Worcester Warriors have given head coach Rory Duncan permission to talk to other clubs.

South African side Southern Kings are reported to have the 41-year-old on a four-man shortlist, which prompted Warriors to release a club statement.

"The club has put in place a strategic plan for the future of Warriors," it said. "We do not envisage Rory Duncan being part of those plans.

"Therefore we've given Rory permission to seek opportunities elsewhere."

Having been earmarked as a potential long-term successor to Warriors director of rugby Alan Solomons, Duncan remains a Warriors staff member for now, as he is under contract until the end of next season.

Duncan was director of rugby with South Africa, coaching the PRO14 side before he came to Sixways in May 2018.

Warriors finished 10th in the Premiership last season, above Leicester and relegated Newcastle, winning a club record nine of their 22 games.

SPEED SPORT has been reporting on and covering motorsports happenings from all over the world for 85 years, so we thought it would be fun to take a look back in the archives to see what happened 10, 25 and 50 years ago each week.

So check out what SPEED SPORT was covering 10, 25 and 50 years ago this week in Looking Back!

10 Years Ago (July 15, 2009): Rebounding from a dismal week at Watkins Glen Int’l, Dario Franchitti bounced back to win the 85-lap IRL IndyCar Series event on the streets of Toronto. The victory in the 85-lap event slugfest was helped by a lucky break from officials, who ruled Franchitti was ahead of Paul Tracy during a timely caution flag when Franchitti was making a pit stop. The victory moved Franchitti back into the championship lead.

Other Happenings: Dave Darland, Chad Boat and Levi Jones picked up victories during Indiana Sprint Week while Bryan Clauson led the points during the week-long series; Mark Martin earned his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the year, holding off Jeff Gordon at Chicagoland Speedway; Antron Brown, Ron Capps and Allen Johnson collected trophies during the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

25 Years Ago (July 13, 1994): Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George announced the formation of his own racing series, the Indy Racing League. He hired Jerry Hauer to run the new series while also hinting that Indy Racing League loyalists could be guaranteed starting positions in the 1996 Indianapolis 500, which would be a part of the new IRL schedule.

Other Happenings: Ricky Rudd earned his first victory as an owner-driver, gambling on a two-tire pit stop to beat Dale Earnhardt at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Damon Hill raced to victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone; Scott Pruett won the Trans-Am Series race at the Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio; The National Transportation Safety Board released a report regarding the death of Davey Allison in a helicopter crash earlier in the year.

50 Years Ago (July 16, 1969): On the same day his daughter Barbara was born, Mario Andretti raced to victory in the 100-lap USAC National Championship race at Nazareth National Speedway. He outdistanced Gary Bettenhausen by nearly a lap, completing the race in 56 minutes and 42.25 seconds with an average speed of 105.851 mph.

Other Happenings: Bobby Unser won the Miller High Life 200 at The Milwaukee Mile; David Pearson earned a pair of victories in NASCAR Grand National action, winning events at Trenton (N.J.) Speedway and Thompson (Conn.) Speedway; Ernie Derr was the winner of the Iowa 300 stock car race at the Iowa State Fairgrounds; Bruce McLaren led a McLaren one-two finish in Can-Am action at Watkins Glen Int’l.

ATTICA, Ohio — Sheldon Haudenschild doesn’t just want to win at Eldora Speedway, he feels like he needs to.

The half-mile speedway, located in Rossburg, Ohio, is a home track for the Wooster, Ohio-native. And it’s a track his father, Jac Haudenschild, has won at nine times with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series — including three Kings Royal victories.

“Every year Eldora is on my win list,” Sheldon Haudenschild said. “I feel like I need to win there. I feel like I’m capable of it. Just need to make it happen.”

After racing Tuesday in the Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic at Attica Raceway Park, he’ll have four attempts at an Eldora Speedway win this week — #LetsRaceTwo on July 17, Jokers Wild on July 18, Knight Before the Kings Royal on July 19 and the $175,000-to-win Kings Royal on July 20.

To win, he’ll have to compete against his hero — his dad.

“I love racing with my dad,” Haudenschild said. “Just having him at the track, I feel like my mood is better. It’s hard not to be happy around my dad, he’s always happy.”

The sentiment is shared by Jac. While he doesn’t run many races with his son, Jac Haudenschild said when he does it’s always fun. And when he does, you’re guaranteed to find the two together.

“It’s definitely good to have another guy to talk to and see what he’s feeling on the track and what he sees, too,” Sheldon Haudenschild said.

But on track, both Haudenschilds see each other as just another driver.

“He’s definitely just another guy out there,” Sheldon Haudenschild said. “I know he’s definitely not going to cut me any slack and I can’t either.”

For Jac, he said he races everyone the same. He’ll race them how they race him. No matter who it is.

