board on the board shared between the boots of emily ‘s carrot and izar. 40 boots of emily ‘s carrot and izar. a0 minutes of crunching tackles, this was perhaps even more of a battle tha n this was perhaps even more of a battle than expected. england opened up battle than expected. england opened upa slight battle than expected. england opened up a slight lead at the start of the second half, another three points ha rd second half, another three points hard earned, ground up french mistake. even that try when it came to was inched over. england's battering ram finally puncturing a hole in france's defence. 20—3 disco. but also rendered finally by a french bumble at the final whistle. so relieved for england and the realisation that the world cup double is still possible, but if france were tough to beat, four times champions new zealand who beat the us is a earlier, wait in the final two claim the trophy they think is rightfully theirs. and so it is a fairy tale final for

this world cup, the two best sides in the women's game going head—to—head for the title, here in belfast on saturday. at the end of the summer of sport that has seen women contest that cricket world cup, the football championship, the solheim cup to namejust cup, the football championship, the solheim cup to name just a few, in front of the television audience of millions, this is another chance to showcase the very best of women's sport to an ever expanding audience. thank you. newsnight‘s about to begin over on bbc two in a few moments. here's kirsty wark. tonight, as donald trump's' new—found commitment to the war in afghanistan and his generals sinks in, we speak to the mercenary backed by steve bannon who thought he would get a slice of the action. join me now on bbc two. here on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. welcome along to sportday live from the bbc sport centre. 0n the way tonight. england's women reach another rugby world cup final with victory over france . celtic sweat in kazakhstan — beaten, but into the champions

league group stage. and the bbc understands the england women's coach mark sampson is given the backing of the fa. hello and welcome. their impressive run continues. england's women have reached their fifth straight rugby world cup final after victory over france in belfast tonight. their 20 points to three win sets up a showdown with the world's best new zealand on saturday. kathrine downes is live in belfast tonight. job done tonight? job done tonight? it is job done but

what a job. 20—3. it looks like an easy win but it was not easy. i spoke to the captain sarah hunter and she said it was very, very hard. a lot of bruised bodies in the england and french dressing rooms i am sure. after half the scores, 3—3 on the board. just a penalty each in it. two kicks and six points on the board and after half—time, england just managed to injure head with a try by the prop sarah bern to put england ahead and it was won by a french fumble behind the gold coast —— the goalposts, in the end. and england secured the victory ever go through to face the fairy tale of finals in belfast between the two

best sides in the women's game, england and new zealand. new zealand have a straightforward a5—12 victory against underdogs usa earlier. england versus new zealand in the final on saturday and it is the showcase of women's sports that everybody wanted to see at the end of the summer of sport that has seen women contest the cricket world cup, solheim cup, and it shows the best women can do in front of an ever expanding audience. celtic will go up against the elite of european football this season after qualifying for the group stage of the champions league. despite taking a substantial lead into the second leg of their qualifier with kazakhstan side astana tonight, there were some nervy moments for the scottish champions, as they lost for the first time this season, but progress 8—a on aggregate. adam wild reports. no let—up in concentration. that was the message for celtic but

with a 5—0 lead those who made the trip to kazakhstan may be forgiven for relaxing. for astana, a footballing lost cause. this made it clear it might not have been as co mforta ble clear it might not have been as comfortable as celtic hoped. remember the aim, scott sinclair's was inch perfect. astana needing another six. they went ahead on the night before it was 3—1, enough to give some hope. for celtic, no panic, more nervous shuffle. but then the impossible appeared a little less so. impossible appeared a little less so. it took this deflected effort to settle in. griffiths adding another. the players did magnificently and

another good learning game for us, because we would want to be better than that, but it is a night to celebrate. a wonderful achievement and now we are in the draw for the group stages. the second leg of the efl cup produced one upset tonight — luckily for craig shakespeare and his leicester city side, they weren't it, beating sheffield united a—i. drew savage reports. 0na night on a night when 38 teams made 27a changes to their league line—ups, the leicester boss contributed nine. a lacklustre first half. this from ben chilwell the best of it. sheffield wednesday fan jamie vardy on the bench itching to get involved. demerai gray got on the ball and they did not have to call for their chief goal—scorer. instead slimani got involved. he cost 29 million but moments like this have

been all too rare. demerai gray is usually a substitute and he was enjoying his evening, setting up slimani to side foot sheffield united out of sight. the blades were destined to get on the scoresheet with a helping hand from the leicester keeper ben hamer. lavery will claim it. is the competition still relevant? it is if you are a leicester fringe player. still relevant? it is if you are a leicesterfringe player. ahmed musa, one of last summer's underperforming signings takes his chance. leicester content signings takes his chance. leicester co nte nt to signings takes his chance. leicester content to be in the third round. leicester one of seven premier league sides in action. the surprise came at vicarage road where watford were beaten 3—2 by championship side bristol city. you can see the full results on the bbc sport website. the draw takes place at a:15am in

