Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The opening two rounds of the Farah Palmer Cup have been postponed.

The North pool of the premier women's competition was due to kick off on 22 August, with North Harbour hosting Waikato, Counties Manukau playing Bay of Plenty and Northland hosting Taranaki.

"With Auckland-based teams unable to train or host matches for the next 12 days due to Level 3 restrictions, the decision has been made not to start the competition next weekend," New Zealand Rugby head of women's rugby Cate Sexton said.

"We'll now discuss with Provincial Unions and the Players Association around the different options for revising the draw."

The Farah Palmer Cup will be played in two pools split geographically with Northland, North Harbour, Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki making up the seven-team North pool and Manawatu, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Tasman, Canterbury and Otago in the South pool.

Barcelona embarrassed in Champions League

Bayern Munich have utterly humiliated Barcelona with a stunning 8-2 victory that sent the German champions through into the semi-finals of the Champions League in an extraordinarily emphatic manner.

Thomas Mueller scored twice for a rampant Bayern, who led 4-1 after 31 astonishing minutes, as Lionel Messi and his team mates were condemned to a thrashing that felt like the end of an era for the illustrious Catalan club.

Both teams have been crowned European champions five times. But, while Bayern look to have a real chance of added a sixth title next week, Barca are clearly facing major reconstruction work and it remains to be seen how many of those involved in this debacle will survive at the club.

The scoreline recalled Germany's 7-1 win over Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, a game where Bayern coach Hansi Flick was on the bench as the national team's assistant coach.

Bayern, who last won Europe's biggest prize in 2013, will meet either Manchester City or Olympique Lyonnais, who play on Sunday morning (NZT), in the last four.

- Reuters

Long-standing world record falls

Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei has produced a brilliant display of solo running to break Kenenisa Bekele's 16-year-old 5,000 metres world record by almost two seconds at the Monaco Diamond League meeting.

Cheptegei, 23, had predicted a world record run in the first Diamond League meeting of the season and duly delivered as he clocked 12 minutes, 35.36 seconds, destroying the 12:37.35 that Bekele set in the Netherlands in 2004.

The 2019 world champion over 10,000 metres was in hot form before lockdown, setting world records over 10km and 5km on the road - the shorter of those also coming in Monaco in February - his last race before Friday's meet.

Cheptegei took up the running at halfway, churning out 61-second laps and delivered a 2:30 split for the final kilometre and remembering to stop his own watch as he crossed the line.

"It took a lot of mind setting to keep being motivated this year because so many people are staying at home but you have to stay motivated," he said.

"I pushed myself, I had the right staff with me, the right coach. I'm also usually based in Europe, but being based in Uganda with my family was actually great. I will for sure celebrate the world record when I get home."

- Reuters

Finalists found at the Crucible

Englishmen Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O'Sullivan have won thrilling matches to advance to the world snooker championship final in Sheffield.

Wilson beat Anthony McGill 17-16 in a semi-final decided in a surreal last frame.

A 33rd frame spanning an hour featured nine successive failed attempts to get out of a snooker on the last red by McGill who conceded 43 points worth of fouls in the process.

Wilson almost handed the match back to McGill in an incredible sequence of play before fluking a green and eventually potting the pink to reach the final against O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan somehow fashioned a 17-16 win over Mark Selby by winning the last three frames having riled his opponent by crashing the cue ball around the table to lose the 30th frame rather than attempt to get out of a snooker.

It'll be Wilson's first world championship final, while O'Sullivan's attempting to win his sixth world title.

- Reuters

NRL investigating potential Warriors bubble breach

The NRL is investigating a possible biosecurity breach by new Warriors consultant Brett Finch just one week after he joined the club's COVID-19 bubble.

Finch was brought into the Warriors bubble by coach Todd Payten last week in an advisory role and joined the interim coach in the coach's box for Friday's tight loss to Penrith.

The former halfback has potentially breached the NRL's biosecurity protocols though after appearing on a Youtube podcast with YKTR Sports.

An image of Finch kissing the cheek of a YKTR panellist was published by The Daily Telegraph on Friday night, with the NRL confirming the matter was being looked into.

"[Finch] has been isolated from the Warriors group until we get advice from our biosecurity experts," an NRL spokesman said.

- NRL

Warriors bring in another loan player

The Warriors have reached an agreement with Manly for Sea Eagles outside back Albert Hopoate to join the NRL club on loan for the next four weeks.