He doesn’t always lend much advice to Sheldon, either. Not because he’s trying to withhold something. Because he knows Sheldon already has the knowledge he needs.

“He’s watched me for years race,” Jac Haudenschild said. “He’s been around racing all of his life. He’s paid pretty close attention. He’s doing a pretty good job.”

Sheldon spent his rookie year in the World of Outlaws in 2017 driving for his dad. He finished seventh in points and earned the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year award. The following year he was hired by Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing to drive the NOS Energy Drink No. 17 car and picked up five wins.

The first half of his season saw highs and lows with a few podium finishes, but no wins. He changed that at the start of the second half by out running 10-time series champion Donny Schatz to win at Cedar Lake Speedway — his sixth career series victory.

“It’s been fun watching him,” said 72-time World of Outlaws winner Jac Haudenschild. “He’s got a good ride.”

Before going head-to-head at Eldora, on Tuesday the Haudenschild father and son duo will both be searching for their first win at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio.

“I’ve got a lot of laps at Attica,” Sheldon Haudenschild said. “I’m looking forward to Attica. We’ve been close there. Led some Outlaw laps there in my own car.”

While neither have won the Brady Doty Classic at the third-mile track, Jac knows what it’s like to win in his home state. Sheldon is still searching for that honor.

“It’s pretty good,” Jac Haudenschild said about winning in Ohio. “It’s always good to have won in front of your home crowd of fans.”

Whether it’s at Attica or Eldora, Sheldon would like to experience winning at home, too. He’s most eager to get one at Eldora, though.

He failed to transfer to the Feature at Eldora in May, but with four nights of racing in-a-row at the speedway, Sheldon Haudenschild said he thinks the extra day on track will help him get more comfortable there.

While Jac has won at the speedway several times, Sheldon said his dad hasn’t really given him too much advice about the track. Watching his dad race there for years is all the advice he needs. However, he acknowledged implementing what he’s seen his dad do isn’t always easy to materialize.

“I feel like last year when I ran third at the Knight Before the Kings Royal is probably my best run there,” Sheldon Haudenschild said. “I don’t think we followed it up very well the second night. But I know I got speed there and I feel like I can run that place right. It’s just putting a night together.”

This year, they’ll have to piece together four solid nights — due to the second May #LetsRaceTwo event being postponed by rain and being moved to July. To be successful all four nights, Jac Haudenschild said it’s going to take a strong motor program and a good team.

Doing so could lead to the unprecedented $175,000 payday on Saturday. The Kings Royal’s winning purse had been $50,000 since the event started in 1984. Jac Haudenschild’s winnings from his three Kings Royal victories don’t even top the new winning amount.

“That’s nice, you know,” Jac Haudenschild said. “It’s paid fifty thousand (dollars) for years. It’s pretty much just been the same purse for a long time. So, looking forward to the one hundred and seventy-five (thousand dollars) this year. We always look forward to going back to Eldora and look forward to going back there again this year.”

Racing is all the Jac and Sheldon ever done. Both want to win just as bad as the other. Whether it’s Attica or Eldora, neither is going to lay down for the other. But that racing passion won’t stop them from still being father and son.

“My dad is one of my heroes and someone I look up to,” Sheldon Haudenschild said. “It’s really cool everything he’s done, but to me he is just my dad. I’m very fortunate to have a dad that’s done a lot of things in a sprint car.”

The Colorado Avalanche have signed forward Andre Burakovsky to a one-year contract. TSN reports that the deal is for $3.25 million.

The restricted free agent was acquired from the Washington Capitals on June 28 for forward Scott Kosmachuk and a second-round and third-round pick in the 2020 draft.

Burakovsky, 24, signed a two-year, $6 million contract in July 2017.

He recorded 25 points (12 goals) in 76 games with the Capitals last season. In 328 games with the Caps since he was their first-round draft pick in 2013, Burakovsky has recorded 145 points (62 goals).

Burakovsky had been the subject of trade rumors due to his promising but inconsistent play.

The Capitals and Avalanche are familiar trade partners. In recent years, the Caps have sent defenseman Brooks Orpik and goaltenders Philipp Grubauer and Semyon Varlamov to Colorado.

United States men's national team midfielder Tyler Boyd has signed a four-year deal with Turkish club Besiktas, the club announced on Monday.

Boyd, 24, was born in New Zealand before moving to California as a child. He returned to New Zealand at age 10 and played for that country's youth teams. He played for the All-Whites' senior squad but last made an appearance in 2014.

He made the one-time switch to represent the U.S. internationally earlier this year and debuted in a June friendly against Venezuela.

