Northampton Saints have signed props Elliot Millar Mills and Beltus Nonleh.

Cameroon-born Nonleh, 22, joins from Sedgley Park, having helped them win the National League Two North title.

Meanwhile, Saints have confirmed the departures of props Oisin Heffernan and Alfie Petch.

"Elliot came in on trial with us at the end of the season and we were really impressed with how he seamlessly slotted into the playing group, and by his attitude towards improving his own game," director of rugby Phil Dowson told the club website.

"His attitude is fantastic and his experience of playing in the Premiership will be important for us next season.

"We believe Beltus could be something of a rough diamond.

"He's obviously stepping up a few levels from the National League but based on his size, power, and excellent attitude, he has all the tools he needs to succeed at the top table of English rugby."

Heffernan, 28, was signed from Nottingham in February 2021 and was hampered by a serious hamstring injury, making just seven first-team appearances.

Petch, 22, played 21 times after arriving from Exeter Chiefs last year.

Outside back Harry Potter has had his Leicester Tigers contract ended early to allow him to return to Australia.

Potter, who was eligible to play for England, has been linked with a move to Super Rugby side Western Force and is tipped to get a call-up for Australia.

"What this club has given me is far more than I could have ever imagined," Potter said of his time with Leicester.

"I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of this club for the past three years and to have shared in spectacular memories with everyone involved."

While Potter never got an England call-up, he was seen to be on the fringes of selection.

Former England boss Eddie Jones was reappointed Australia head coach in January, and will be familiar with what Potter has managed to do in the English game since arriving from the Melbourne Rebels in the summer of 2020.

Alex Sanderson has instilled a culture at Sale Sharks that players "want to run through brick walls for him", says Premiership title winner with the club Andy Titterrell.

The former club captain played for Sale from 1998-2004, making 90 appearances, and became known for his leadership qualities as a player.

And Titterrell, a team-mate of Sanderson at Sale and part of the side that beat Leicester Tigers to win the title 17 years ago, believes those qualities now run through the Sale side he has taken to within one game of their second domestic title.

"I had the pleasure of playing under Alex, he was my first captain at Sale. One thing Alex was is that he is very competitive," Titterrell told BBC Sport.

"He would run through brick walls as a player and I think what he has managed to build in himself and his coaching is that he will have a squad of players that want to run through brick walls for him.

"That is really important in terms of the fact he is a northern lad who knows the club and loves it. He is a competitor and a winner. That takes a lot to then drip feed that into the way you coach the players."

Sanderson is well acquainted with Saturday's opponents at Twickenham, Saracens, having won five Premiership titles with the club during a 13-year stint as an assistant coach to director of rugby Mark McCall.

The 43-year-old had joined the London club in 2004 as a player after leaving Sale but only made eight appearances and was forced into an early retirement because of a back injury.

"He was at Saracens for a long time coaching so will understand how McCall works and how the other coaches there work as well with how they play the game," added Titterrell.

"For him to step away from that and take the reins as a director of rugby at a club, which is his club that he grew up playing for, it probably adds more to it this weekend.

"I think it will be a great tussle on the field but also a good tactical match-up in terms of how they try and approach the game with what they go after and where they go after it.

"He has got great player-management skills and is a very likable guy. When you have a guy like that and the right leadership group around you - which he does - everything gels together."

Taking inspiration from 2006

Rugby union in the north of England has been starved of success since Jason Robinson lifted the Premiership trophy for Sale following an epic encounter against Leicester.

The 2003 World Cup winner was part of director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre's star-studded squad which included fellow France internationals Sebastien Bruno and Sebastien Chabal.

Hooker Titterrell played every game for Sale in the league that year and was joined in the front row by prop Stuart Turner, with both players starting the Twickenham showpiece.

"I am not sure we were the favourites at the start of the year," Turner recalled.

"The year before we had won the European Challenge Cup and we played well that year. So we strengthened again."

The former England international said early-season wins over Munster and Castre in the Heineken Cup gave Sale the momentum and confidence to take on the best sides in Europe and at home.

"We played really well and pretty much got to the top of the table and stayed there all season," added Turner.

