Itoje England’s youngest second row for 20 years

RUGBY – Maro Itoje has been named in England’s starting XV to face Ireland in the third round of the Six Nations Championship at Twickenham on Saturday. Itoje will be the youngest second row to start for England in the competition since Garath Archer 20 years ago, and only the eighth forward in the professional era to debut for England before his 22^nd birthday.

Tour de France in numbers

CYCLING – On 4 July, the Tour de France will start in Utrecht. Excluding France, Netherlands are the country with most Tour starts – six, including 2015. The following are various stats about the Tour de France and its participants this year.

PREVIEW: Wimbledon draw promises big clashes

TENNIS – Today the main draw for the 48th edition of Wimbledon in Open era was announced which will take place from Monday 29 June to Sunday 12 July. This year’s draw promises some big clashes between former champions of the tournament in both the men’s and women’s tournament.

PREVIEW: Maze v Fenninger showdown for Overall

ALPINE SKIING – Tina Maze finished fourth in the Slalom in Méribel on Saturday. Anna Fenninger finished 23rd, which means Maze took over the lead in the Overall and now leads by 18 points with only the Giant Slalom to go on Sunday. See below what rank Fenninger needs  to have at least a share of the 2014/15 Overall World Cup title and which rank Maze needs to win the title.

PREVIEW: North by far youngest to earn 50th Test cap in rugby

RUGBY – Wales have named George North in their starting XV to face France in the teams’ Six Nations Championship encounter in Paris on Saturday. For North, it will be his 50 Test appearance, making him by far the youngest player in Test history to reach the half century. He beats the former mark held by Australia’s Joe Roff by more than a year.

PREVIEW: France main provider to African Cup of Nations

FOOTBALL –  From the 368 squad members in the 16 teams that will contest the 2015 African Cup of Nations, 73 ply their domestic trade in France and 54 of them play for a French top flight club.

PREVIEW: 2014 US Open Men’s Singles Final (8 September)

TENNIS – On Monday 8 September Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic will battle it out for the last Grand Slam title of the year, the US Open. In the semifinals both the number 1 seed, Djokovic, and the number 2 seed, Federer, were stopped in their quest to add another Grand Slam title to their honours. It was for the first time since 2005 that no player of the Big Four was in the final of a men’s Grand Slam.

PREVIEW: 2014 US Open Men’s and Women’s Singles (25 August – 7 September)

Tennis – The following is a preview for the 2014 US Open men’s and women’s singles. Rafael Nadal not be defending his title, Novak Djokovic aiming for back-to-back Majors and Serena Williams for her third consecutive US Open title.

PREVIEW: Rugby Championship Week 2 (23 August)

RUGBY UNION – The following is a preview for the Week 2 matches in the 2014 The Rugby Championship: New Zealand v Australia and Argentina v South Africa.

PREVIEW: Tour de France facts

CYCLING – The 101st edition of the Tour de France will start in Leeds on Saturday, 5 July. The first stage is a stage in line finishing in Harrogate. The riders will reach Paris on Sunday, 27 July.