In 2011, Ireland kicked off their World Cup campaign in New Plymouth with a stuttering 22-10 win over the USA.

It was a scrappy win that offered little by way of optimism to an Irish team who had been expected to blow their opponents away.

Among the concerns were a young half-back duo who failed to find any sort of a rhythm as handling errors saturated proceedings.

It was a tough first international start for Conor Murray, who was playing alongside Johnny Sexton for the first time.

Sexton, the heir apparent to Ronan O'Gara's number 10 jersey, endured a torrid evening landing just one of his five kicks.

As Ireland searched for something positive to take out of an infinitely forgettable game, few would have pointed to signs of a promising half-back partnership developing.

Eight years on, it is a partnership that has delivered more than promise. Three Six Nations, two Lions tours, a Grand Slam and 164 international caps between them, to be precise.

Assuming they are picked to face New Zealand on Saturday, Murray and Sexton will make their 56th international start together, overtaking O'Gara and Peter Stringer as the most capped Irish half-back duo.

Is that a shock to Sexton?

"It is if you saw us play together at the start," he says.

"I didn't think we'd last much further after three or four caps to be honest."

A first for Sexton

Under Joe Schmidt, Sexton and Murray have been the most vital cogs in the Irish wheel, with the correlation between their individual performances and Ireland's fortunes glaringly obvious.

Saturday, by Sexton's own admission, marks their biggest challenge to date.

The reigning world champions stand between Ireland and a first ever World Cup semi-final.

For all he has achieved in the his career, Saturday's meeting in Tokyo will also mark Sexton's first start in a World Cup knock-out match.

He came off the bench in the 2011 defeat by Wales, and missed the loss to Argentina four years later through injury.

At 34 his importance within the team is, if anything, increasing.

"I love playing beside him," said Murray.

"He is such a leader, he understands what we are trying to do really well and gets it across to everyone."

Ireland's struggles in 2019 have been symptomatic of the issue that Murray and Sexton have faced throughout the year.

Returning from a long injury lay-off, Murray did not make his usual impression as Ireland's Six Nations defence fell flat on its face.

Sexton, too, has found injuries difficult to shake off and his absence was only too notable as Ireland fell to defeat by Japan in Shizuoka.

Against Samoa in Fukuoka last Saturday the pair returned to something close to their vintage form.

Directing the traffic, as Ireland sought to nullify their numerical disadvantage following the dismissal of Bundee Aki, Murray and Sexton led Ireland's charge to the knock-out stages with a bonus-point win that arrived with minimal fuss.

However against the All Blacks, a side undefeated in their past 17 World Cup games, Murray and Sexton will have to hit new heights in their 56th outing together.

"It's a little bit special to start that many Tests with the same guy," said Sexton.

"We've got a really good relationship now and hopefully it'll be as good as it ever has been on Saturday."

Scottish Rugby has questioned whether a misconduct charge from World Rugby is "appropriate".

Comments made by chief executive Mark Dodson about the potential cancellation of the World Cup match with Japan have been referred to an independent disputes committee.

Dodson had hinted at legal action, when the match was in doubt because of Typhoon Hagibis.

The game went ahead and Scotland lost 28-21 to exit at the group stage.

A Scottish Rugby spokesperson said: "Scottish Rugby once again expresses its sincere condolences to the people of Japan and all those affected by Typhoon Hagibis which struck last weekend.

"We have been able to convey our best wishes directly to the mayor of Yokohama and the chairman of the Japanese Rugby Union. We stand with the great people of Japan.

"Following receipt of correspondence yesterday from World Rugby, Scottish Rugby confirms that it has received a notice of complaint from Rugby World Cup Ltd. Scottish Rugby is querying whether the matter is an appropriate one for the bringing of misconduct charges.

"If misconduct proceedings are to proceed, Scottish Rugby looks forward to receiving a fair hearing in this matter. No further comment would be appropriate at this time."

