ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild activated star Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon from injured reserve before their game against Utah on Thursday, putting two integral players back in the lineup.

Kaprizov last played Dec. 23 against the Chicago Blackhawks. He missed 12 games with a lower-body injury that lingered longer than the Wild initially believed it would, taking a cautious midseason approach to the return of their leading scorer and first-line left wing.

He was among the NHL leaders in goals and points before he was hurt. He has 23 goals and 27 assists in 34 games.

Spurgeon missed nine games with a lower-body injury that he said Thursday included his ankle and knee. The 15th-year veteran defenseman was taken down Dec. 31 by a slew foot move that got Nashville Predators forward Zachary L'Heureux a three-game suspension.

Jack Grealish has said Manchester City are in a fight to regain their confidence after being left on the brink of a humiliating Champions League elimination following Wednesday's 4-2 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.

Pep Guardiola's team threw away a two-goal lead after substitute Grealish had scored one and made another goal for Erling Haaland in the opening eight minutes of the second-half. The defeat means that City must win their final league stage game against Club Brugge next week to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.

Wednesday's collapse in the Parc des Princes was City's 10th defeat in all competitions since Oct. 30 and the ninth time this season that they have failed to win after taking the lead in a game.

Grealish said the loss of form is down to confidence being drained by poor performances and results.

"It's maybe a confidence thing -- we've not had the best of seasons, and we know that," Grealish told reporters in Paris.

"This season, it's just been difficult, and it certainly was in Paris.

"It's down to ourselves to try and change it. It's difficult and it's never happened during my team here. Usually we are so good in these moments and down to us to change it.

"It's down to us to get that confidence and swagger back."

City now face two crucial home games over the next week with the fifth-placed champions playing fourth-place Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday before the win-or-bust clash with Brugge on Wednesday.

"We have a massive game at the weekend against Chelsea in the league, and then a must-win game next week back at the Etihad [against Brugge]," Grealish said.

"We're going to need the Etihad rocking, like it is on Champions League nights. Next week is like a final for us. We have to win.

"We'll work hard and hopefully we can get the wins in the next two games."

LOS ANGELES -- While head coach Sean McVay did not have an update on quarterback Matthew Stafford's future with the Los Angeles Rams at his end-of-season news conference, he said he hoped there would be clarity "sooner than later" this offseason.

After the Rams' divisional round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Stafford said he would "take some time to think about" his NFL future. When asked whether he still has football left in him, he said, "Sure feels like it."

Last offseason, the Rams and Stafford worked through a similar scenario, eventually agreeing to an adjusted contract on the day the team reported to training camp.

"We don't want to have that go on again," McVay said. "I don't think that's good for anybody. I think sooner than later, being able to get that clarity. Understanding clear, open and honest communication.

"I think there's a lot of love coming from our part. I think there's a lot of appreciation coming from his part as well. And I think a lot sooner than later is an ideal scenario."

When asked whether he could definitively say that unless Stafford retires, he would be playing for the Rams next season, McVay said, "We'll talk about all those things at the appropriate time."

"I know he's playing really good football," McVay said. "Obviously, I love him, love working with him. What he's meant to our football team has been immeasurable in a positive way."

McVay said "the quarterback is always the first thing in mind as it relates to how you move forward with the team," and when the Rams sit down after the season, they will discuss the next steps with Stafford.

McVay also brought up the rib injury Stafford played through toward the end of the season. On Wednesday, Stafford's wife, Kelly, said on her podcast that Stafford cracked four ribs in Week 15 against the San Francisco 49ers.

McVay said after that game against the 49ers, the Rams' medical staff did imaging of Stafford's ribs, but that "nothing showed up on that imaging."

"It continued to kind of just irritate him, but it didn't affect his ability to practice, anything play-related," McVay said. "But he did have some irritation. And then before the Minnesota game when he did get an MRI scan there showed some stress reactions. That was what was communicated to me."

McVay said the injury "didn't limit [Stafford's] ability to practice." Stafford never appeared on the injury report following Week 15 and only missed practice time as a coach's decision in Week 18 after the Rams had clinched the NFC West.

"He's as tough as it gets," McVay said. "It's like anything else, as the season goes on, players accumulate things that they work through when you play as many games as they do."

Stafford completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,762 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions this season.

NEW YORK -- New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife are accused in a lawsuit of failing to protect a young girl who was sexually abused by an older child during a summer camp trip sponsored by their church.

In a lawsuit filed this month, lawyers for the girl allege that the Hall of Fame pitcher and his wife, Clara Rivera, a pastor at the Refuge of Hope Church, flew from New York to Florida to investigate after the girl's mother expressed concerns about her daughter's safety during the 2018 trip.

But rather than take action, the couple "isolated and intimidated" the victim into remaining "silent about her negative experiences," including the abuse, the lawsuit says.

Joseph A. Ruta, an attorney for the Riveras, said in a statement that any allegations that they "knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false." He said the couple only learned of the allegations in 2022 after receiving a letter from an attorney requesting a financial settlement.

"The Riveras are known throughout New York for their charitable work and especially for their commitment to serving underprivileged children," Ruta said. "It's unfortunate they are being targeted by false allegations."

The lawsuit doesn't name the accuser, but it says she was born in 2007, which would have made her 10 or 11 years old in 2018.

That summer, according to the complaint, Clara Rivera persuaded a congregant to allow her daughter to attend a camp at the Ignite Life Center, a church in Gainesville, Florida.

