[imagesource: Getty Images]

Each Monday, I’ll be putting together a wrap of the weekend’s sporting action, standout moments, and major talking points, with a focus on football, cricket, and rugby.

So, off we go…

If you spent the weekend on the couch in front of the telly, you really were spoilt for sporting choice.

I’ll start this Weekend Sports Wrap on a slightly sad note, though, with the ‘voice of Formula One’, Murray Walker, passing away at the age of 97.

Walker served in World War II, reported on his first-ever Grand Prix in 1949, and became a full-time commentator in 1978.

The official F1 channel compiled this touching video tribute to a man whose name will always be indelibly linked to the sport he loved so much:

The pick of this weekend’s golfing action saw Justin Thomas edge out Lee Westwood to win the 2021 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Spare a thought for Westwood, who finished runner-up for a second successive week, although second place still netted him a $1,635 million payday, which should soften the blow.

Thomas came from three back going into the final round to pip Westwood and the big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau, with his four-under 68 enough to claim a one-shot win.

Here are the final round highlights:

Even though Tiger Woods is still in recovery, and some way from a return to the course, he’s never far from the minds of the players.

Below via Golf Digest:

Thomas, just moments after winning the 2021 Players Championship, couldn’t resist the opportunity to needle his good friend and mentor, Tiger Woods.

“Part of me wishes he was here so I could rub it in his face a little bit more,” a grinning Thomas told Golf Channel’s Steve Sands when asked about Woods…

“I was replaying what he told me a lot in my head. He likes to give me a lot of grief, especially when he’s not here, and I think like calling him, like Bryson said, we’re all pulling for him, and I’m so glad to hear everything has been going well with him,” Thomas said.

Every PGA Tour golfer knows that when they bank their winning cheques, they have Tiger to thank for the sheer size of the paydays dished out.

On the flip side, even the world’s best golfers have their off days, which is part of what makes the game so great.

Day one of the Players Championship saw defending champion Rory McIlroy and Ryder Cup teammates Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, and Tyrrell Hatton combined for a score of 29 over par.

You just have to laugh at yourself, really:

One of those days, combined table score of +29…comment your 4 ball that can relate🤦🏼@henrikstenson @McIlroyRory @TyrrellHatton pic.twitter.com/x0a9ZDNpbl

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 11, 2021

There was plenty going on in the world of rugby these past few days, but we have to start with Crusaders winger Leicester Fainga’anuku’s try against the Chiefs during his side’s 39-17 Super Rugby Aoteroa victory.

Many have argued that Fainga’anuku’s foot grazed the ground before he dotted down, and they have a point, but if you can’t give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team for a try like this, when can you?

Over in Australia, there was also a high-class contest between the Brumbies and the Reds in the Super Rugby AU tournament.

The first half produced top-quality passages of play, and even though a highlights package can’t do that justice, it’s worth having a look at it anyway:

The fourth round of the Six Nations featured the Italians on the receiving end of another hiding, with Wales winning 48-7, but the other two matches went down to the wire.

On Saturday, England and France scrapped at Twickenham, with the home side winning 23-20 courtesy of Maro Itoje’s 76th-minute try.

That was awarded via a lengthy TMO check, after on-field referee Andrew Brace ruled the ball had been held up, but English fans won’t be at all bothered about any controversy after a series of underwhelming performances.

Sunday saw the Scots battle the Irish, and there was also late drama.

A Johnny Sexton penalty right at the end was needed to break the deadlock after a gutsy fightback from Scotland.

The loss does mean that the home side have now lost three in a row in Edinburgh for the first time since March 2015, although Liverpool fans will tell you that losing three in a row at home is hardly the worst run.

Shall we dabble in a spot of the America’s Cup?

We have covered the basics of what the famous sailing race entails before, but the 36th America’s Cup is really heating up now.

Earlier today, Team New Zealand won back-to-back races to take a 5-3 lead against Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team.

In the eighth race, Team New Zealand turned a massive deficit into a comfortable win, meaning that another double win tomorrow would secure the Auld Mug, which is what the America’s Cup trophy is affectionately known as.

The first team to win seven races is declared champions. Let’s have a brief look at the highlights of the fifth day:

You can find further race highlights on the race’s official YouTube channel.

Alright, football time, and my customary gripe about Steve Bruce’s Newcastle.

Friday night’s last-gasp headed equaliser from Jamaal Lascelles secured a point for the Magpies against Aston Villa, who were without talisman Jack Grealish, but these points won’t be enough to secure Premier League survival come the end of the season.

Brighton won against Southampton, and despite being beaten 3-0 by Manchester City, Fulham are showing the sort of pluck that is often enough to drag a team out of the bottom three.

What’s so frustrating about it all is that Steve Bruce knows hanging in for draws against the likes of West Brom won’t be enough, but he happily takes a point because it means he won’t be sacked, as the club sleepwalks towards a third relegation of Mike Ashley’s reign.

And now onto things you actually care about, like the drama of yesterday’s North London derby.

Spurs’ Heung-min Son was forced to limp off early in proceedings, which prompted celebrations from the much-loathed AFTV (Arsenal Fans TV) crew.

Every club has a set of fans that they find truly embarrassing, but few have monetised that loathing as well as this lot.

Here they are celebrating Son’s injury, as it becomes clear that he’s going to be subbed off:

AFTV celebrating Son’s injury this is so disgusting pic.twitter.com/wE7ydFIYeZ

— Andrew ʷ (@delstroyer_) March 14, 2021

Not a good look, but these guys thrive off the outrage, so here we are.

