Premiership Rugby has moved two fixtures in mid-May to a Monday night in the hope of having fans attend.

Under the UK Government's Covid-19 roadmap crowds of 50% capacity up to a limit of 4,000 may be able to attend matches from 17 May.

Premiership Rugby will make decisions on three more games at a later date.

Wasps are still scheduled to host Worcester behind closed doors on Saturday, 15 May, while a decision on London Irish's game with Exeter will be made once landlords Brentford know if and when they will play in football's Championship play-offs.

A decision on Bath v Sale and Leicester v Harlequins will be made once both hosts have played their European Challenge Cup semi-finals.

Should either make the final, which is the following weekend, their games will not be moved in order to give them sufficient time to rest and recover.

The first rugby match to have a crowd in the British Isles in 2021 takes place on Saturday when Championship side Jersey Reds welcome 1,000 fans for their game with Nottingham after approval from the island's government.

Three Premiership games in December had crowds of up to 2,000 during a temporary easing of Covid-19 restrictions late last year.

Poppy Cleall has put in some talismanic performances for England during the Women's Six Nations.

But arguably one of her most innovative Red Roses contributions has been off the field - as the co-founder of the England camp's tuck shop.

The 'BP Garage' - the B representing prop Hannah Botterman and the P Cleall's first name - offers snacks and drinks delivered directly to players' doors in the team hotel.

"People drop us a message with what they want and their room number," Cleall explained on BBC Radio 5 Live's Rugby Union Weekly.

"We put it outside their room and leave so it is all Covid secure. Everything gets sanitised. We bill them once a week on a Sunday, they get their bill through their door.

"After a heavy day of training or post-match it is really popular."

The idea came about because England have been training and playing in a coronavirus bubble, ruling out any trips to the shops.

"Two weeks into camp, we were thinking about the sort of thing we'd be pining for," Cleall continued.

"It was basically chocolate and probably little bags of crisps. We thought we'd get a few and see if the girls wanted to share them with us. It proved quite popular.

"Bots [Botterman] is the face of the brand. She does all the selling, wheeler-dealing and puts all the offers on.

"I'm there crunching the numbers and making sure we have enough stock."

'My own opinion is the only one I listen to'

Although Cleall's business venture has "not got out of the red just yet", no-one could deny the 28-year-old's success on the pitch this year.

As well as helping Saracens to the top of the Premier 15s table, Cleall won player of the match in England's opening Women's Six Nations game against Scotland and elicited high praise from head coach Simon Middleton.

Middleton said Cleall was one of the best players in the world after that match and, when he named her as his starting number eight for Saturday's final, the England head coach continued his praise.

"Her understanding of the game is pretty phenomenal," Middleton said.

"Poppy has got a really good all-round game. Physically she is in the best shape she has ever been and that has translated onto the field."

Cleall - whose twin Bryony recently returned from injury to join her in the England team - says such things are "kind of nice to hear".

However, she's not letting the plaudits go to her head.

"My own opinion is the only one I really listen to - actually that and my dad's," she says.

As for being at the top of her game physically, that has been an unexpected benefit of lockdown after initially struggling to train alone at home.

Players sent videos of their work to strength and conditioning coaches and would get feedback on their technique and this accountability for her own training helped Cleall work harder than she had before.

"I'm shocked I've come out in any kind of good shape," she adds.

"I think it's just my application. Before I would follow a six-week programme for four weeks and fall off for the last two.

"[During lockdown] you were completely accountable for what you did. There was no-one there to help you or make you do it.

"That added responsibility onto me as an athlete and coming out of it I am applying myself better."

Replacing captain 'is not awkward'

The World Cup has now been postponed until 2022 but Cleall's name will surely still be one of the first on Middleton's team-sheet when it comes round.

As well as her impressive form, Cleall offers plenty of versatility having played prop, lock, flanker and number eight.

