The five-time world champion is still the sport's box office attraction and he is showing no signs of slowing down.
But legend Virgo has told the Rocket that his best days can't keep going on.
He told the Metro: "Ronnie O'Sullivan is the finest player that has ever played the game, he has the charisma and talent to make people watch - but he won't last forever.
"There are a lot of players coming through from China. It won't be long before a world champion comes from China. source
It’s third against fourth in the Championship tonight (7.45pm) as Bristol City travel to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United.
The two sides are only separated by goal difference and will be hoping for a win to eat into the six-point buffer second-placed Cardiff City have built.
Blades boss Chris Wilder is unlikely to wield the axe despite criticism of the 3-1 defeat at Millwall last weekend.
Wilder appears likely to resist the temptation to make wholesale changes to his starting line-up.
Wales international David Brooks is hoping for more first-team chances after netting his side's only goal in the Lions loss.
Striker Ched Evans remains sidelined with long-term ankle trouble.
City winger Jamie Paterson is a doubt due to a long-term hamstring injury.
Paterson starred in City's 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on Saturday, but was withdrawn on 80 minutes.
Niclas Eliasson could step up if Paterson fails to find fitness in time for the Friday night clash.
Sky Sports Main Event, available on Sky channel 401, will show the game live while Virgin Media customers can watch the action on channel 501.
Coverage of the game between Sheffield United and Bristol City will be shown live on Sky Sports Football (Sky channel 403, Sky HD channel 439, Virgin channel 513), with the pre-match build-up starting at 7.30pm and kick-off set for 7.45pm.
This means that all the action can be followed on your desktop or laptop via the Sky Go app, which if you’re an existing customer, is also available on iOS and Android smartphone and tablet devices.
Sky Go is also available on a number of platforms including Amazon Fire devices, iPad, Mac computers and laptops, Playstation 3, PS4 and Xbox One.
The Sky Sports app, available to download on iOS and Android devices, will also be providing live text coverage and updates.
If you're not currently a Sky Sports customer but can't stand to miss out on the action, you can add the channels to your box via a NOW TV subscription.
Day passes, which let you add SkySports channels for 24 hours, start at £6.99 a day, with a weekly pass starting from £10.99, and no locking in to a contract.
NOW TV doesn't even require a typical television to use, as it is also available on a NOW TV Box, Chromecast, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Roku, LG Smart TV, PC or Mac, and selected mobile and tablet devices. source
As
the Steelers process their latest
play-down-to-the-level-of-inferior-competition-but-still-win evening in
Cincinnati, they now have to hold their breath regarding the possibility
that one of their best young players won’t be available on Sunday night
against Baltimore.
Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster‘s devastating blindside helmet-to-jaw hit on Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict
puts Smith-Schuster in line to potentially be the next NFL player
suspended in a season that has featured more than a few of them. From
Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan to Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch to Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans to Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree and Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib to Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski
to probably another one or two that I’m forgetting because there have
been so many of them this year, Smith-Schuster could be the next name
added to the list.
Unlike the Gronkowski hit on Tre'Davious White,
Smith-Schuster’s actions occurred within the normal confines of a play.
But so did Trevathan’s, and that didn’t keep him from being suspended.
The biggest difference between Trevathan and Smith-Schuster is that Davante Adams ended up in the hospital, and Vontaze Burfict
didn’t. But the ultimate outcome of the illegal hit shouldn’t dictate
the punishment; if the goal is to ensure that players avoid engaging in
dangerous activities on the field, the dangerous activities, not the
outcome, should drive the consequence.
It’s
a shared responsibility of players and coaches. And it will be
interesting to hear whether the Pittsburgh coaches ultimately praise or
condemn Smith-Schuster for the hit. For now, coach Mike Tomlin has
publicly chastised Smith-Schuster only for standing over Burfict after
the hit, and not for the hit itself.