Belgian giants Anderlecht were fined the maximum €5,000 ($5,516.00) on Tuesday for allowing Vincent Kompany to coach their team without the required diploma, the Belgian football association said.

"The club violated the regulations for a long time and despite that it being against the rules did not hesitate to publicly unveil a coach without a diploma," the association's licensing committee said in a statement.

Belgium requires the head coach at all its top-flight clubs to hold a UEFA Pro licence, which Kompany does not have.

He was appointed player-coach in May in a bid to revive the ailing fortunes of the country's most successful team.

Anderlecht argued that Simon Davies, the former Manchester City academy chief who followed Kompany to Brussels, was actually the head coach but the commission used the club's own media statements and video clips of the unveiling of Kompany to refute this.

Anderlecht were also given a strong reprimand for "insufficient respect for compliance with the regulations."

Anderlecht have won only two of 10 league games under Kompany, who has also played but was then injured. They are in 13th place in the 16-team league.

Anderlecht have since named Frank Vercauteren, who has the necessary diploma, as head coach, saying he was replacing Davies, who stays on as an assistant coach.

But it has not cleared up who is actually in charge at the club. Anderlecht said Vercauteren would be "in charge on matchdays," suggesting that former Manchester City captain Kompany was still in overall command.

A repeat of the SCG's latest pitch misadventure 12 months from now would have ruinous consequences, with T20 World Cup organisers closely monitoring the shifting of New South Wales domestic fixtures at a very similar time to Australia's scheduled tournament opener at the ground in October 2020.

Alongside the MCG, Sydney's cricket ground is marked down to host seven matches for the first T20 World Cup to be held in Australia, the first of these the home side's opening match on October 24 next year. This is just a day after next week's domestic one-day game between NSW and Tasmania that has been moved to North Sydney Oval, and only a few later in the calendar than the October 18-21 Sheffield Shield fixture that has been taken to Drummoyne Oval.

The progression of the Sydney Roosters NRL club to the league's season decider has been cited as the reason for an underprepared pitch square forcing the change, but the SCG will face still greater foot traffic next year as it is meant to be hosting the Grand Final itself, likely to be on Sunday, October 4. This would leave 20 days between the end of NRL commitments and the start of the ICC event, as against two weeks between rugby league and cricket this year.

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While the SCG Trust insists that the venue will be ready in time, T20 World Cup organisers are watching on closely. The need to shift the one-day domestic game was of more concern than the Shield game given its scheduled playing day lines up almost exactly with the start of Australia's T20 campaign next year.

"We are of course mindful of this week's developments as part of preparations for next year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup," local organising committee chief executive Nick Hockley told ESPNcricinfo. "The T20 World Cup 2020 Local Organising Committee received earlier assurances from the SCG Trust that the SCG will be in world-class condition for the venue's first match of the Men's T20 World Cup between Australia and Pakistan on 24 October 2020, following a transition from the NRL Grand Final.

"We will continue to work closely with the SCG Trust to ensure those assurances are fully met, so the ground is in perfect condition to host the T20 World Cup."

The ICC maintains exacting standards for the readiness of venues at a global tournament, requiring multiple inspections of facilities and the handover of a "clean" stadium for operational and commercial use well in advance of the event. It has also not been afraid of stripping matches from unready venues in the past, no matter how big or prestigious.

In 2011, a high profile World Cup fixture between India and England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata was shifted to Bengaluru due to the stadium being deemed unfit to host the match.

NSW players are quietly fuming at being forced away from the SCG due to the Trust's inability to present the ground in a fit and proper condition for their scheduled matches, in what is the latest chapter of a long saga of problems that have generally affected the state and BBL teams more so than any international fixtures.

Earlier this year, the Trust formed a committee to look into the option of drop-in pitches for the SCG, a move that has been ardently opposed by Cricket NSW and Cricket Australia. "Cricket Australia unconditionally supports Cricket NSW in its opposition to drop-in wickets at the SCG," the CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said in July.