On Saturday, she will pack down at the back of the scrum instead of England captain Hunter, meaning centre Emily Scarratt will lead the side.

Taking your captain's place in the team may be an uncomfortable position to find yourself in, but Cleall says she has received nothing but support from Hunter.

"We are quite good friends in camp so it's never been awkward," she explains.

"It's always about getting the team in the best place so she is 100% supportive to all of us in the forwards, doing everything she can to make sure we are in the best place.

"I'm really excited to be playing eight this weekend but I'm also excited to see what people like Sarah Hunter and Harriet Millar-Mills can do off the bench to win us the game, because that's their job."

'Great game' expected against 'tough' France

Cleall and England will be aiming for a third successive Six Nations title, having won back-to-back Grand Slams in the last two years.

This time there is no Grand Slam on offer because of a new format as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, England and France will be playing in the first Women's Six Nations final.

The Red Roses face a France side who looked unforgiving in a 53-0 win against Wales before beating Ireland 56-15 in the pool stage.

Cleall may have been expecting to come up against Emeline Gros, who has also been in exciting form all tournament.

But the France number eight has sustained a shoulder injury and is replaced by Romane Menager in the only change to the side that won at Donnybrook.

England will have to be particularly wary of Les Bleus' impressive back three in Emilie Boulard, Cyrielle Banet and Caroline Boujard - but Cleall says threats could come from anywhere in the France squad.

"They are so skilful," she said. "They're athletes. They're tough and it is going to be a great game."

Women's Six Nations final line-ups

England: McKenna; Breach, Scarratt (capt), Harrison, Dow; Rowland, Riley; Cornborough, Davies, Brown, Ward, O'Donnell, Aldcroft, Packer, P Cleall.

Replacements: Cokayne, Harper, B Cleall, Millar-Mills, Hunter, MacDonald, Tuima, Kildunne.

France: Boulard; Banet, Neisen, Ulutule, Boujard; Drouin, Sansus; Deshaye, Sochat, Bernadou, Fall, N'Diaye, Mayans, Hermet (capt), Menager.

Replacements: Touye, Traore, Joyeux, Corson, Diallo, Bourdon, Peyronnet, Tremouliere.

Defending champions Exeter Chiefs demonstrated their title credentials by beating Premiership leaders Bristol and ending their six-match winning run.

Jacques Vermeulen stretched their 15-5 half-time lead just before the hour as Bears spurned good field position.

Luke Morahan went over for Bristol's second try late but Exeter won to close the gap to the leaders to eight points.

Rob Baxter's side have lost just one of their past six league matches and the win was also a psychological blow in the Devonians' favour ahead of what could be June's Premiership final.

British & Irish Lions coaches Warren Gatland and Neil Jenkins were among those watching from the stands as a number of players looked to press their claims for a place on the tour to South Africa.

Exeter number eight Sam Simmonds was among those to catch the eye but it was the Bears who struck first.

A fine flowing move, which began from their own 22 through Charles Piutau, also involved Niyi Adeolokun and Piers O'Conor before Uren shook off O'Flaherty's tackle from 25 metres out to sprint to the line.

Flanker Skinner drew Chiefs level with a trademark pick-and-go finish after 15 phases of possession and they led as Simmonds' burst through the middle set O'Flaherty free for his seventh try in the past seven games.

The visitors were able to increase that lead midway through the second half when back row Vermeulen powered over to score their third try after Bears spurned decent field position at their set piece on numerous occasions.

Winger Morahan did go over for a second try after Piutau found him with a neat pass but even that was not enough to claim a losing bonus point.

Bristol: Piutau; Adeolokun, O'Conor, Bedlow, Morahan; Malins, Uren; Y Thomas, Byrne, Sinckler, Attwood, Vui, Luatua (capt), D Thomas, Heenan.

Replacements: Capon, Woolmore, Afoa, Joyce, Harding, Kessell, Lloyd, Leiua.