Six years ago, former Steelers safety Ryan Clark claimed that a hit that triggered a $40,000 fine drew praise from Tomlin in the film room. Hopefully, those mixed messages no longer are being sent by Tomlin.
Hopefully, mixed messages will no longer be sent by the league office, either source
A grimy football game can be fun, sometimes. Messy, brutal, even a
little bit of dirty play can raise the stakes, or at least turn a game
into a car wreck that can’t be looked away from. Steelers-Bengals was
not fun.
With the pall cast over the night by Ryan Shazier’s terrifying spinal injury—later described as a spinal cord concussion—the
last thing anyone wanted to see was that particularly ugly brand of AFC
North football that these teams specialize in. But there it was, in the
second half, tempers boiling over and players targeting each other’s
brains.
Vontaze Burfict was taken off a stretcher and treated for a concussion after this block from JuJu Smith-Schuster:
Burfict, I don’t need to tell you, is the dirtiest player in the NFL. And he had managed to piss off the Steelers
all night. Does that mean he deserves to have his brain turned to mush,
his lifespan potentially shortened and his quality of life decreased?
If you ask Antonio Brown, yes.
“Karma is in life,” Brown told reporters about Burfict’s injury. “You do the wrong things, you get the wrong things out of it ... What goes around comes around.”
Two
years ago Burfict knocked out Brown in a playoff game, two months after
Burfict had ended Le’Veon Bell’s season. Was that specifically what
Brown was referring to? Or was it more Burfict’s general history of
dirty play and endangering opponents? Does it really matter?
The
cycle of retaliation came back around quickly. Four minutes after
Smith-Schuster’s hit on Burfict, George Iloka went head-hunting on
Brown:
Football
is, inherently and by design, violent and dangerous. (Two other Bengals
besides Burfict left the game with brain injuries.) There’s no getting
around that. Just by being a fan, I’m admitting that I’m okay with it to
some level. But there’s a line where it becomes unenjoyable, and last
night’s game crossed that line.
Some players weren’t okay with it either. “We need to take ownership,” A.J. Green said. “We need to take care of each other.”
There’s
something to that. NFL players are, even if on different teams,
co-workers. They’re often friends. It’s a sorry thing that some are
sometimes out there actively trying to injure each other, in ways that
can have long-lasting and life-ruining effects. They owe it to each
other, and, if Antonio Brown’s right about karma, to themselves, to look
out for one another.
But they can’t police each other. Or rather, this—last night—is what that policing looks like. It’s enforcement. It’s punitive. It’s an escalating cycle of revenge. You take out our guy, we’ll take out your guy. And it doesn’t work.
If it worked, if players feared retaliation, we wouldn’t see the dirty
hits in the first place. But we still do. We always have.
If
the players won’t police themselves, the league has to. If the NFL
really wanted to stop this, it could instruct officials to be generous
with ejections for headshots. It could issue suspensions that accurately
reflect the seriousness of the actions. But a league where Rob
Gronkowski gets one single game for concussing a prone opponent
with an elbow to the back of the head after the play had ended is not a
league that is declaring itself all too concerned with player safety.
I
don’t expect anything to really change, because the NFL has largely
covered its ass at this point, as far as business-threatening
class-action suits go. And there are plenty of fans—maybe a
majority?—who like this type of football, and would complain it’s gone
soft if players like Smith-Schuster and Iloka were immediately ejected.
All I’m saying is that I didn’t like watching this game, a feeling I
find myself having more and more often. source
Captain Dylan Hartley lifted the Cook Cup for England after their victory over Australia on Saturday
Captain Dylan Hartley has been left out of England's starting XV for the
first time under Eddie Jones, for Saturday's match against Samoa at
Twickenham.
Hartley drops to the bench as hooker Jamie George get his first
start, while flanker Chris Robshaw and fly-half George Ford are named
co-captains.
Exeter number eight Sam Simmonds also makes a starting debut for his country.