"The SCG is arguably the most unique pitch in world cricket. For more than a century, the SCG wicket square and its Bulli soil have hosted some of world cricket's greatest contests and served as a nursery for many of the country's best spin bowlers. A change is not in the interests of Australian sports fans or SCG members. We are confident the SCG Trust will arrive at the same conclusion when the views of their members are taken into account."

Transition issues between football and cricket seasons do not seem likely to evaporate anytime soon, with the SCG reportedly securing on Wednesday the rights to host the NRL Grand Final in 2021 as well as 2020. CA have also scheduled ODI matches between Australia and New Zealand at the SCG in March 2020, after the beginning of the NRL season.

"We are looking forward to rugby league's grand final returning to its spiritual home at the SCG in 2020," an SCG Trust spokesman told the Courier-Mail. "Once the trophy is lifted and the Clive Churchill Medal awarded, our grounds team has ample time to prepare the field for the T20 Men's Cricket World Cup tournament opener between Australia and Pakistan."

Mumbai's Yashasvi Jaiswal has become the second batsman to hit a double-hundred in the ongoing edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, finishing with 203 in 154 balls against Jharkhand on Wednesday. The 17-year old opener made it the ninth instance of an Indian scoring a List A double-ton.

Sanju Samson made history less than a week ago, when he scored 212 not out - his first List A century - for Kerala against Goa, making it the highest individual score in the competition, going past Karn Veer Kaushal's 202 for Uttarakhand against Sikkim last season, the first time a double was scored in the tournament. Jaiswal has now joined Samson and Kaushal in the list.

"Jaiswal's 154-ball innings included 17 fours and 12 sixes. That's 140 runs in boundaries."

Of the nine double-tons in List A cricket by Indian batsmen, five have come in ODIs: three by Rohit Sharma, and one each by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Those aside, there is Shikhar Dhawan's 248 for India A against South Africa A in Pretoria in 2013.

Opening the batting against Jharkhand in Alur with Aditya Tare, Jaiswal outscored his more experienced partner as the two put on 200 runs for the first wicket in 34.3 overs before Tare was dismissed for a 102-ball 78 by Anukul Roy.

Jaiswal continued to score quickly, as Siddhesh Lad contributed just 32 in the second-wicket stand of 105 runs, and went on to reach the double with captain Shreyas Iyer by his side. He did briefly threaten Samson's mark of 212 but fell with two balls left in the innings when he was caught by Rahul Shukla off Vivekanand Tiwari, who had earlier dismissed Lad. Jaiswal's 154-ball innings included 17 fours and 12 sixes. That's 140 runs in boundaries.

For the prodigiously talented Mumbai teenager, it was a third century in five Hazare Trophy games this season after 113 against Goa and 122 against Kerala.

Jaiswal first came in the spotlight during the Under-19 Asia Cup in Dhaka in October last year, when he scored a 113-ball 85 in the final as India beat Sri Lanka by 144 runs. That capped an excellent tournament for him, in which he topped the charts with 318 runs.

More recently, at the Under-19 tri-series in England in July-August this year, where Bangladesh were the third team, he scored 294 runs in seven innings at an average of 42 and a strike rate of 74.05, finishing fourth on the run-scorers' list. He hit four half-centuries then, including a 72-ball 50 in the final, when India beat Bangladesh by six wickets.

WASHINGTON -- Ryan Zimmerman spoke to his father recently and thought back to the ninth inning of the National League wild-card game, which by this point feels like a lifetime ago. He identified that moment as the first time, across 1,709 games in 15 major league seasons, that he forgot to breathe.

On Tuesday, in the final innings of an eventual pennant clincher, it happened again. The lead was shrinking, the pressure was mounting, the anticipation was escalating. Zimmerman thought about all those years with the Washington Nationals -- the last-place seasons, the early exits, the annual disappointments -- and what an achievement like this would signify.

At 11:08 p.m. ET, when Tommy Edman hit a harmless fly ball into the waiting glove of center fielder Victor Robles, Zimmerman finally exhaled.