Exeter: Hogg; Nowell, Slade, Devoto, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds (capt), Maunder, Moon, Cowan-Dickie, Francis, Gray, Hill, S Skinner, Vermeulen, S Simmonds.

Replacements: Yeandle, Hepburn, Williams, Lonsdale, Capstick, Townsend, H Skinner, Whitten.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).

BRISTOL, Tenn. — He may only be 28 years old, but NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson has already crafted a deep résumé when it comes to sprint car racing.

Twenty World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victories in only 94 feature starts, as well as 24 All Star Circuit of Champions triumphs and additional wins with ASCS, USAC and in Central Pennsylvania have made Larson one of the most feared drivers in the country.

Among that pile of victories are a Gold Cup Race of Champions, a Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup and last year’s $50,000-to-win Capitani Classic at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, which replaced the Knoxville Nationals during a year ravaged by the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

But multiple marquee sprint car wins still elude Larson’s grasp. He wants to win the Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, the National Open at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway and the Knoxville Nationals.

Larson has time on his side in those pursuits. He’s only 28 years old and could easily race for another decade in NASCAR before even thinking about going full time again on the sprint car trail — as he did last season while rehabilitating his public image, barnstorming to 46 dirt-track wins in the process.

However, Larson’s quest to hoist one of the iconic sword trophies given to all Bristol Motor Speedway winners — particularly in World of Outlaws competition — may have to be accomplished quickly.

Sure, Larson will have future shots to attain Bristol glory in NASCAR competition, but as his brother-in-law, two-time World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet, noted this week, “It’s been 20 years since sprint cars have raced at Bristol Motor Speedway and it could be another 20 years [before it happens again].”

The likelihood is that the Bristol Throwdown will, at the very least, be duplicated in 2022. NASCAR has already confirmed its dirt weekend will be back for a second edition next spring.

But for now, the chance to become a Bristol World of Outlaws winner is extremely limited. Going into the weekend, only Sammy Swindell, Donny Schatz and Mark Kinser have done so.

Larson would love nothing more than to become the fourth — or possibly fifth — driver on that list.

“It would mean a lot,” Larson said of potentially winning this weekend at Bristol. “They’ve only done this race a couple of times. They’ve only had a few dirt races now at Bristol and not many people can say they’ve won here. I want to be one of them.

“It’s a unique event and you always want to win the unique ones, the special ones, for sure,” he added. “This is one of them and it’s a track with so much history. I’d love to win there.”

There’s no question Larson is one of the pre-race favorites to be in the mix.

The Elk Grove, Calif., native has Bristol dirt experience on his side. He raced in the Bristol Dirt Nationals in a late model, as well as in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series events, at the dirt-covered high banks over the past month.

Larson also built a mammoth reputation with the Paul Silva-owned No. 57 last season, winning a whopping 32 times in 410 sprint car competition across 69 starts from coast to coast.

Larson won his season debut in a 410 sprint car last Friday with the All Stars at Williams Grove and his second and third 410 sprint car starts for this year will come with the Outlaws at Bristol.

Despite that recent success, however, Larson isn’t expecting winning at Bristol to be easy.

“I think it’s way different because last year I was racing [on dirt] almost every day of the week, and we built a huge notebook and I was fresh as a driver,” Larson said. “Now, this is only my second race back in a sprint car since November, so there’s some rust there. The Outlaws are just so much more aggressive than the All Stars with double-file restarts and such.

“It’s the little things you have to perfect to be good with the World of Outlaws.”

If there’s one Outlaw regular Larson badly wants to beat this weekend, it’s Sweet.

“I’m really competitive with Brad,” Larson said. “He’s my brother-in-law, so I want to beat him more than anyone, probably. I’m sure the same goes [with him] for me.

“Brad’s the best there is right now, with the best team, too.”

That said, Larson also nodded to the depth of field within the current Outlaw roster as a reason why both Friday and Saturday’s programs will be difficult to win.

