NETBALL: Both of the new franchise teams suffered defeats in the opening round of Super League matches as Birmingham went down 71-63 in Leeds and Nottingham Forest were on the end of a 73-51 beating by London Pulse. 

London Mavericks won 65-56 at the Cardiff Dragons while Ella Clark top-scored with 40 goals as reigning champions Loughborough Lightning brushed aside last year’s runners-up Manchester 69-44.

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY: Belfast Giants lead the Elite League by just two points with a game in hand after they slipped to a 2-1 shoot-out defeat at in-form Glasgow while second-placed defending champions Sheffield edged out Cardiff 4-3 and enjoyed a 2-1 overtime win over Guildford. 

Nottingham are only a point behind Sheffield in third following their 4-1 win in Manchester and 9-3 mauling of bottom club Fife.

WOMEN’S RUGBY UNION: Gloucester-Hartpury came from 14 points behind to beat Saracens 34-19 and claimed their third consecutive English Premiership title. 

Second half tries from Maud Muir, Neve Jones and Natasha Hunt drove Gloucester-Hartpury to score 19 unanswered points in the final match of head coach Sean Lynn’s six-year career with the club before he manages the Welsh national team in their upcoming Six Nations campaign.

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL: Arsenal are at Real Madrid for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tomorrow evening. 

It’s only the second time that Madrid have reached the last eight, while Arsenal will be making a record-equalling 16^th appearance at this stage. 

Elsewhere, Tuesday night eight-time winners Lyon visit Bayern Munich before Wednesday evening’s games see Wolfsburg take on current champions Barcelona and Manchester City host Chelsea.