The man who replaced Son, Erik Lamela, then scored a goal of the season contender with an outrageous rabona finish shortly after the half-hour mark:

DONT EVER SLAG LAMELA OFF AGAIN pic.twitter.com/BYRkRz876m

— Dan @staceyssmiles (@danspurs) March 14, 2021

Alas, it wasn’t to be for Jose Mourinho’s men, with a Martin Odegaard strike just before the break, and an Alexandre Lacazette penalty 64 minutes in, securing Arsenal a 2-1 win.

Worse still for Lamela, he was sent off for a second yellow with 15 minutes to go, making him just the fifth player in Premier League history to come off the bench, score, and then get sent off.

Here are the highlights, via the Arsenal YouTube channel:

Lacazette’s penalty has been hotly debated, given that he completely fluffed his strike, and Mourinho wasn’t all too happy after the final whistle.

Then again, the man loves a post-match whine:

🗣️ “No post-match interviews for the referees?… Pity!”

A blockbuster post-match interview from Jose Mourinho after Tottenham’s defeat at Arsenal! 🍿pic.twitter.com/MNIVU6UkEC

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 14, 2021

There was some South African interest in Sunday’s 5-0 drubbing of Sheffield United by Leicester, with 21-year-old Thakgalo Leshabela coming off the bench for his debut.

Percy Tau has yet to really take flight at Brighton since his return to the club from a number of loans, and it’s great to have another South African flying the flag, even if he is likely to remain a peripheral figure as Leicester try and nail down a Champions League spot as the season winds to a close.

Here’s the moment Leshabela trotted on:

With Leicester 5-0 up against Sheffield, Brendan Rodgers handed 21-year-old Thakgalo Leshabela from South Africa his Premier League debut 🇿🇦🦊#PL | #LEISHE pic.twitter.com/TzJhFPUu6X

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 14, 2021

For some total football shithousery, we head to League Two and a very ‘in your face’ celebration from 42-year-old Newport player Kevin Ellison after his goal against Morecambe.

He played close to 400 matches for Morecambe, before being let go by manager Derek Adams last year.

There is no love lost between the pair, and after he netted, Ellison made a point of letting Adams know it:

Newport’s Kevin Ellison scores against former club and celebrates in the face of the manager that made him train on his own and didn’t ever put him on the team sheet, have that ya tw*t pic.twitter.com/2SfOn4K53N

— Football Shithousery (@FootyRustling) March 13, 2021

After the match, Ellison said he celebrated in the manner he did because Adams had ‘disrespected’ him in his final few months at Morecambe.

Another man who felt disrespected is Cristiano Ronaldo, who came in for a great deal of criticism after Juventus crashed out of the Champions League against Porto.

In particular, Ronaldo was derided for his defending in the wall against a Porto free kick, which proved crucial in eliminating his side on the away goals rule:

#ChampionsLeague at it best…
Messi
Ronaldo
Mbappe
Juventus & Porto #JuventusPorto 4-4 on aggregate pic.twitter.com/Wo2AF46Ic6

— Thobani McNdazwe (@BhutiThobani) March 9, 2021

Despite his immense goal-scoring record at Juventus, the Italian giants have seen their title-winning margin decrease in each of his years at the club, and it appears that Inter Milan will deny them a 10th straight league title.

In addition, Juventus have failed to dazzle in Europe, and there’s no doubt that Ronaldo was hurting, which is the worst kind of Ronaldo to come up against.

Just the first-half hat-trick for CR7:

The boxing world lost a great this weekend, with ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler passing away at the age of 66.

Widely regarded as the greatest middleweight champion of all time, his 1985 battle against Thomas Hearns was dubbed ‘The War’.

In particular, the first round was absolute blockbuster stuff, so let’s relive those three minutes:

The greatest 3 minutes in #boxing history.

🥊 Hagler vs. Hearns
🔔 Round One
📍 Las Vegas
🗓 April 15, 1985

As fitting a tribute as any to one of the sport’s all-time finest. pic.twitter.com/xxRgSdGZsw

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) March 14, 2021

Hagler won by third-round knockout.

Alright, we are approaching the home stretch here, people.

I will start with some of the worst cricket you’ll ever see, courtesy of the European Cricket Series.

A match between Varmdo CC and the Stockholm Super Kings descended into the realms of the farcical, with the clip widely shared by some big cricketing names.

One of those was Michael Vaughan:

Now this is proper cricket !!! pic.twitter.com/bhJ6rDLVAd

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 10, 2021

It really is the gift that keeps on giving, and if you focus on a different player each viewing, there’s much to unpack.

I haven’t seen that level of chaos at the wicket since 1999, when a certain Allan…

No, it is still too soon. It always will be. Don’t ever, ever raise that run-out in any context. Sometimes one of those SuperSport highlights packages springs it on you out of nowhere, and I’m still campaigning for any such package to contain a trigger warning.

Let’s think happier thoughts, like the Proteas women’s team and their immense chase against the Indian women’s outfit yesterday.

With a 2-1 series lead, after Lizelle Lee’s heroics in the third ODI, the Proteas were set a daunting total of 267 to chase down.

Led by another solid opening partnership between Lee and skipper Laura Wolvaardt, and some power hitting from Lara Goodall and Mignon du Preez, the Proteas achieved their highest-ever successful run chase with seven wickets and eight balls in hand.

It’s a real pity that I cannot find a highlights package to show you, because it was a run chase that oozed confidence, and secured a series win with a match to spare.

The fifth and final ODI will be played on Wednesday, before the sides compete in a three-match T20 series.

Okay, we finished the Sports Wrap on a high. Have yourself a fine ‘ol week.