Owen Farrell has again been rested with Alex Lozowski paired at centre with Henry Slade.
Hartley is joined among the replacements by 19-year-old lock Nick Isiekwe, and back Piers Francis.
England's
31-year-old captain had led the team for all 22 Test matches under
Jones, with Saracens' George a regular presence among the replacements.
Along
with Farrell, prop Mako Vunipola has also been omitted from the 23-man
squad, with Ellis Genge starting in the front row with George and Dan
Cole.
After impressing on this summer's tour of Argentina, Charlie Ewels is in the second row with Joe Launchbury.
Maro Itoje starts for the first time this autumn, and is alongside Robshaw and Simmonds in the back row.
Following his match-winning cameo against Australia, Danny Care starts at scrum-half while, as expected, full-back Mike Brown returns from concussion.
Saturday's autumn internationals
Scotland v Australia (14:30 GMT)
England v Samoa (15:00 GMT)
Wales v New Zealand (17:15 GMT)
Ireland v Argentina (17:30 GMT)
"This
is an exciting squad to play against Samoa and we are expecting them to
be immensely physical and committed this weekend," said head coach
Eddie Jones.
"We want to follow up last week's performance against
Australia and play better again this week. Our intent in every game and
every training session is to be better.
"This week it is an
opportunity for some squad members who haven't been playing to put their
best foot forward. We will have to play smart and will need to find
ways to win the contest against Samoa."
Samoa include seven English-based players in their starting XV.
Northampton's
Ahsee Tuala, Gloucester's Motu Matu'u, Sale's TJ Ioane, and the Bristol
quartet of David Lemi, Alapati Leiua, Jack Lam and captain Chris Vui
are all included.
Celtic qualified for the Champions League group Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2-0 Celtic
Celtic survived a second-leg
onslaught to reach the Champions League group stage with a narrow
aggregate play-off win over Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Beaten 2-0 in Israel, Brendan Rodgers' side progressed on the strength of their 5-2 win in Glasgow last week.
Celtic keeper Craig Gordon saved Maharan Radi's penalty shortly before he was beaten by Ben Sahar's header.
Ovidiu Hoban capitalised on a mix-up between Gordon and Saidy Janko for Hapoel's second goal.
Celtic,
who are likely to be in the fourth pot of seeds for the Champions
League group stage, will discover their opponents when the draw is made
on Thursday evening.
Celtic return to the group stage of the competition for the first time in three years and will bank almost £30m as a result.
The
guaranteed income will give Rodgers - in his first season as Celtic
boss - further opportunities to expand his squad before the transfer
window closes next week.
It is in defence where Celtic's most
pressing needs lie, with the side having kept only two clean sheets in
10 competitive matches this term - and none away from home.
Erik
Sviatchenko was fit enough to make the bench, while fellow centre-back
Jozo Simunovic is still some way off a return, leaving regular
right-back Mikael Lustig to partner Kolo Toure at the heart of Celtic's
back-line.
Celtic's Champions League income
£2.6m for winning the play-off
£10.3m for group stage participation
£10m television money
£7m from gate receipts
£1.3m for group stage win
£0.43m for group stage draw
Night to forget for Janko
The
Scottish Premiership winners knew a forceful opening from the hosts was
likely, with the Israeli champions going for the 3-0 win that would
have taken them through on away goals.
Janko, who struggled to
deal with Hoban throughout, was penalised for the spot-kick and booked
for a trip on Ofir Davidadze, although television replays suggested the
challenge was just outside the area.
It mattered little, though, as Radi went too central with his effort, allowing Gordon to charge down.
Radi's
corner was met by Sahar's downward header past Gordon and Kieran
Tierney on the line, the striker netting moments after replacing the
injured Lucio Maranhao.
In the early moments of the second half,
Janko knocked the ball out of Gordon's hands as he came to collect a
cross, leaving Hoban with a tap-in.
Barak Bakhar's side were now
within touching distance of their target but Sahar and Hoban could not
convert as Celtic were continually exposed.