“The World of Outlaws are just extremely competitive [as a series],” Larson said. “You can look down the field and kind of pick apart the guys that are good on half miles. For example, Carson Macedo and (Jason Johnson Racing) are really, really strong.

“David Gravel is always a great qualifier and that’s the key to success, especially on half-mile tracks. Logan Schuchart, Jacob Allen and Sheldon (Haudenschild) have been killing [lately]. It’s all good.”

That doesn’t mean that the rest of the field isn’t aiming to beat Larson, however. He’s set the standard to this point and he’ll look to write a new standard during the Bristol Throwdown.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sammy Swindell navigated the busy pit area of Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday night, minding his own business.

Twenty years ago, he captivated that very environment with his second victory in as many years at the concrete track that had been covered with red clay.

Now, in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series’ return to Thunder Valley, Swindell blended in, sporting a black down jacket over a burgundy flannel.

Swindell isn’t a part of the 28-driver field for this weekend’s Bristol Throwdown. He is instead the event’s grand marshal, the next best option to remain relevant.

“I would have liked to (race), in a competitive car,” Swindell said. “I thought maybe we had a shot at something. Then it didn’t work out.”

Now 65, Swindell doesn’t have much control over his sprint car rides these days, even if he is a 394-time World of Outlaws winner and the last sprint car driver to win at Bristol. He has raced just five times this year, with a best finish of 10th in the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series opener on March 19 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Texas.

He hasn’t raced since night two of the ASCS event at Devil’s Bowl on March 20, when he gave an interview that went viral after getting wrecked out of his heat.

“Well, I got another car destroyed by a kid,” Swindell said, his voice raising. “He’s gotta see me. I can’t run into the tractor tire. I have no place to go. I don’t know what these kids think about.”

Frustrating describes it mildly for Swindell, who has not accustomed to sitting on the sidelines.

“It’s different,” Swindell said. “I’m not engaged or involved with a team or a driver like I usually would be. So, it’s like, I have a lot of time to talk to people or chat to people. Or walk around and look at a lot of different things.”

“It’s what it is,” he added. “I get some offers to drive some things, but some of it I’m not interested in doing, really. It’s so much more expensive to run with the [World of Outlaws] or the [All Star Circuit of Champions] and to be competitive. Just haven’t run into that program yet here that would work. I don’t know when my time is coming, when I don’t have the passion or desire or just some health issue.”

One reason Swindell is at Bristol this weekend is so he can ride his 2020 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special and explore a few places, including the famed Tail of the Dragon in the Great Smoky Mountains, which Swindell conquered earlier in the week

“It was kind of on my bucket list,” Swindell said. “I’m just trying to do what I can and have some fun.”

He also visited Knoxville, Tenn. Before this week, he spent a good chunk of time in Key Largo, Fla., fishing with some friends. These are some adventures that now consume Swindell, who applies his frequently-used hashtag of “#StillWinning” to most anything in his life.

But Swindell isn’t finished racing yet. He still feels competitive, but only in the right situation. Anything less isn’t worth it to Swindell, who’s always ready to fill his schedule.

“I’d like to play a little more golf,” Swindell said.

He doesn’t know when he’ll return to the track as a driver. It could be as early as June or as late as August. His racing pursuits have dwindled for good reasons over the years, and now one thing remains.

“I just want to win my last race,” Swindell said.

So, if the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer somehow wins this year, could that be it?

“It could be,” Swindell said. “It could be. It’s going to have to be where I feel, ‘This is the day,’ or ‘This is the race’ or whatever. Until that time comes, you don’t know.”

“I’m not wearing glasses,” Swindell added, a rare smile starting to appear. “For someone my age … I must be OK.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Steve Stapp, a legendary United States Auto Club team owner who earned multiple sprint car titles, died Friday morning at the age of 80.