Sale amassed 74 points, winning 16 of their 22 games in the regular campaign before defeating Wasps 22-12 in a tight semi-final encounter at Edgeley Park to set up a meeting with then six-time Premiership champions Leicester.

"We had a really good first scrum against a great Leicester pack," said Turner. "To start well helped set the tone.

"I remember the weather being bad as it was glorious weather all week, and then on cup final day it was chucking it down, which we didn't think would suit us as we had Charlie Hodgson and Mark Cueto.

"We thought we were a more expansive side than Leicester were, so bad weather would suit them more than it suited us."

Fly-half Hodgson kicked 23 points in a man-of-the-match performance as Sale won 45-20. Titterrell recalled Hodgson being "so relaxed" and could simply "kick anything".

"He was so dependable and when you have players like that in your side it really does gel when you have a good leader at 10," said Titterrell.

One of the biggest mental wins that day, however, occurred off the pitch in the pre-game preparation.

"Kingsley Jones [Sale head coach at the time] said to us a lot of the Leicester lads already have Premiership and European medals and we don't have any," said Titterrell. "For me that really stuck with me and I was really determined to go out and get one of those winners' medals.

"The whole squad wanted to do that as well in the way that we performed and we didn't play with any pressure. The forward pack dominated what was a very competitive Leicester pack."

Saturday's game draws parallels with the most famous day in Sale history, with Sarries - the dominant Premiership club of the past decade - this time coming up against the spirited northerners.

"It is fantastic and it was 17 years ago since I was there down at Twickenham," added Titterrell. "It is a different era, age and brand of rugby. So much has changed but the club doesn't change in terms of what it stands for and where it is."

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are, if nothing else, about teachable moments. What a team learns one season can impact the next. If players, coaches and executives take the wrong lessons from the most pressure-filled time of the year, they could be doomed to fail next year's final exam.

Some lessons are small. Like, for example, saying "I would've liked to not fall on him and use my stick as the landing point" will not get one out of a suspension for cross-checking. Duly noted.

Some lessons are larger and more nuanced. Here are seven hard lessons from the playoffs so far, both on the ice and off the ice. Enjoy!

Twenty years ago this week, Annika Sorenstam had one of golf's ultimate "Where were you?" moments. 

Wait, it's already been that long? 

"I can't believe it's been 20 years," Stacy Lewis said. 

"I don't feel like we're that old," Brittney Lincicome said. "I feel like I was just watching it yesterday." 

The Swede, who was 32 years old and the world's No. 1 female player at the time, accepted an exemption into the Bank of America Colonial, becoming the first woman to tee it up in a PGA Tour event since Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the 1945 Tucson Open.  

Sorenstam, a 10-time major champion with 72 LPGA victories, shot 71-74 and missed the cut at Colonial by four shots, but it remains one of golf's most iconic moments — and possibly the defining moment of her Hall of Fame career.

"Looking back at this, I'm sure some people will say what was the purpose," Sorenstam said last month at the Invited Celebrity Classic, "but I think in the big picture, it was good for women's sports and for young girls to be able to share that story."

And on the 20th anniversary of her historic week, its impact on the sport remains profound. 

"It was just really cool for women's empowerment and saying, 'Gender is not the thing that divides these players,'" Lydia Ko told GolfChannel.com at the Cognizant Founders Cup. "It’s pretty amazing the career she had and if anyone would do it, it was going to be her."

Two other LPGA stars have teed up on the PGA Tour since Sorenstam’s groundbreaking week. Michelle Wie West, at 14 years old, played the Sony Open the following year, and then seven more Tour events with the last being in 2008. In 2018, Lincicome competed in the Barbasol Championship. They missed the cut on each occasion, but they were irreplaceable experiences. 

"I didn't want it to end," Sorenstam said after her foray. 

Now, 20 years since Sorenstam did it, is one of the LPGA's current stars primed to get inside the ropes with the world's top male players?  

It's complicated.

***

Lincicome never thought she’d play on the PGA Tour. And when she was extended a sponsor's invitation to the Barbasol Championship, five years ago, it was not a no-brainer. 