The Nationals, off to the Fall Classic for the first time in the team's 15-year history, finally exhaled.

This city, 86 years removed from its last World Series team, finally exhaled.

"Sometimes," Zimmerman said, "you gotta wait for good things."

The Nationals' final victory over the St. Louis Cardinals was only the latest in a stirring stretch of dominance by a team that was left for dead five months ago. They didn't just sweep the National League Championship Series; they never trailed in it. They became the fourth team in baseball history -- after the 1914 Boston Braves, 1973 New York Mets and 2005 Houston Astros -- to go from 12 games below .500 in the summer to the World Series in the fall. And they did so with their 16th win in their past 18 games, a 7-4 victory that began with a first-inning onslaught.

"Where we came from and what we had to accomplish to get here, it wasn't easy," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "I'll be the first to say it."

The Nationals fired their pitching coach, Derek Lilliquist, on May 2. Twenty-one days later, after suffering a four-game sweep at Citi Field, they stood 19-31, 10 games behind a Philadelphia Phillies team that had recently signed Bryce Harper. Calls for Martinez's firing grew incessant.

"I remember that I read an article, probably at the end of May," Nationals starter Anibal Sanchez recalled, "and they were saying that probably the whole team was going to be traded."

The Nationals went 74-38 and outscored their opponents by a combined 189 runs over the final 128 days of the regular season, overcoming a late-season heart scare for their manager and the worst bullpen in franchise history. They won eight consecutive games to capture a wild-card spot, rode a Juan Soto single off Josh Hader to advance to the NL Division Series and used timely hitting and dominant starting pitching to dismantle a Los Angeles Dodgers team that won 106 games.

The Cardinals never stood a chance. Sanchez and Max Scherzer took no-hitters into the seventh to claim the first two games at Busch Stadium. When the series shifted to Nationals Park, Stephen Strasburg dominated in Game 3, and the offense scored seven runs to begin Game 4. The Nationals held a lead in 31 of 36 innings and became the seventh team to never trail in a best-of-seven series.

"It's been an absolute wild year," Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle said. "A lot of people counted us out in May, and oh my gosh, this is crazy."

On the field, standing on a makeshift stage that was assembled within minutes, Martinez held up the NL trophy and provided an aphorism.

"Often bumpy roads lead to beautiful places," he told a sold-out crowd that didn't want to go home, "and this is a beautiful place."

Moments later, in a rambunctious home clubhouse, the Nationals drank from aluminum Budweiser bottles and sprayed Campo Viejo Cava Brut. Howie Kendrick, who hit the grand slam that ended the Dodgers' season and rode his hot stretch to the NLCS MVP trophy, danced in the middle of a mob and wore the brunt of it. Doolittle, the stabilizing presence for a bullpen that carried a 5.66 ERA but rounded into shape at the very end, waved around his blue light saber. Gerardo Parra, the affable outfielder who brought a lighthearted energy to the dugout, wore his rose-colored sunglasses. Brian Dozier, the veteran second baseman, danced to "Calma," the popular Latin pop song.

Zimmerman, the steady veteran, stood off to the side and sipped a Bud Light, staying relatively dry.

"That guy could be the mayor of the city tomorrow if he wanted to," Dozier said of Zimmerman. "They love him here, and they have every reason to because he's an exceptional player -- obviously, as everyone knows -- and an unbelievable guy. That's the stuff that means the most to people. When you're all done, all this stuff, the wins and losses, they kind of fade. But the good teammates, like Ryan, they always stick around."

Zimmerman was the Nationals' first draft pick, taken fourth overall out of the University of Virginia in 2004. He was called up in September of the team's inaugural season in 2005. Ever since, he has been the common denominator, there for the back-to-back 100-loss seasons and the four first-round eliminations. He signed two extensions and never once thought about leaving.

"To me," he said, "there was never another choice."