Born on Aug. 19, 1940, in Glendale, Calif., Stapp was bitten by the racing bug at an early age. His father, Elbert ‘Babe’ Stapp, was a talented racer who made a dozen Indianapolis 500 starts from 1927 to ’40. That allowed his young son to get an early racing education.

By the time he was nine, he was running the scoreboard at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, Calif. At 13, he was helping work on a midget owned by Marv Edwards and in high school he worked in the body shop owned by NHRA legend Don Prudhomme’s father.

During the same time period he bought his own car — a Kurtis Kraft midget — from Johnnie Parsons. He repaired the car and would field it for multiple drivers because he was too young to drive it himself. He later purchased his own sprint car.

When he finally became old enough to race, he started running sprint car and midget races both on the West Coast and Midwest against some of the top stars of the era.

In fact, Stapp got to meet one of those top stars in 1958 when he was prepping a midget owned by Joe Kleinbauer in Indianapolis.

In a story recounted by Stapp to SPEED SPORT columnist Bones Bourcier in 2017, Stapp recalled he was set to leave for a race at Chicago’s O’Hare Stadium when he learned Kleinbauer had hired a new driver. Stapp, who didn’t think much of the fellow, declared, “It’s a waste of time to go all that way to just to miss the show.”

Kleinbauer immediately reported this to his new driver, whose reaction was to insist Stapp remain at home. Stapp shrugged, walked to a nearby luncheonette and ordered a sandwich. In strolled another young man relatively new to Indianapolis.

It was 23-year-old A.J. Foyt, who had recently made his first start in the Indianapolis 500. He recognized Stapp, and asked him why he wasn’t on his way to Chicago.

“Oh,” said Stapp, “I got penalized for calling the driver a balloon-foot.”

Foyt said that he, too, was racing that night at O’Hare — wheeling a Harry Turner midget as Tony Betten­hausen’s teammate — and invited Stapp along.

“As soon as we got to the track,” said Stapp, “I told Kleinbauer that I needed the keys to his (tow) car. He asked me why. I said, ‘I’ll bring it into the pits, so you’re ready to go home when your driver misses the show.’ And he did, by a mile.”

Foyt, with Stapp as his signal man, snookered Bettenhausen on a restart and won the main event. There is more to that story, which can be read by clicking here.

At the wishes of his wife, Rosemary, following the birth of his children, Andy and Susannah, Stapp gave up driving, but didn’t give up owning and building racing cars.

From 1965 to ’72, Stapp fielded sprint cars piloted by some of the best drivers of the time, including Johnny Rutherford, Mario Andretti, Pancho Carter and Larry Dickson.

Dickson would drive Stapp’s No. 27 to the USAC National Sprint Car title in 1968, but it wasn’t until Stapp teamed with Carter that his car’s performance reached a totally different level.

From 1973 to ’80, Carter earned 40 USAC victories and won sprint car championships in 1974 and ’76. They earned multiple victories in the Tony Hulman Classic at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track and Joe James-Pat O’Connor Memorial at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in that time frame.

“We argued just enough that we came up with the right combination,” Carter said about his relationship with Stapp in an upcoming story in SPEED SPORT Magazine. “We would definitely butt heads at times. If the car wasn’t just right, I’d move around on the race track until I found someplace that it did work. I think that was one of the things that impressed Steve. Every now and then we would really hit it and we’d be really fast.”

Stapp walked away from racing in 1980 to focus on his trucking business, but within a few years he was back in the sport helping his son, Andy, and friend Jimmy White. Eventually Stapp began building sprint cars again, with drivers such as Brad Marvel, Joe Saldana, Bob East, Eric Gordon, Russ Gamester and more taking turns driving.

Stapp, who was known affectionately by everyone in the industry as “The Big Bopper,” was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1999.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – IndyCar’s aeroscreen likely saved Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay from serious injury in last Sunday’s first-lap crash during the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.

