• France 36-14 Ireland

• Bielle-Biarrey scores twice in dazzling display

The Six Nations is under way and already a couple of things are ­crystal clear. It is going to take a seriously good team to beat France in Paris in this year’s championship and ­watching them attack will be an ­absolute treat. Ireland were not so much beaten as outplayed by ­opponents who will be even more dangerous with a dry ball at their disposal.

Never mind the argument about brief in-game adverts during ITV’s coverage. Irish fans would probably have preferred a total 80-minute blackout or, failing that, an entire evening of cookery programming. Instead those back at home had to watch the visitors being repeatedly sliced and diced by seemingly ravenous hosts. Talk about eating your greens.

• Eve Muirhead confident Britain ‘can disrupt the norm’

• Medal chances in snowboarding, skiing and skeleton

Team GB have never made anything more than the occasional ripple at the Winter Olympics. Which makes the prediction of Eve Muirhead, Britain’s chef de mission at the Milano Cortina Games, rather extraordinary.

“I believe that we are taking one of the most potent teams of athletes that we have taken to a Winter Olympic Games,” she says. “We have the capability to disrupt the norm.”

Strap yourself in for a Wembley showdown between Manchester City and Arsenal that should be as fascinating on the grass as the sideline where Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta bid to outsmart each other.

City’s manager was the Arsenal No 1’s tutor from 2016 to 2019 when Arteta was his coach. This forged a friendship, but there may be fireworks between them after Guardiola was incensed by the Spaniard’s claim that he had “all the information” on City after they complained about Arsenal’s “dark arts” tactics in the 2–2 draw at the Etihad Stadium last season.

Organisers are hoping for a celebration of winter sport at Milano Cortina 2026 but tensions will not be far from the surface

A short stroll from where the grandees of the International Olympic Committee are staying in Milan sits the Museum of Illusions – a place devoted to magic and misdirection. Mirrors distort. Perspectives shift. And nothing is quite what it seems. It is an apposite metaphor for these Winter Olympics, which officially open in Italy on Friday.

Over the following 16 days, the world will be enraptured by the dazzle and spin of these Games: downhill skiers bombing down mountains at 95mph, snowboarders twirling like gyroscopes, the balletic grace of the world’s best skaters. But in Milano Cortina a fresh cold war is also brewing amid global political chaos.

If Les Bleus click, the results could be spectacular against a much-altered Ireland with umpteen questions to answer

The Six Nations is kicking off on a Thursday this year to avoid a direct clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. In at least one key respect, even so, the two events are perfectly aligned: one early stumble for France or Ireland and a potentially painful descent awaits.

Despite the possibility of first‑night nerves and some Parisian drizzle it should still make for more intriguing viewing on ITV1 than the alternative of Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice on BBC One. Unless, of course, France are so far out of sight inside 40 minutes that they cannot be caught and the audience are free to switch over in good time to watch Sir Alan Sugar say: “You’re fired!”

• Spectators will not know finalists but can ‘swap’ tickets

• Cheapest standard tickets for day of the final are £125

Top-end tickets for the inaugural Nations Championship final at Twickenham will cost £280 as part of a weekend billed as the “Glastonbury of Rugby”, the Guardian can reveal.

The climax of the new 12-team competition, which will be held every two years and replaces traditional tours, will be held at Twickenham at the end of November with two matches on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.

Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a long playing career but was best known for his TV work

The much-loved snooker player and commentator John Virgo has died at the age of 79, World Snooker has announced.

Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a successful playing career but was best known for his broadcasting.

When the final whistle blew, a huge wave of relief swept over this stadium. Arsenal may not have been at all convincing against a Chelsea side who caused them the occasional problem but Mikel Arteta will not care one bit. After four successive semi-final defeats, Arsenal are on their way to Wembley. At last.

After the drama of the first leg at Stamford Bridge that saw Liam Rosenior’s side travel to north London needing to overturn a 3-2 deficit, this was a much more cagey affair that was eventually settled in stoppage time by Kai Havertz’s breakaway goal against his former club. Arsenal had seemed content to keep Chelsea at arm’s length for most of the evening and rarely looked like extending their advantage until then.

When the final whistle blew, a huge wave of relief swept over this stadium. Arsenal may not have been at all convincing against a Chelsea side who caused them the occasional problem but Mikel Arteta will not care one bit. After four successive semi-final defeats, Arsenal are on their way to Wembley. At last.

After the drama of the first leg at Stamford Bridge that saw Liam Rosenior’s side travel to north London needing to overturn a 3-2 deficit, this was a much more cagey affair that was eventually settled in stoppage time by Kai Havertz’s breakaway goal against his former club. Arsenal had seemed content to keep Chelsea at arm’s length for most of the evening and rarely looked like extending their advantage until then.

When the final whistle blew, a huge wave of relief swept over this stadium. Arsenal may not have been at all convincing against a Chelsea side who caused them the occasional problem but Mikel Arteta will not care one bit. After four successive semi-final defeats, Arsenal are on their way to Wembley. At last.

After the drama of the first leg at Stamford Bridge that saw Liam Rosenior’s side travel to north London needing to overturn a 3-2 deficit, this was a much more cagey affair that was eventually settled in stoppage time by Kai Havertz’s breakaway goal against his former club. Arsenal had seemed content to keep Chelsea at arm’s length for most of the evening and rarely looked like extending their advantage until then.