Rearview Mirror

If you slept through the weekend, here's what you missed:

Euro Championships - See here for the earlier post on Friday's fixtures. On Saturday, the Czech Republic gained a vital away draw, after Scotland conceded a controversial late penalty and Michal Kadlec converted for the Czechs. Tuesday will see most teams back in action as qualifying gets near to completion.

AFL - the last round of Aussie rules saw some interesting results, although there will be some doubt on how seriously they can be viewed given the lack of pressure on some teams. At the top of the table, Collingwood had only their second loss of the season, again to Geelong, but this time by a massive 96 points. Collingwood started the game with a bang that suggested they weren't taking their foot off the pedal, but Geelong dominated proceedings thereafter in a massive confidence boost ahead of the finals. Collingwood will nervously reassure themselves that the game didn't mean much, and their main concern will be some injuries coming out of the game. In the other games of note, Saint Kilda ensured home ground advantage over the Swans after beating Carlton, while Port Adelaide avoided the wooden spoon, after a hard fought win against Melbourne in the first ever AFL game at Adelaide Oval. Gold Coast's poor percentage ended up handing them the wooden spoon in their debut season. The final table can be seen here.

The finals start on Friday night with Geelong taking on Hawthorn, with Saturday featuring Collingwood versus West Coast and St Kilda hosting the Swans. Carlton meet Essendon on Sunday in front of what is likely to be an elimination final record crowd.

Cricket - Australia clinched the first Test over Sri Lanka - see report here. The second Test starts Thursday in Pallekele. In England, the first ODI was rained out with India in a strong position, and the series moves to Southampton on Tuesday for the second match.

US Open - the US Open has followed the recent pattern with the four top men moving comfortably through the tournament on their expected path to semi-final meetings, while the women's side has had no shortage of early departures from top seeds. Forgotten local teen prodigy Donald Young has been the surprise packet on the men's side, accounting for two experienced seeds in Wawrinka and Chela, although he now faces fourth-seed Andy Murray in the round of 16. In the women's, only the top two of the top eight seeds remain in, with Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva through in to the quarters where they will face Andrea Petkovic (9th seed) and Sam Stosur (10) respectively. Serena Williams, seeded 28th as she fights back from injury, looks the player to beat, with 4th seed Victoria Azarenka unlucky enough to have to face her in the third round.

Rugby - the World Cup gets underway on Friday when hosts New Zealand take on Tonga. The pick of the early matches will be on Sunday when South Africa look to put a difficult Tri Nations tournament behind them when they meet Wales.