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Borthwick insists his England setup is different amid claims over Jones era

  • Danny Care accused Jones regime of being ‘a dictatorship’
  • Borthwick hails ‘step forward’ in players sharing opinions

Steve Borthwick has insisted he has nothing to hide about his England setup and believes his players are empowered to speak up after claims from Danny Care that Eddie Jones’s regime was like “living in a dictatorship”.

Borthwick spent more than four years as Jones’s assistant but sought to distance his environment from that of the Australian’s after the former England scrum-half’s portrayal of a toxic culture raised serious questions over the Rugby Football Union’s safeguarding procedures. The World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward has described it as “astonishing” that Jones’s contract was renewed by the RFU.

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Unai Emery sets Aston Villa target of Champions League top-eight place

  • Villa chasing fourth straight win against Club Brugge
  • Emery: ‘We have the possibility to get one step ahead’

Unai Emery has challenged his Aston Villa players to cement their surprise status as favourites to automatically qualify for the Champions League last 16. Villa, who are yet to concede in the competition, can make it four successive wins if they beat Club Brugge on Wednesday. The Villa manager estimates his team will need 16 or 17 points to guarantee a place in the top eight.

Emery said Villa have enjoyed being a “fighter team” after returning to Europe’s most prestigious club stage but has encouraged his players to take the next step in Belgium. “We have the possibility to get one step ahead in this competition, to be contenders for the top eight,” Emery said. “This is really an amazing objective that we can achieve. We are aware about the possibility to get the fourth victory, 12 points and the expectation for the next round to be in the top eight, maybe it [would take] 16, 17 points. If we win, clearly we can be contenders to be in the top eight.

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US sports owners make huge political donations. Which party does your team’s give to?

Nearly 95% of total contributions from owners across America’s major sports leagues went to Republicans. See how your team fared in our database

Sports team owners in the major North American leagues have donated at least $132.1m in federal elections since 2020, with nearly 95% of those contributions going to Republican campaigns, candidates and Super Pacs, according to research conducted by the Guardian.

Nearly all of the owners of the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL and WNBA franchises were active political donors in the election cycles since 2020. A minimum of $124,806,435 (94.5%) was designated for candidates or committees with Republican leanings, while at least $5,215,693 (3.9%) went toward Democratic causes, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures and data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance spending. About 2% of contributions went to bipartisan or unaffiliated recipients.

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