The Sport Matrix: Monday 23 March 2015

Ireland crush Scots to claim crown

Ireland equalled the achievement of the men’s team with an emphatic 11-try, 73-3 win over Scotland to secure the Women’s Six Nations on points difference from France. Ireland started yesterday’s game needing to win by 27 points and were inspired by wing Alison Miller, who scored a hat-trick of tries, and the kicking of full-back Niamh Briggs, who finished the game with 23 points.

Degenkolb wins San Remo classic

John Degenkolb timed his sprint finish perfectly to win the Milan-San Remo classic yesterday, bursting past defending champion Alexander Kristoff in the closing metres of the 293km race. The German, riding for Giant-Alpecin, won in 6hr 46min 16sec. Australian Michael Matthews, of Orica-GreenEdge, came third. Britain’s Ben Swift, of Team Sky, finished in 13th place.

Alonso cleared to travel to Malaysia

Fernando Alonso has been cleared to travel to Malaysia after passing medical tests in Cambridge yesterday. The McLaren driver underwent memory tests andreflex checks after missing last week’s race following a crash in testing last month that left him with concussion. He must still pass tests at the Sepang circuit on Thursday before being given the green light to race this weekend.

Scotland miss out on bronze medal

Scotland missed out on a medal at the Women’s World Championship in Japan after losing to Russia in a bronze medal play-off yesterday.

Eve Muirhead’s team were beaten 13-4 and found themselves up against it from the outset as Anna Sidorova got the Russians off to a strong start by putting five points on the board in the first end.

Muirhead said: “The five came out of nowhere and as soon as it happened we were chasing the game. It’s just not been our week.”

Dominant Rea wins in Thailand

Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea claimed back-to-back race victories at the inaugural Thailand leg of the World Superbike Championship yesterday. Rea, 28, enjoyed a dominant weekend on his Kawasaki ZX-10R, clinching consecutive victories from pole position. The wins give Rea a 10-point advantage over England’s Leon Haslam at the top of the early-season standings.