Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Chelsea have moved to the top of the Premier League after they came from behind to beat Leeds United 3-1 in London.

Olivier Giroud marked his first league start of the season - reward for his four goals in Chelsea's thrashing of Sevilla in the Champions League during the week - by stretching to turn in a whipped cross by Reece James in the 27th minute.

That cancelled out a fourth-minute opener for Leeds by Patrick Bamford, once on the Blues' books but who never made a first-team appearance.

Chelsea then went ahead through a Kurt Zouma header in the 61st before Christian Pulisic sealed the win in added time by turning in a Timo Werner cross.

Chelsea are now a point clear of Tottenham and Liverpool, who both play on Monday morning (NZT).

Manchester United's risen to fourth after also coming from a goal down to beat West Ham United 3-1 at London Stadium, with Manchester City fifth after beating Fulham 2-0.

Burnley and Everton have drawn 1-1 at Turf Moor.

- Reuters

Fiji celebrate late entrance into Nations Cup

Fiji's powerhouse wing Nemani Nadolo marked his return to international rugby with a hat-trick of tries as they celebrated a late entrance into the Autumn Nations Cup with an emphatic 38-24 victory over Georgia at a wet Murrayfield.

Fiji forfeited their three pool matches due to coronavirus cases in their squad and took out that pent-up frustration on the Georgians as wing Josua Tuisova, and flankers Johnny Dyer and Mesulame Kunavula, also scored in a six-try romp.

Georgia's woeful form in the competition continued as they managed to apply some forward muscle for a try by replacement prop Giorgi Melikidze and two from flank Beka Saginadze but otherwise lacked the quality to break Fiji down.

The islanders take seventh place in the competition, despite only playing one match, with their first international win since beating Georgia 45-10 at the Rugby World Cup in October 2019.

Nadolo had not played for Fiji since June 2018 but was recalled for the tournament and took just 72 seconds to make his mark as he brushed off two tackles to score in the corner.

- Reuters

Ireland finish with improved showing

Ireland began the Andy Farrell era with a scrappy home win over Scotland in February and the coach ended an inconsistent first year in charge with a somewhat improved 31-16 victory over the same opponents in the Autumn Nations Cup.

Two tries from wing Keith Earls and one for prop Cian Healy in a 10-minute spell either side of halftime did the damage as Ireland recovered from a poor start to claim third spot in the tournament cobbled together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We feel that we aren't at the top table yet, we haven't been able to win away from home against the big teams like France and England but we've won every other game" captain Johnny Sexton said in a pitchside interview.

"The performances haven't been amazing for 80 minutes but we back our coaches, we think they're doing an outstanding job. Very different to the previous regime and it takes a bit of getting used to but we're happy with our progress."

Meanwhile, Wales beat Italy 38-18 to fifth.

- Reuters

Grand finalists found in women's NBL

The Waikato Wizards will meet the Harbour Breeze in the women's National Basketball League Grand Final after a pulsating semi-final at Pulman Arena.

The Wizards beat the Otago Gold Rush 68-63 in a game that had eight lead changes and a further eight occasions where the scores were tied. It was a contest that kept the vocal crowd entertained from start to finish.

The Wizards will be playing in their fifth grand final in the last eight years thanks to stellar performances from Kayla Manuirirangi who scored a game-high 18 points, Ariel Parai (14 points and five steals) and Esra McGoldrick (13 points, seven rebounds and five blocks).

Zoe Richards was exceptional for the Gold Rush with a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds. Hayley Gray was the other Otago player in double figures with 10 points.

Mercedes lock out front-row in Bahrain, despite Hamilton's absence

Valtteri Bottas has put Mercedes on pole position for the Sakhir Grand Prix with new team mate George Russell, standing in for the absent Lewis Hamilton, securing the front-row lockout.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third for tomorrow morning's (NZT) floodlit Formula One race with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc a surprising fourth.

Hamilton has already won the title, his record-equalling seventh, but the Briton is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.

"It wasn't one of my best qualifyings, but I'm happy it was enough," said a relieved Bottas, who was only 0.026 seconds quicker than Russell on the fast and short outer layout of Bahrain's Sakhir circuit.

Russell, who has yet to score a point in 36 races with his struggling regular team Williams, has seized his opportunity with both hands and was quickest in both practice sessions on Friday.

- Reuters

Proteas pass Covid tests

The one-day international series between South Africa and England will start in Paarl tonight (Sunday) after the host's squad returned a full set of negative results in their latest round of coronavirus testing.

The series due to start on Friday had been thrown into doubt after a South African player tested positive in the team's bio-secure hotel environment during mandatory testing, with the first match at Newlands postponed an hour before its start.

England expressed concern over the strength of the bio-secure environment after the positive result, while a South African team investigation has not yet shown how the unnamed player caught the virus.

"The entire Proteas team has returned negative results from the COVID-19 tests that were conducted yesterday evening in Cape Town ahead of the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series," Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed in a statement.

After Sunday's opening match in Paarl, there will be further games at Newlands in Cape Town.

- Reuters