"I literally had to think about it for a long time," the two-time major champion told GolfChannel.com, "just to weigh the pros and cons, just to make sure it was something I should do because I was more worried about the media and the fans kind of being negative and really mean."

Though social media was basically non-existent when Sorenstam competed at Colonial, she was still met with a wave of vitriol. 

"What is she going to prove by playing? It's ridiculous," Vijay Singh said ahead of the '03 Colonial. "She's the best woman golfer in the world, and I want to emphasize 'woman.' We have our tour for men, and they have their tour. She's taking a spot from someone in the field."

Singh, who also said he would withdraw if paired with Sorenstam, wasn’t alone in his contempt. 

Nick Price said Sorenstam's presence "reeks of publicity." Scott Hoch added, "Most guys hope she plays well, and what comes out of this is that she realizes she can't compete against the men."

A day before she teed off, Sorenstam admitted she was overwhelmed. 

"I think that when I accepted the invitation, I must have been very naive," she said to hundreds of media members. "I'm doing this to test myself and I didn't think everybody else wanted to test me at the same time."

However, following 36 holes, Sorenstam was emotional and moved by the swarm of support she received. 

"I've had some guys that have said less positive things come up and tell me that they were proud of me," she said. "And for them to come up and say that, I admire them for doing that."

But despite her positive experience, Sorenstam said she wouldn't reconsider playing in another Tour event. 

"I'm very thankful and honored to have been here, but I know where I belong," she said. "And I'm going to go back with all the experience that I learned this week and I want to win tournaments, I want to set records."

Lincicome, meanwhile, echoed Sorenstam's feelings about playing on Tour. 

"I loved it and it was so great," she said, "the guys were super welcoming, I felt right at home, it was so nice, everyone was super gracious … all in all, it was a great time and I'm glad I did it."

And though the 37-year-old is unsure if she would do it again, she urges any LPGA player who is given a similar opportunity to take advantage. 

"Why not," she said, "it just brings more exposure to us and the LPGA and there's no negatives to doing it."

But aside from the detractors, there’s another factor that may prevent someone from succeeding Lincicome as the next woman to compete on the PGA Tour. 

“I don't know if you'll see another (LPGA) player do it now with as far as these guys hit it,” Lewis said.

***

In 2003, Sorenstam led the LPGA in driving distance at 270 yards. Today, it’s Emily Kristine Pedersen at 284. 

Twenty years ago, Hank Kuehne was the PGA Tour’s longest bomber at 321.4 yards. The Tour average was 285 yards and only 10 players averaged over 300. Currently, Rory McIlroy is the Tour's driving distance leader at 328 yards, with the average on the Tour being 298.3. Ninety-two players average over 300 yards. 

"Would I like to see it? I don’t know," Angel Yin responded when asked if she’d like to see an LPGA player play on Tour again. "I think the guys are hitting it so far these days, it’s a little wild."

Lewis, a former world No. 1, wants the LPGA's and PGA Tour's stars to play together — but not necessarily against each other. 

"I would like to see a mixed event where we play different tees, different leaderboards," the two-time major champion said, "but I don't know what a female going and playing a 7,000-yard golf course — I don't know what that's going to prove. I don't think that really moves the needle.

"If you can put us in the fairway where we're both hitting 8-irons, you can see how games compare, and I think it could be pretty cool."

Something similar is happening in December. The PGA Tour and LPGA will co-host the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed-team exhibition comprised of 16 Tour and 16 LPGA players. It will be the two tours' first mixed-team competition since the JCPenny Classic in 1999. 

"The more crossover (the LPGA) can have with the PGA Tour, the better," Wie West said. 

But if an LPGA player takes the leap of faith that Sorenstam did 20 years ago, it wouldn't be about the score. 

"I think it would be just a cool experience," Ko, who doesn't know if she would ever do what Sorenstam did, said. "I don’t know if it will do me any good, playing at a PGA Tour event with their length. But even if I shoot 100, it might be embarrassing, but it would just be a fun experience."

For Sorenstam, teeing it up at Colonial had a deeper meaning than her spot on the leaderboard alongside nearly 120 men. 

