NETBALL: Loughborough Lightning brushed aside Manchester Thunder 70-54 to win the Super League’s Grand Final for the second consecutive year in front of a record crowd of over 8,000 in Birmingham on Saturday.

London Pulse came from behind to beat the Severn Stars 52-48 in the third-place play-off match.

Despite their highest-ever finish, the Stars have not been included in next season’s revamped Super League.

MEN’S RUGBY UNION: Sam Berman bagged a hat-trick as Ireland opened their Under-20s World Championship campaign with a 55-15 bonus-point win over Italy.

England came from behind to see off Argentina 40-21 and Wales earned two losing bonus points after going down 41-34 to New Zealand.

Hosts South Africa thrashed Fiji 51-8, defending champions France comfortably beat Spain 49-12 and Australia battled past Georgia 35-11 in Saturday’s other fixtures.

HOCKEY: Britain’s women beat Belgium on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Amsterdam on Saturday to finish seventh, three places off the bottom, in the FIH Pro League.

Britain were a massive 29 points behind runaway champions the Netherlands, who lost just one of their 16 games.

The British men’s team suffered a penalty shoot-out defeat to Germany in their last game to finish third behind table-topping Australia and second-placed Netherlands.

WOMEN'S RUGBY LEAGUE: England ran in eight unanswered tries in another dominant display against France to win 42-0 in Toulouse.

Stuart Barlow’s side, who beat France 64-0 when the two sides last met in April last year, went over four times in either half, while impressive Wigan teenager Isabel Rowe landed five of her eight conversion attempts.

The match was part of a double-header to help celebrate 90 years of French rugby league.