for the republic. that's all we have time for. emily will be back on monday. from all of us here, a very good night. hello and welcome to sportsday. on the brink of glory. the top five finish the lewis hamilton in mexico this weekend and a fourth world title will be years. england's rug the league campaign starts with the defeat of the defending champions, australia. —— rugby league. and england on their best behaviour. thomas is from joe root as the ashes squad prepares to fly to australia without ben stokes. we know that what has happened isn't good enough and we are determined to turn that around. good evening. lewis hamilton is

aiming to become world champion for aiming to become world champion for a fourth time at the mexican grand prix this weekend, finishing fifth or better on sunday and the title is his matter what happens to sebastian vettel. it was a closely contested second practice. vettel was fourth fastest as he clings to his fading title hopes. if he is second in the race, hamilton needs only ninth to clea n race, hamilton needs only ninth to clean the championship. —— clinch. if the driver finishes anywhere else hamilton will take the crown. it was a lwa ys hamilton will take the crown. it was always going to be a tough start for england against australia, who are the best in the world and on their home turf. there are 18— four defeat shouldn't hurt their chances of

qualifying for the world cup. for england this is about as tough as it gets. australia like the all blacks have an air of the unbreakable about them. ten times at a world cup, they have been the last world standing. england are trying to deliver a new script. they seized their moment. the hosts were stirred into action. england tried to plug the gaps but the pressure was building. eventually they punched through. now australia had the lead and momentum. england will know all about how dangerous billy slater can be. stopping him is another matter. perhaps a bigger blow was landed just before half—time. sam burgess is now unlikely to return before the quarter—finals. without him england

we re quarter—finals. without him england were chasing the game. later on they we re were chasing the game. later on they were chasing the game. later on they were chasing josh dugan. his interception five minutes from time put the match beyond reach. england expect to improve, but will now face a tougher path through this tournament. the hope is their world cup doesn't start and end with the same result. rugby union now and it will be a long trip home for exeter chiefs this evening, but they will make it as leaders after beating sale sharks 10-6. the as leaders after beating sale sharks 10—6. the key moment came when they burst through to score the only try just after the break. saracens play london irish tomorrow. seven games and seven wins for glasgow in the pro“; and they took a bonus point earlier against southern kings. they had a victory against the south african side. ospreys ended a seven match losing streak by winning the welsh derby 28— 14.

sampaoli scored the first of four tries. —— sam parry. sheffield united are top of the ball‘s championship for the night after they beat yorkshire rivals leeds 2—1. lee sharpe said he would celebrate if he scored against his old club and he did before the game was two minutes old. leeds were back on level terms before half—time. they haven't created many chances but kelvin phillips made the most of this one and sheffield united had been the better team. david looks showed his class to finish the game. —— brooks. baker one point ahead of wolves. hurricane will miss his match due to a hamstring injury. —— harry kane. he had to be substituted late in the game. the manager called it a minor

hamstring strain, but enough to keep the leading goalscorer out as second—place united face spurs. the leading goalscorer out as second—place united face spurslj the leading goalscorer out as second-place united face spurs. i am not happy. i'm disappointed because harry is our main striker and i think one of the best players. possibly in europe or the world. one of the best strikers. always you are going to miss your best striker. i am not silly or stupid. anthonyjoshua has anthony joshua has weighed anthonyjoshua has weighed in at the heaviest he has ever been for a professionalfight, at heaviest he has ever been for a professional fight, at 18 stone and to pounds four his match tomorrow. he is trying to defend his title is against the challenger. he was due to face a bulgarian but he had to withdraw because of injury. his opponent was lighter, at close to 17

stone. england's cricket captainjoe group says there isn't a drinking culture within the squad. the players fly out tomorrow to australia without ben stokes, who was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm after an incident outside a bristol nightclub last month. his absence has made an already difficult to seem unwinnable, according to many pundits. england holds the ashes but last time they went away to australia they suffered a thrashing and many people fear the same fate could befall them this time because they've been forced to name a relatively inexperienced and weak batting lineup. more importantly, when they leave london tomorrow they will do so without arguably their most important player, ben stokes, he was yet to find out whether he will be charged by police following the altercation last month. the captainjoe the altercation last month. the captain joe root the altercation last month. the captainjoe root has been speaking