"It's not so much about getting to play with the men," she said last month. "It's more about having a dream and wanting to push yourself and put yourself in an uncomfortable situation because you have some goals you want to achieve."

Sorenstam may have only finished better than 11 players that week, but two decades later, her two rounds at Colonial continue live in lore. And it's those types of moments that will help inspire generations of golfers — regardless of their gender. 

"It’s so unique and that moment is just one of the amazing moments that Annika had," Ko said, "and outside of that, she’s done so many amazing things and she’s grown golf in general, not just in women’s golf. 

"I reckon that she’s a role model not just to girls growing up, and not just a role model to me, but I’m sure junior boys would say, 'One day I want to play like Annika Sorenstam'"

Wrexham's Racecourse Ground will be renamed the SToK Racecourse for next season in a deal that sees the world's oldest international stadium have a title sponsor for the first time.

The stadium, which has been home to Wrexham since 1864 and hosted Wales' first home international match in 1877, will be sponsored by SToK Cold Brew Coffee next season as the club rejoins the English Football League after a 15-year absence. A new 5,000-seat stand is also being built to raise the capacity at the stadium to 15,000.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

"We're incredibly excited and a little over-caffeinated." Hollywood stars and club co-chairmen Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds said in a statement.

Wrexham has gained a global following since it was bought by Reynolds and fellow actor McElhenney for $2.5 million in 2021.

The club also announced Betty Buzz -- a beverage brand founded and owned by Ryan Reynolds' wife, Blake Lively -- as the side's new training kit sponsor for next season.

Lively has attended games alongside her husband as Wrexham won the National League with a record total of 111 points, with Reynolds and McElhenney rewarding the team with a trip to Las Vegas.

The team is also touring America this summer, when it will play LA Galaxy II and Premier League teams Manchester United and Chelsea.

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Four men detained in Spain over a suspected hate crime in the hanging of an effigy from a bridge depicting Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior have been released on bail, a Madrid court said on Thursday.

The men, who are also being investigated for an offence against Vinicius' moral integrity, have been banned from approaching and communicating with the Madrid player pending further investigation, a court statement said.

The inquiry was opened after an inflatable Black effigy dressed in the No. 20 jersey of Vinicius was hung from a bridge in front of Madrid's training ground before a Copa del Rey match against Atletico Madrid in January.

Alongside it was a large red and white banner -- the colours of Atletico -- that read "Madrid hates Real."

Three of the arrested men were members of "a radical group of fans of a Madrid club" who were previously flagged during matches as "high risk," according to police.

All four individuals will not be allowed within 1,000 metres of the Bernabeu and Civitas Metropolitano stadiums, nor any LaLiga stadium during football matches.

Vinicius was again subjected to racist abuse on Sunday during Madrid's LaLiga match away to Valencia that led to the game being briefly paused, as well as sparking a global outcry of support for the forward.

After the match, he hit out at Spain and LaLiga for not doing enough to fight racism, which drew a reply on Twitter from LaLiga president Javier Tebas who disagreed.

On Wednesday, Tebas apologised for his remarks, telling ESPN Brasil that his message was misinterpreted.

It's often said the German language has a compound word for absolutely everything, and of course that maxim applies to the scenario we have in store for us Saturday.

The word "Fernduell" (a long-distance duel) is a universally understood concept in Germany. It's a contest involving two teams competing for the same thing and playing at the same time but in different venues. Maybe the English language should just adopt the word as it has done with Gegenpressing considering no such exact equivalent exists!

Saturday's Fernduell promises to be in keeping with the excitement Bundesliga followers have lapped up for many a long weeks now. The events of last weekend, with Bayern Munich losing 3-1 at home to a highly motivated RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund taking care of FC Augsburg 3-0 away in the Fuggerstadt, means BVB hold the cards -- again. With just one game to go, Dortmund will be crowned champions with a win, while a loss or a draw will open the door to an 11th straight crown for Bayern.