Sahar (top left) scored Hapoel Beer Sheva's third goal of the two-legged play-off
Griffiths isolated in attack
Top scorer Leigh Griffiths had a frustrating evening up front for Celtic, who struggled to get out of their own half.
Just
before the hour he was replaced by former Fulham striker Moussa
Dembele, who fashioned Celtic's first real chance when curling wide from
the left edge of the era after driving at the Hapoel defence.
Scott Sinclair then tested keeper David Goresh from near the penalty spot.
But
that respite was short-lived as Hapoel reasserted their dominance in
possession, making the final 25 minutes a nervous wait for the
travelling fans.
The final whistle prompted celebrations for those
supporters and the Celtic players and management as Hapoel were left to
contemplate their consolation prize of a place in the Europa League
group stage.
Match date/time: Wednesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
TV: FOX Sports 1 (U.S. -
English), FOX Deportes (U.S. - Spanish), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet
regional (Canada), C+ (Spain), Sky Sport 1 (Germany)
Online: In the U.S., the easiest option for most viewers will be FOX Sports Go. That's free if you have a TV subscription to FOX Sports 1. If that isn't an option for you, there's also FOX Soccer 2 Go, a paid service that requires no TV subscription. Unfortunately, this game is not on Watch ESPN.
Barcelona 2-0 PSG (5-1 agg): Neymar relief eases Barca into finally cardinal
Neymar bagged a first-half steady as Barcelona vex Town Saint-Germain 2-0 at the Nou Populate to richness into the Champions League semi-finals with a 5-1 mingle success.
Aim into the gallinacean with a 3-1 counseling, the hosts never looked in danger of ending their levelheaded advantage as PSG struggled to contend with Barcelona's pacey extremely call.
The adult was Luis Enrique's 50th in billing and he is now upright two games absent from guiding Metropolis to their archetypal Champions League inalterable since 2011.
Andres Iniesta, who has won this competition trine nowadays with Barca, was up for the challenge from the original signal, high the masquerade and spearheading most of the home back's beforehand attacks.
It was no attack when they took the strip on 14 proceedings with the Country world providing the magical.
He picked the glob up deep privileged his own half and danced his prehistoric two PSG tackles, making 50 yards in the impact, before discovery Neymar with a dead weighted through pellet. The mover skipped tense Salvatore Sirigu in the PSG goal and broached the masque into the unfilled net.
VALENTINO ROSSI VS MARK MARQUEZ MOTOGP ARGENTINA 2015
Argentina MotoGP: Valentino Rossi wins, Marc Marquez crashes
Italy's Valentino Rossi won his back MotoGP run of the flavor in Argentina after earth champ Marc Marquez crashed out in the closing stages.
Nine-time mankind indorse Rossi overhauled Spaniard Marquez, with Italia's Andrea Dovizioso taking ordinal and Celt Cal Crutchlow position.
Marquez, struggling with his tyres, clipped Rossi's substantiate rotate when disagreeable to acquire the steer and went perfect. Officials reviewed the incident but decided that no mechanism was requisite.
"I am unhappy some this, he grazed me on the construction and I outlook he is OK," said Rossi.
"The bike was extraordinary and now two victories already. I cogitate we give be fit to struggle to the end."
Kingdom's Danny Painter won the Moto3 vie for the gear week in a row, piece compatriot Sam Lowes was bag in the Moto2 vie.
Argentina Grand Prix results:
1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 41:35.644
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 41:41.329
3. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 41:43.942
4. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 41:43.996
5. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 41:45.836
6. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 41:55.520
7. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 41:59.977
8. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 42:03.314
9. Scott Redding (Britain) Honda 42:10.041
10. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 42:10.452
World Championship standings:
1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 66 points
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 60
3. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 40
4. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 37
5. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 36
6. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 34
7. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 28
8. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 22
9. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 15
10. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 15