about the incident for the first time. i am in the same position as you. it's an ongoing investigation and we don't really know how long it will take. it is obviously disappointing that he won't be with us, but we are strong squad. it gives the other guy is an opportunity to stand up, put their stamp on test cricket. it gives them a chance to do something special and really threaten the depth of our squad. it's been suggested there might bea squad. it's been suggested there might be a culture issue with this site, a drinking culture. there might need to be a rethink as to how england conduct themselves, especially in somewhere like australia, maybe introduce a curfew. does there need to be a change? i don't think a drinking culture in cricket, in our side. we will address the issue as a side and make sure situations like this don't happen again. of course no one wants that, but we are growing men. we

know how to behave and we will make sure we conduct ourselves well. is there anything you will do differently in the way you captain aside, given recent events? the drinking later might, in manchester, as well and the sense that there might need to be more disciplined? —— late at night. might need to be more disciplined? -- late at night. we are going to sit down as a side and make sure something like this never happens again. we know that what's happened hasn't been good enough and we are determined to get that right. you've had to bring back players to have been previously discarded. it is an inexperienced lineup and you've lost a really important player in u nfortu nate a really important player in unfortunate circumstances. it's been described as an unfortunate and even shambolic buildup to an ashes series. can that motivate you? if you can pull it off it would be a miracle, wouldn't it? i don't think

so. the circumstances are u nfortu nate, so. the circumstances are unfortunate, but it's a chance for someone to come in and do something. a lot of the time we see a difficult situation or a strange event give the burst to someone's extremely good test career and that's how the quys good test career and that's how the guys are looking at it. someone coming back into the squad, for example, who might not be having a good time of it can really stand up 110w good time of it can really stand up now and do something special for the teammates. we can be a really successful side. it may have been a tough buildup to this 2017—18 ashes series for england, but all that will be put aside tomorrow when they travel out to australia. first there will be three warmup matches and then of course it all builds to the opening test in brisbane on november 23. tennis to finish and caroline garcia is through to the last four of the

wta finals at expense of simona halep. she produced a stunning fightback against caroline wozniacki to reach the final. karolina pliskova will replace simona halep if she wins the title in singapore as well number one. and kyle edmund maintained his fine form in vienna with a straight sets win. that puts him into his third acp semi—final of the year. there was also a win for roger federer in the swiss indoors earlier on this evening. that's all from sportsday for now. ta nks that's all from sportsday for now. tanks were watching and have a good evening. —— thanks for watching. let's see what the weekend will bring for most of us. it's looking rather blustery and chilly. not all

through the weekend, but certainly saturday is looking windy across northern parts of the uk. look at the cloud streaming in from the north atlantic. it across scotland right now. a few spots of rain and the winds are freshening. to the south there is high pressure, which is why the skies are clear and the weather will be, come saturday morning. first thing in the morning the weather in the top tale of the country will have similar temperatures. anywhere from 7—9 degrees. let's see what the morning is looking like. wind is already increasing in the northern half of the uk. in fact, at the gale force in some of the hills and posts. gus could approach 40— 50 mph, so blustery, cloudy and cool. especially around the lake district, say through the pennines. to the south of that, more sunshine in southern parts of the uk and eastern counties and winds will be a little

bit lighter. this is the scene around lunchtime. temperatures will peak around 16. not looking bad for the eastern counties, with a bit of sunshine. eastern parts of scotland, where the sun comes out, could have up where the sun comes out, could have up to 18 degrees. the wind peaks later in the afternoon and look what happens with the wind direction. they switch from north—westerly to more of a northerly. push the cloud away and we've got a beautiful day on the way on sunday. so saturday is the cloudy and blustery one. sunday is the sunny one, with much lighter winds. talking about fresh weather, we are in the high pressure and much of europe is on the low. we are in the middle of the higher. light winds as well. the skies will clear into sunday and we are going to have the coldest night of the autumn so far. these are the temperatures in the middle of town. in rural spots

it could dip below freezing. we are talking about throughout the country. write down towards southern britain. a chilly start the day on monday, but on tuesday it is looking a lot better. this is bbc news, i'm kasia madera. our top stories: si, si, si. spain imposes direct rule on catalonia hours after its politicians vote for independence. the prime minister mariano rajoy sacks the catalan leader, his cabinet and chief of police, vowing to restore the rule of law. translation: this independence is very sad. it causes anguish. that is what all catalans who are not for independence felt today. but catalan separatists are defiant, saying the independence vote means they no longer fall under spanishjurisdiction. also in the programme:

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