Jensen on the ‘button’ as ‘Grand’ Wales slam the rest

RUGBY UNION: Wales clinched the Grand Slam for the third time in eight years by beating France 16-9 in Cardiff.

England finished second after defeating Ireland 30-9, while Scotland got the wooden-spoon after losing 13-6 in Italy.

Former Wales and British Lions captain Mervyn Davies, known as ‘Merv the Swerve’ has died aged 65.

FORMULA ONE Jensen Button won the first Grand Prix of 2012 in Australia; Sebastian Vettel was second and Lewis Hamilton third.

The next race is in Malaysia this weekend. In the pits in Melbourne was Spanish señorita Maria de Villota who has joined the Marussia team, the first female test driver in F1 since Giovanni Amati in 1992. 

FOOTBALL: Chelsea and Liverpool are in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Assisted by a brace from Fernando Torres, his first goals for almost five months, Chelsea beat Leicester 5-2 and will now face either Spurs or Bolton, while Liverpool ousted Stoke 2-1 and will meet the winner of the Everton-Sunderland replay.

Chelsea, also into the last eight of the Champions League, have been drawn against Benfica and if they win will take on either Barcelona or AC Milan in the semi-final.

The other two CL quarter-final ties are Apoel-Real Madrid and Marseille-Bayern Munich.

The first legs take place next Tuesday/Wednesday.

Kilmarnock beat Celtic 1-0 to lift the Scottish League Cup for the first time in the club’s history and so ended the Bhoys hopes of completing a domestic treble.

Premiership leaders Manchester United thumped bottom club Wolves 5-0 on Sunday. That’s 19 goals conceded by the Molineux club in five matches.

Jim McIntyre (Dunfermline) and Paul Peschisolido (Burton Albion) became the 50th and 51st managers to lose their jobs this season. Ex-WBA & England international Ray Barlow has died, aged 85.

An FA Cup winner in 1954, he played 482 games for the Baggies (1944-60).

Former Borussia Dortmund star Timo Konietzka, 73, scorer of the first-ever goal in the newly-formed German Bundesliga v Werder Bremen in 1963, has died in Switzerland.

CRICKET: Alastair Cook hit 163 as England (303-8 dec) beat a Sri Lanka Board XI by an innings and 15 runs in a warm-up game before the first Test which starts on Monday. Italy played its first major game, losing to Ireland in an ICC 20/20 qualifier.

And India’s Sachin Tendulkar has finally scored his 100th international century, in a five wicket loss to Bangladesh. Well done little ‘Big’ man.

SPORT SHORTS

• Luke Donald is the world’s number one golfer again after winning the Transitions Championship in Florida in a four-way play-off.

• All of Team GB’s top women swimmers will be competing in the Olympics games, including Rebecca Adlington, Ellen Gandy and Jemma Lowe.

• Leaders Huddersfield beat Castleford 42-6 in Rugby’s Super League while Salford crashed 56-16 to second-placed Leeds for whom Kevin Sinfield set a new club points record of 2,922.

• Japanese rider Hiroshi Hoketsu (70) has qualified for the dressage at the London Olympics – 48 years after his first games in Tokyo in 1964. The oldest-ever Olympian is Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn who won silver in 1920, aged 72.

DID YOU KNOW? So far this season, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored 96 goals between them for club and country: Messi 54 and Ronaldo 42. Arsenal’s Robin van Persie has netted 33.