O artık Beşiktaşlı! ✍#ComeToBeşiktaş ? pic.twitter.com/RuPJ7jgoQX

— Beşiktaş JK (@Besiktas) July 15, 2019

Boyd was part of Gregg Berhalter's squad for the Gold Cup, where he scored twice in the USMNT's group-stage opener against Guyana. He played in two more matches but was an unused substitute in the semifinal win over Panama and the final loss to Mexico.

Prior to signing with Besiktas, Boyd played at Portuguese club Vitoria de Guimaraes. He was loaned to Turkish side MKE Ankaragucu in January and enjoyed a breakout stint, scoring six goals in 14 appearances.

According to Goal.com, Besiktas will play Victoria $2.2 million for Boyd's services.

Manchester United are "miles away" from meeting Leicester City's £80 million valuation for England defender Harry Maguire, sources have told ESPN FC.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has identified the 26-year-old as the solution to his team's defensive problems after initially targeting Ajax and Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt, who is close to completing a move to Juventus.

- When does the transfer window close?
- All major completed transfer deals

But having made an initial offer of just £40m for Maguire last month, United remain a substantial distance from matching Leicester's wanting price for a player the Foxes signed from Hull City for an initial fee of £12m two years ago.

Maguire has since helped England reach the World Cup semifinals in Russia and established himself as one of the Premier League's leading defenders. But with Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers told by the club's hierarchy that he is under no pressure to sell, the 2015-16 league champions are prepared to hold out for a world record fee for a defender, exceeding the £75m Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk in January 2018, before even considering a sale.

Sources say United are prepared to return with a £60m offer for Maguire, but there is no expectation at Old Trafford that a deal is imminent or that a breakthrough is close.

There is confidence within United, however, that Maguire is keen to move to the club, despite their failure to qualify for this season's Champions League.

But with the Premier League transfer deadline just over three weeks away, United are faced with the prospect of having to substantially increase their valuation of Maguire in order to get a deal over the line.

Warwickshire 161 and 67 for 1 need a further 336 runs to beat Essex 245 and 316 for 9 (Cook 83, Lawrence 74, Rhodes 4-38)

Liam Banks dug in with great determination as Warwickshire set about batting out a minimum of 121 overs to prevent a heavy defeat at Chelmsford.

Banks was 36 not out as Warwickshire reached 67 for 1 in their pursuit of 401 to pull off a mission improbable and record a third victory of the season. More realistically, the capture of another nine wickets stand between Essex and the seventh victory in eight games that would take them to the top of the Specsavers County Championship by just four points, assuming Yorkshire do not let slip their stranglehold over Somerset at Headingley.

The Warwickshire openers took advantage of some wide open spaces in the field to pass fifty in the 13th over. But Aaron Beard's arrival into the attack heralded the breakthrough Essex wanted with Will Rhodes lbw for 25. Warwickshire made it to the close without further alarm, still 334 runs from their target.

The match had essentially been put beyond Warwickshire's reach during an eighth-wicket rampage between Dan Lawrence and Simon Harmer that extended Essex's lead from 299 to nearly 400 in just 20 overs. Both batsmen fell straight after tea, but not before they had put 84 valuable runs on the board. Lawrence departed to the second ball of the final session, charging Rhodes and nicking to Tim Ambrose for 74.

That gave Rhodes his fourth wicket of the innings, and ninth of the match, at a combined personal cost of 55 runs. The part-time seamer's first-innings 5 for 17 was a career-best; his 4 for 38 in the second constituted the next best.

Harmer followed without addition, attempting to hit Jeetan Patel over the top and being caught on the long-leg boundary by Banks.

Alastair Cook had laid the foundations in the morning towards the eventual declaration with a carefree 83 from 168 balls. He was the senior partner in a second-wicket stand of 63 off 26 overs with nightwatchman Matt Quinn that frustrated Warwickshire for an hour and a half. Quinn contributed nine to the partnership from 69 balls.

Cook hit 11 boundaries in his sixth Championship half-century of the season, and went on the attack once he had reached that milestone, hitting Patel for three of them in quick order.

The return of Rhodes accounted for Cook when he was pinned lbw. The Yorkshireman had another in the same over when Tom Westley was caught behind wafting outside off stump. Quinn finally departed next over, nicking behind as Essex collapsed from 135 for 1 to 139 for 4.

Rishi Patel fell to the first ball after lunch when he deflected a ball from pad on to bat to Banks at second slip. Brookes claimed a second wicket in the over when Ryan ten Doeschate lost his middle stump as he attempted to force the pace. Adam Wheater had scored 21 at almost a run-a-ball when he reverse-swept at Patel and Rhodes threw himself from first slip to where second slip would have been to take the catch.

Lawrence rattled along apace and clobbered Brookes off the back-foot for four to bring up his second fifty of the match from 101 balls.

Essex took the field in the evening without wicketkeeper Wheater, who had struggled in Warwickshire's first innings after taking a blow to his thumb. Will Buttleman replaced him behind the stumps.