He will link up with the Warriors at their Terrigal base tomorrow (Sunday) and will become the club's fifth loan player this year.

The 19-year-old is a younger brother of Bulldogs fullback Will Hopoate and son of former Manly player John Hopoate.

"We're hugely grateful to (head coach) Des Hasler and the Sea Eagles as well as the NRL for the support they've given us in making Albert available," Warriors recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan said.

"We're delighted to have Albert on board. He was a prodigious talent coming through the junior grades, representative sides and Origin age teams for New South Wales.

"Unfortunately, injury has curtailed his NRL aspirations so far but we are looking forward to seeing him play for the Warriors.

Ko hanging tough in Scotland

Lydia Ko remains in contention at the Ladies Scottish Open.

The former world number one is even par after two rounds to be five shots off the lead in a share of 13th place.

Ko signed for a one-under par 70 in her weather-interrupted first round before carding a one-over 72 in her second.

It's her first tournament since she surrendered a five shot lead with six holes to play at the LPGA Classic in Ohio on Monday.

Meanwhile, fellow New Zealander Ryan Fox is tied for 50th place after two rounds of the Celtic Classic in Wales.

He's two-under par, nine shots off the lead.

Woods commits to PGA Tour playoff opener

Tiger Woods will begin his quest for a record third FedExCup championship next week as the former world number one committed to the playoffs opener at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts.

When Woods tees it up at The Northern Trust in only his fifth tournament of 2020, he will also be seeking an 83rd PGA Tour victory that would eclipse Sam Snead on the all-time list.

"Excited to head to Boston for @TheNTGolf and start the #FedExCup Playoffs," Woods, who won the FedExCup in 2007 and 2009, announced on Twitter.

The top 125 players in the FedExCup rankings qualify for The Northern Trust and only the top 70 after that event qualify for the following week's BMW Championship where the top 30 players go on to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

Should Woods, who is currently 47th in the standings, make it to the final, it would be the first time he will have played three consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour since the 2018 playoffs.

- Reuters

Pakistan frustrate England

Pakistan middle-order batsman Mohammad Rizwan hit a defiant half century on a difficult batting pitch to guide his side past the 200-mark in their first innings and frustrate England in the second test in Southampton.

Having resumed on 126-5 overnight, Pakistan, batting first, reached 223-9 when bad light forced the second day's play to finish early with Rizwan, who was dropped by Jos Buttler on 14, on 60 and Naseem Shah on one.

With Pakistan's first innings stretching into a third day and more rain forecast, a draw is already beginning to look the most likely result. England lead 1-0 in the three-match series.

"We are a bit disappointed we have not bowled Pakistan out, they have played really nicely at times and we have missed a few chances and maybe not been as ruthless with the ball as we could have been," said England bowler Stuart Broad.

- Reuters

Hamilton restores F1 order

Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton went fastest in a searingly hot second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix with Mercedes again dominant after losing out to Red Bull last weekend.

The six-times world champion, who is 30 points clear of Red Bull's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen after five races, lapped the Circuit de Catalunya outside Barcelona with a best time of one minute 16.883 seconds on soft tyres.

Team mate Valtteri Bottas, who had been faster in the morning session with a lap of 1:16.785 also on softs, was 0.287 off the Briton's pace on an uneventful afternoon where track temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius.

Verstappen was third in both sessions, 0.939 off the Finn's pace in the first and then 0.821 slower in the second, with Renault's Daniel Ricciardo fourth on the timesheets after lunch.

Hamilton has won the last three Spanish Grands Prix and is going for his fourth win in six races on Sunday in a race rescheduled from May due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Reuters

World Athletics to reproduce crowd noise

Several Diamond League athletics meetings this season will use a pioneering system that will faithfully reproduce crowd noise to make up for the lack of spectators caused by COVID-19 safety precautions.

World Athletics said in a statement https://www.worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/atmosphere-technology-diamond-league that the system "can create the typical crowd sounds heard at athletics meetings, at the right moment".

"Ghost events don't have to be silent," said World Athletics event presentation manager Florian Webber.

He said the system "will create an environment that athletes are used to, help them to compete and perform better and at the same time enhance the viewer experience for the TV audience."

World Athletics said it developed the system with Australian designers at aFX Global and that a sound operator would use it to generate "custom spectator sounds in real time."

- Reuters