- Dortmund-Mainz, Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+
- Cologne-Bayern, Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

Since March, the pendulum has swung almost violently back and forth between Germany's big two, with neither side able to pull away from the other, both experiencing ups and downs and anticipation levels generally off the charts. There have been eight changes at the top of the Bundesliga table this season, with these two swapping positions four times in the past nine weeks.

No other top league has been able to offer this level of uncertainty and unpredictability. Sorry, Premier League fans who insist on telling me only riveting things happen in that league. It's not even close this term.

Commentating for the Bundesliga world feed last week in Munich, even when Bayern took the lead against Leipzig through Serge Gnabry, there was doubt in my mind as to whether it was portent of a crucial win to come for the Rekordmeister. On air, I almost unconsciously added the qualifying word "maybe" to the question, "another step towards the Meisterschale?" Bayern were the better side for 30 minutes, but the wobbles crept in thereafter, conceding a pair of penalties and a logic-defying four-on-one counterattack that led to the visitors' opening goal. Leipzig, who needed a win to secure Champions League football, deserved their first-ever triumph at the Allianz Arena against the Bavarians.

The next day, 60 miles along the Autobahn, Dortmund, backed by a loud and vibrant away support, had to wait 58 minutes for their opening goal. That despite a season-high 17 first-half goal attempts playing with a one-player advantage from the 38th minute onward.

That they were twice denied by the aluminium (what English speakers refer to as "the woodwork") only added to the general nervousness. But Sebastien Haller's strike to give the visitors a 1-0 lead settled everyone down, and it was no surprise when he bagged a second before Julian Brandt put the game to bed.

Now Dortmund are just 90 minutes away from their first Meisterschale in 11 yawning years. On one level, the Schwarzgelben, who will host Mainz on Saturday (9:30 a.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+) before a crowd of 81,000 at the Signal Iduna Park, need not worry at all about what Bayern are doing at the same time at FC Cologne (stream live on ESPN+). A BVB win will render that irrelevant. However, imagine if Bayern score first and then add a goal or two before BVB have managed to get off the mark. Or if Dortmund fall behind against Mainz.

This is the Fernduell tension in all its glory. Dortmund and Bayern might be on different pitches this weekend, but mentally, psychologically, it's still a two-team race for the crown. Expect multiple showings on broadcasts of the Blitztabelle (the live, as it stands, table).

BVB are undoubtedly favourites to take the title now, and it seems a bit like 2002 to me. That year, the Schwarzgelben caught longtime leaders Bayer Leverkusen on the penultimate matchday, when the Werkself lost in Nürnberg and Dortmund won in Hamburg.

Then on the final day, with Dortmund in control of the board at home against Werder Bremen, there was edginess when they fell behind while Leverkusen forged ahead. All was finally settled on 74 minutes, though, with Brazilian attacker Ewerthon, who had just come on, netting the decisive goal of the season. BVB finished a point ahead of Leverkusen.

Bayern fans might hang their hats on what occurred a year earlier, the famous Patrik Andersson afternoon. Schalke 04, who had beaten Unterhaching, were champions-elect for four minutes, with their game over and everyone in Gelsenkirchen waiting to see if Bayern, losing 1-0 in Hamburg well into stoppage time, would hand them the Meisterschale.

However, Andersson's strike from an indirect free kick in the 94th minute burst Schalke's bubble, entering Bayern and Bundesliga folklore and securing a 17th league title for the Bavarian giants.

Saturday is going to be about pure emotion. Dortmund coach Edin Terzic summed it up nicely by saying that while his players are very well paid and can buy a new house or a new car, you can't buy moments like this: a chance to become Bundesliga champions in front of their own fans.

The home form speaks for Dortmund. The Schwarzgelben have, after all, reeled off 11 successive home victories in the Bundesliga and last failed to win in the league at the Signal Iduna Park when they drew 2-2 with Bayern on Oct. 8.

If you think everything is now a foregone conclusion for Dortmund, though, just consider the remarkable trajectory of the past few weeks.

I'll be commentating for international viewers live from the Cologne-Bayern game and can't wait to be part of a special day in Bundesliga history. I hope you can join in the Fernduell fun on Saturday amid an unmatched atmosphere.