Hunter-Reay’s No. 27 DHL Honda was one of several cars involved in a multi-car crash heading into turn five. Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet was knocked into Hunter-Reay’s No. 27 DHL Honda after contact with Colton Herta’s No. 26 Honda. That sent Newgarden’s car over the front nose of Hunter-Reay’s machine with the right front wheel assembly hitting the aeroscreen.

If a similar crash had happened two years ago when the cockpits were completely open, Hunter-Reay’s helmet could have been exposed to potential contact.

Hunter-Reay didn’t realize how close he came to potential harm until he saw the in-car footage shot by Andretti Autosport. Hunter-Reay released screen shots of that footage on social media on Monday.

He explained in detail what happened in the incident to SPEED SPORT on Friday at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“Obviously, I didn’t see that situation coming, especially on the first lap of the first race of the season,” Hunter-Reay said. “I came to the top of the hill with a run behind Simon Pagenaud, I saw a bunch of dust, dirt being kicked up and I thought that was maybe somebody dropped their wheel. I continued on. I could see Newgarden’s car trending to the left. I thought things were OK. I could not see Colton Herta at that point. Colton impacted Josef, hitting him, sending Josef back into all the traffic that was coming, including myself.

“I knew it was going to be a big hit, braced for impact, closed my eyes and came out the other side thankfully, thanks to the aero screen.

“I really didn’t how it all went down until I looked at the video.”

Because Hunter-Reay’s eyes were closed on impact, he had a real eye-opener when he saw his onboard camera footage.

“I was pretty shocked that his entire right front assembly, tire, upright and everything hit the aeroscreen like that,” he said. “I was pretty shocked by that.”

Formula One cars use a halo device for driver cockpit protection. IndyCar’s aeroscreen uses a halo surrounded by high-strength Plexiglass.

“The structure itself did the job deflecting that,” Hunter-Reay said. “I’m convinced that with what was coming at the aeroscreen, if it had been a halo designed without the windscreen, other pieces of hardware would have come through and impacted me to some extent.

“To what extent, I’m not sure.”

Hunter-Reay admitted there were big scrapes from Newgarden’s wheel on his windshield and it completely pulled off the carbon fiber wicker that runs down the center of the aeroscreen.

In addition to keeping Hunter-Reay out of harm’s way, it also helped save the husband and father of three from potential serious injury.

“I just came out of thinking, I’m very grateful for the aeroscreen,” Hunter-Reay said. “That push and that drive from IndyCar to further driver safety and racing safety, this is a big implementation in the aeroscreen.”

The aeroscreen held up so well, Hunter-Reay is driving the same race car and using the same aeroscreen that was in the crash last week at Barber Motorsports Park. The car and screen were both sent to Dallara for inspection and no issues were discovered.

From a competitive standpoint, Hunter-Reay has some serious work to do, beginning with Sunday’s race on the streets of St. Petersburg, to climb back into contention. His last-place finish in the 24-car field puts him last in the NTT IndyCar Series standings with 15 races left in the season.

“That’s a hole we’re going to have to dig out of for quite a while,” Hunter-Reay said. “This is a great opportunity a few days later to be back on track and get some redemption. I love this place. I’ve had some great finishes here. I’m looking forward to the opportunity ahead.”

The competition isn’t getting easier, either, as evidenced by a talented group of young drivers, including last week’s race winner, 24-year-old Alex Palou of Spain.

Hunter-Reay enters the season 40 years old.

“I think there are a lot of kids that are fast right now,” he said. “There is a lot of talent in the series. Seasoned veterans as well as upcoming talent. It’s great time in the IndyCar Series and it’s surging in the right direction.”

He is hopeful the streets of St. Petersburg could return him to form, especially if he is able to claim his first win in this event.

“This is one of the mainstays, one of the Crown Jewels, on the IndyCar schedule,” Hunter-Reay said. “I finished second here a couple of times and on the podium quite a few times. This is on top of the list of the ones that I want to win.”