sparkling form you wonder why any of them let him ...
Zapping World Eleven Cristiano Ronaldo: Record numbers Definitely, Jim Ratcliffe is a jack of all trades when it comes to European heavyweights and seems determined to extend his influence in the world of sport! While the American businessman, already at the head of OGC Nice, is in the running to buy Manchester United, the Dailymail reports that he would have been interested in taking over… FC Barcelona! The Blaugranas under the US flag? The deal never saw the light of day due to the club’s financial management, deemed disastrous by the INEOS boss. At the microphone of Dailymail, the latter explains: “We talked about it but, in the end, they didn’t think they could go to the fans with it. The path they’re going down is a disaster. We tried to point it out and they said, “We know, but…”. These are all short term diets [de Barcelone]because the president comes along, does the job for five years and hands over the mess to someone else. “They’ve now sold a lot of TV rights and...