While staying in an unsupervised dorm room, the girl was repeatedly sexually abused by an older female camper, according to the suit. In a police report filed in 2022, the girl said there were 15 instances of inappropriate touching over a two-week period, both in her bunk and a shower.

Though the girl did not report the abuse, her mother grew worried about her safety after the two spoke on the phone call, the complaint states. The mother then outlined her concerns to Clara Rivera, who agreed to investigate, according to the suit.

During that trip, the couple "received information that should have given them concern," the lawsuit says, but they chose instead to remain silent to "avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in its programs." The suit doesn't specifically state what the Riveras were told by the girl or her mother.

The girl later returned to New York and continued her active participation in the church. But later that summer, during a barbecue for congregants at the Riveras' home in Rye, New York, she was again abused by the same person, the complaint states.

"They failed to mitigate the risks, and upon learning that she had been a victim, took no steps to protect her or get criminal justice," the attorney who filed the lawsuit, Adam Horowitz, told The Associated Press by phone. "They continued to expose her again to the same risk at her home."

In 2021, the girl was again sexually assaulted, this time by a male youth leader at Refuge of Hope, according to the lawsuit. The abuse in that case was discovered by the girl's mother, who found months of electronic communications between the two, the lawsuit contends.

Afterward, the girl and her mother filed police reports in New York and Florida regarding the abuse in 2018 and 2021. Horowitz said he didn't believe that criminal charges were brought in any of the cases. The lawsuit was filed against the Refuge of Hope church, not against the Riveras themselves.

Prosecutors in New York and Florida didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about whether they looked into the allegations.

A lawyer for Ignite Life Center did not respond to an inquiry. The church recently settled lawsuits brought by three people -- also represented by Horowitz -- who said they were abused as teenagers by a volunteer at Ignite Life Center. Two others affiliated with the church have been charged with lewd and lascivious battery against minors.

Both sides will be without their England internationals for the match as they have already joined up with the national team for the upcoming Six Nations.

Harlequins will be without eight players including star fly-half Marcus Smith, while Saints will be denied the services of seven key individuals.

Former club captain Stephan Lewies will still lead out a Quins team that includes Jack Walker, Joe Launchbury, Will Evans, James Chisholm and Danny Care.

"It's the Premiership champions at home, we had a narrow loss to them away. Both sides will have a different look to them than they did in their European fixtures, but both sides are capable of some unbelievable rugby," Wilson added.

"Being at The Stoop's important to us because it's in front of our fans, we've got an unbelievably good group of fans very supportive atmosphere at The Stoop, we felt that on Saturday night, it made a difference and I'm hoping on Friday night they'll do the same."

Ulster hooker Tom Stewart has backed the "brilliant" Simon Easterby to "get Ireland firing" in the Six Nations.

Easterby has stepped up as interim head coach to lead Ireland's bid for a third successive title, with Andy Farrell on British and Irish Lions duty.

Stewart was coached by Easterby on the 2022 Emerging Ireland tour before working with the former flanker in the senior team set-up.

"I worked with Si and he was kind of my first introduction into the Irish setup, he was my head coach for the Emerging Ireland tour and I thought he was brilliant," said Stewart, who won his two Ireland caps during the 2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up games.

"Obviously he's worked closely with Andy Farrell for a number of years now and he's taken a lot from him and I have no doubt that he has what it takes to get that Ireland team firing."

Stewart did not make the Six Nations squad amid an injury-wrecked season that has restricted him to just two substitute appearances for Ulster.

But having returned from a two-month lay-off in last week's Investec Champions Cup win over Exeter Chiefs, Stewart is targeting a run of games with the province.

"It's was brilliant," Stewart said of his return.

"On Saturday I was more than delighted to come through the game and get the result we did and to be back playing at home it was pretty special."

The 24-year-old added: "I think the big thing for me was to just get through the minutes and a big thing coming back from injury is not trying to think about it and thinking about getting your game ready out on the pitch.

"Now it's about getting minutes under the belt and trying to build up a bit of form."

Ulster host Zebre in the United Rugby Championship on Sunday (17:30 GMT kick-off). Watch the game live on BBC Two NI, the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website from 17:15 GMT

Aldcroft, 28, returned home to England and, for the first time since she started playing alongside her brother at Scarborough Rugby Club as an eight-year-old, didn't like rugby.

"Personally I felt really embarrassed about it, because there had been so much talk about how good we were, how we had won all these matches in a row, and we couldn't win the ultimate game," she says.

"I didn't want to see anyone for two weeks and I was really dreading getting back into rugby. I remember the day I had to go back into training at Gloucester-Hartpury and thinking, 'I don't want to do this'."

But she did. Her club team-mates picked her up. Together they lifted the Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) trophy at the end of that season. In June, they defended their title.

And, at the start of this month, Aldcroft was named the captain who will lead the Red Roses in their search for redemption, as the Rugby World Cup begins in England in August.

Aldcroft believes England will only emerge triumphant in the final - to be played at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium on 27 September - if they embrace the polar opposite of the emotions they felt on the other side of the world three years earlier.

"We need the reflections from that final so that if the adversity does come again [we can deal with it]. We have no idea what will be thrown at us on that day - how can we best manage it and put us in a place where we are unstoppable?" she says.

It would complete an arc that encompasses all that Aldcroft loves about the game.

"I love going to those dark places, especially with my team-mates," she says.

"I just love the feeling of doing everything you can and putting your body on the line and the fact that everyone has done that for each other. That really drives me as a person."

It is the impulse that England hope will drive them to the very summit of the world game this year.