His time with the Nationals has included eight managers and 332 teammates, many of whom were blowing up his phone late Tuesday night. Many of them were there, with Zimmerman, when the Cardinals put together a four-run ninth inning to eliminate the Nationals in 2012 or when Clayton Kershaw came out of the bullpen to end their season in 2016 or when a late rally against the Chicago Cubs fell just short in 2017.

"I took the October heartbreaks as a step in the right direction," Zimmerman said. "We had some times here where we knew, on April 1, we weren't going to make the playoffs."

The Nationals fell eight games out of first place in 2018, then opened the 2019 season without Harper, the face of the franchise who signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the division-rival Phillies.

Adam Eaton, who took over Harper's position in right field, remained confident.

"Look around," Eaton said when asked why. "Just look around."

Anthony Rendon took Harper's place in the No. 3 spot in the batting order and turned himself into an MVP candidate. Soto assumed Harper's standing as the young phenom and didn't succumb to the proverbial sophomore slump. Patrick Corbin absorbed Harper's void in the payroll, signing a six-year, $140 million contract, and joined Sanchez, Scherzer and Strasburg to form a devastating starting rotation.

The Nationals' starters had a 1.59 postseason ERA heading into Game 4. Then Corbin became the first pitcher to strike out 10 batters in the first four innings of a playoff game. The 30-year-old left-hander ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing three runs in a 32-pitch inning, but Tanner Rainey, Doolittle and Daniel Hudson took it from there.

While others sprayed champagne, Hudson stood off to the side.

"I love having fun with these guys," Hudson said. "But at this point, I just wanna drink the alcohol -- I don't want it poured on my head."

The Nationals defied two recently adopted baseball axioms. Mike Rizzo, their seventh-year president of baseball operations, built teams for the sake of immediate contention, disregarding the benefits of tanking and building assets. He assembled a roster that navigated the 2019 season as the sport's oldest, at a time when the industry continually skewed younger. Scherzer, and several others, playfully refer to themselves as "The Viejos."

"It just seems like everybody wants younger and younger players, and everybody wants to forget about all the old guys," Scherzer said. "We see it in free agency. We're not dumb. The fact that we're the oldest team and we went out and won the National League pennant just shows you that old guys -- we bring a lot of value to clubhouses."

Scherzer could have been talking about Kendrick, who recovered from a torn Achilles tendon to lead the league in batting average.

Or Hudson, the journeyman reliever who came over at the end of July and forced his way into the closer's role near the end of September.

Or Zimmerman, the stabilizing presence who battled through a season mired by plantar fasciitis, reestablished himself as a starter in October and, in six days, will finally play on the stage he always longed for.

"We came a long way," Zimmerman said. "And I think sometimes you gotta learn from failure and go through some bad times to get to some good times."

Roberto Alvarado and Jose Juan Macias scored on either side of halftime as Mexico cruised to a 3-1 win over Panama in a CONCACAF Nations League match on Tuesday in Mexico City.

The win at Estadio Azteca ensured that Mexico won both their Nations League matches of the break after a 5-1 win at Bermuda last week. El Tri (2-0-0, six points) has command of Group B over Panama (1-0-2, six points) and Bermuda (1-0-2, six points).

Alvarado got Mexico on the scoreboard in the 28th minute when a shot from the top of the penalty area.

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Mexico gifted the visitors a goal right before the break when Carlos Salcedo knocked an own goal off Edgar Barcenas' attempted cross.

Hirving Lozano left the match in the 62nd minute after Fidel Escobar came down hard on the Napoli star's left ankle.

Macias, who came in Lozano, scored in the 75th minute for the go-ahead goal for Mexico and his fourth in three matches for El Tri.

Rodolfo Pizarro sealed the game with a stoppage goal in the 93rd minute.

Mexico's next Nations League match comes on Nov. 15 when they host Bermuda, and then travel to Panama four days later.

The four group winners of the Nations League advance to the knockout round semifinals in June 2020.