You might be forgiven for thinking that, in the aftermath of their success in the World Cup, England's players may have a chance to put their feet up for a few days.

But such is the unforgiving nature of the international schedule, many of those players involved at Lord's on Sunday will be required to report to an Ashes training camp this weekend. England's first Test of the summer, against Ireland, starts soon afterwards on July 24.

While all players likely to participate in the Ashes will be expected at St George's Park - the FA's national football centre; an ironic location given Ashley Giles' aversion to cricketers playing the sport - it seems several are likely to be rested from the Ireland squad that follows it.

In particular, the fast bowlers who featured in the World Cup campaign - Mark Wood and Jofra Archer - will be allowed to miss the game. Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes are likely to be rested, too, while England are not expected to risk James Anderson who is recovering from a torn calf muscle.

All of them are understood to be carrying niggles of one sort or another and, with five Ashes Tests to follow in seven weeks, the team management are keen to avoid risking more serious injury. Archer may have to wait until the second Ashes Test, at Lord's, to make a Test debut that now seems inevitable.

ALSO READ: Miller: England's perfect day gives hope for tomorrow

That will bring opportunity for other players. Stuart Broad is expected to lead the attack against Ireland with Sam Curran also set to return to the side. Jason Roy is likely to be named as one of the opening batsmen, but only if he is passed fit - he has been struggling with a hamstring problem for several weeks.

Rory Burns is set to be Roy's opening partner, while Joe Denly may well keep his place at No. 3. Joe Root has confirmed he will play, but a decision has yet to be made on Jonny Bairstow's and Jos Buttler's involvement. Bairstow, in particular, seemed weary on Monday meaning Ben Foakes - who batted at No.3 for the Lions against the Australians in Canterbury today - could yet be recalled to keep wicket.

Although the somewhat makeshift nature of the England squad may lead to some suggestions that they are taking the Ireland Test lightly, the team management are keen to learn the lessons of previous mistakes.

In 2013, for example, England went straight into their Ashes warm-up plans - and, specifically, a game against Essex - after a defeat in the ICC Champions Trophy final. As a result, the players did not have time to recover physically or emotionally from both their exertions and their disappointment. At least one of them, Jonathan Trott, has suggested in the past that the seeds of that side's decline was sown from that moment.

England's squad for the Test against Ireland is likely to be named on Wednesday afternoon.

England Lions 232 for 6 (Sibley 74) trail Australian XI 397 (Head 139*, Curran 6-95) by 165 runs

Two sights signalled this as day one of the Ashes campaign for England, though still in the afterglow of a scarcely believable triumph in Sunday's World Cup final over New Zealand at Lord's.

The first was that of the England selectors Ed Smith and James Taylor making their presence known by striding around the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, demonstrating their intent to finalise a Test squad, to face Ireland and then Australia, by Wednesday. The second came in the middle, where the left-armer Sam Curran obliterated the touring XI's middle and lower order with the second new ball on his way to figures of 6 for 95.

Where on day one the Australians had dominated through Travis Head and Matthew Wade as both sides kept one eye on events in London, now the spectre of a swerving Dukes ball in skilful hands was raised by Curran, a highly impressive performer in his first home summer as a Test player last year and likely to figure again this time around.

Alongside Head, who remained impassable throughout, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine and company would have hoped to bat well into the afternoon. However Curran was able to swerve his way through five Australians in the space of four overs, engineering the loss of the last six touring wickets for 17.

Marsh was first to go in circumstances that looked contentious - certainly the batsman thought so. Given out caught behind, Marsh made to remonstrate with the umpire, stood his ground for several moments and then trudged his way off with slow reluctance familiar to those who once watched Inzamam-ul-Haq for Pakistan.

Such a display of disagreement was not to be repeated by the rest, who fell with blinding speed. Paine was pinned in front of the stumps for a duck, Michael Neser edged behind, and then Chris Tremain was bowled first ball to have Curran on a hat-trick. Jackson Bird found three runs to avert that at least, but his exit was swiftly followed by Jon Holland shouldering arms to hand Lewis Gregory a third wicket.

The England Lions innings was thus underway far sooner than expected, and even as wickets fell regularly the Australians were unable to create quite the same level of mayhem throughout the rest of the afternoon. Plucky resistance was provided by Dom Sibley, spending precisely four hours over his 74, and James Bracey also hung around for a stand worth 89.

Curran was then in to bat for the final hour or so, playing attractively in the company of Sam Hain, who lofted Head for six down the ground before being well taken by Paine off Holland's slow left-arm in the day's final over - a reward for two tidy, thoughtful spells. That gave Australia's selection chairman Trevor Hohns, in attendance alongside Messrs Smith and Taylor, a little more to ponder ahead of Ashes squad selections.