Sport Shorts

Masters of the heroic failure

Scotland’s unblemished record of never missing a Rugby World Cup quarter final has been lost. Needing a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knockout stages, Scotland for long periods of a brutal contest looked as if they might pull it off. Leading at one stage 12-3, their opponents England were staring over the precipice of an early exit from the competition. However, a series of Jonny Wilkinson penalties followed by a late try by Chris Ashton meant it was the luckless Scots that lost 16-12 and boarded the plane home from New Zealand. A glaring missed opportunity by Nick de Luca to put the game out of sight will be relived by the Scots, while the performance of surely-soon-to-be-knighted Chris Paterson in particular typified the efforts of the Scottish.

Big-spending Anzhi look for new manager

Billionaire-backed Russian Premier League club Anzhi Makhachkala last week sacked head coach Gadzhi Gadzhiyev. Defeat in the Russian Cup and recent 2-2 home-draw with strugglers Terek Grozny proved decisive. The club, having already signed Roberto Carlos in February, rose to international prominence in August by convincing Samuel Eto’o to join from Italian giants Inter – making him the best-paid player in the world. However, limited progress sees Anzhi well out of the title race with the season soon to conclude. Avram Grant has been heavily linked to the now-vacant post of head coach.

Veteran Hoy sets standard while Cav revels in world road win

Sir Chris Hoy won the team sprint on the final day of the National Track Championships in Manchester to complete a hat-trick of gold medals this week. Hoy partnered Jason Kenny and former Olympic champion Jason Queally to push Ross Edgar, Pete Mitchell and Dave Daniell into the silver medal place. Hoy will surely be hoping he can carry over this form into his preparation for London 2012. Hoy’s GB team-mate Mark Cavendish also had reason to celebrate as he became Britain's first male world road race champion for 46 years as his team rode a near-perfect race in Denmark.The eight-man GB line-up ignored all breakaways to control the peloton over the 266km course, delivering Cavendish to the finish in ideal fashion.