beijing. mark sampson, the england women's head coach, has the full backing of the fa, the bbc understands. it follows claims by the footballer eni aluko that she was subjected to bullying and discrimnatory behaviour by sampson. he was cleared in two investigations of any wrongdoing and denies the most recent accusations made by the chelsea forward. the antiracsim charity kick it out has called for an independent review. barcelona are to sue former player neymar, just weeks after his £200 million world record move to paris st—germain. a warning there is some flash photography coming up. the brazilian player moved to the french capital after they met his buyout clause. but barcelona are now claiming breach of contract over a bonus payment triggered when he signed a new five—year contract last october. the spanish club say they're seeking £7.8 million in damages, plus an additional 10% in interest. chris froome will have a second day in the leader's red jersey at the vuelta a espana.

the four—time tour de france champion is trying to become the third man to win the grand tours of france and spain in the same season. he had no trouble preserving his two—second lead on a fairly flat stage a. italy's matteo trentin sprinted to the stage win in the catalonian port city of tarragona. froome finished in the main bunch to keep the red jersey — although only 11 seconds separate the top six. england are through to the semi—finals of the women's euro hockey championships in amsterdam. the defending champions beat scotland 2—0 to reach the last four. england took the lead following this great pass from anna toman. jo hunter finishing off. before a penalty corner by giselle ansley secured the points. the defeat means scotland are out. we knew coming in they are very good in defence. they dropped deep and we knew it would be a close game, particularly in the first half. we knew if we continue to do the right

things, the opportunities would open. joe hunter got a fantastic first goal and then the corner for the second. we came with not much to lose out and we stuck with the system we wanted to play to see if we could come away with the result. disappointed, but a good performance and we have proven how well we can play and i think we are happy with that performance. meanwhile in the other game in pool b germany beat ireland 5—1 to reach the last four with their third straight win of the competition. it's 11 years since britain's nathan robertson and gail emms won gold medal at the world badminton championships. but chris and gabby adcock took another step closer to emulating them in glasgow. they're through to the last 16 of the mixed doubles. gb‘s 0lympic bronze medallists chris langridge and marcus ellis, scotland's european champion kirsty gilmour begin their campaign tomorrow. it isa

it is a world championships and anything can happen. we have prepared well but the next game, a seeded japanese pair, will be difficult. we want to get into the medals. we are going to be focused on one game at a time and hopefully that will come if we perform to our best. good luck to them. that is all. coming up in the moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are pippa crerar, political correspondent at the london evening standard. and the spectator‘s political correspondent, katie balls. thanks for coming in. the top

stories. the times headline is europe under threat, it says terrorists are posing a risk by posing as immigrants. the telegraph focuses on brexit — it reports eu judges could still report on british disputes. it also features an image of a baby found alive in the rubble of an italian earthquake. the mail is one of several newspapers to concentrate on the anniversary of diana's death. it marks the moment the princes were told of their mother's death. the i leads with the news that britain is backing president trump's commitment to afghanistan. it says the uk defence secretary believes the increase in troops is necessary. the express carries an image of princes charles, william and harry on the day of diana's funeral. the metro has a similar story reporting that harry is defending his dad and says prince charles did his best. the mirror also marks princess diana's death.

it also says the princes have praised their father prince charles. and ahead of transport summit for political and business leaders in the north of england, the yorkshire post has an exclusive interview with the transport secretary. chris grayling said it is not the government'sjobs to grayling said it is not the government's jobs to advance a crossrail for government's jobs to advance a crossrailfor north. government's jobs to advance a crossrail for north. many people will wonder why not. the times, europe under threat. an arresting picture. of the troops and an operation trying to deal with migrants trying to cross the mediterranean. and a familiar refrain and fear that in that boat of migrants, maybe people posing as terrorists. this is something we heard several years ago from figures like nigel farage. right now we have the libyan prime minister in this

investigation, warding europe will be increasingly at risk unless more is done to help them stand the number of migrants heading to italy and the rest of europe. italy is suffering a lot from this and they feel abandoned by the rest of europe when it comes to dealing with the number coming in. hopefully it will mean they were. to work out how to help each other. the british already have ships out there, picking up people and also trying to patrol the waters off the libyan coast and indeed the coalition is trying to deal with that. what more can be done? what the libyan prime minister is suggesting is that western nations need to offer more support oi'i nations need to offer more support on land, it is notjust about patrolling the mediterranean. that there is a porous southern border to libya, which is not a stable country, and to prevent the huge numbers of migrants arriving in

libya in the first place, apparently 700,000 there just now, of which 98,000 have already attempted to make the crossing to italy, that they need support in strengthening backboard. it feeds into this general fear that