Sam Warburton Image: @Cardiff_Blues

Wales Rugby Union captain, Sam Warburton is close to stepping down after six years in the role.

The Cardiff Blues flanker became the youngest player to captain Wales when he took on the job in 2011.

He skippered the team 49 times and guided them to a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2012.

He also led the British and Irish Lions to a 2-1 series win in Australia in 2013.

Interim coach Rob Howley will announce Warburton’s replacement on 17 January, when he announces his Six Nations squad.

Warburton’s successor is rumored to be Ospreys lock Alun Wyn Jones, who has 105 caps for Wales.

Mourinho offloads Schneiderlin to Everton

Everton have agreed a fee of £22 million with Manchester United for midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin.

The French international was signed for United for £25m from Southampton in July 2015.

He has appeared 47 times for the club but has fallen out of favour with Jose Mourinho this season, only featuring in three Premier League appearances.

Schneiderlin was also a target for West Brom.

The move to Goodison Park will mean he’s joining up with Ronald Koeman for a second time, having spent two years under him at Southampton.

Kelly Smith retires

England’s record goalscorer and Arsenal forward Kelly Smith has retired from football.

Kelly, who is 38 years old, earned 117 England caps, scoring 46 goals, playing in six major tournaments and represented Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics.

She also scored six goals in five FA Cup victories with Arsenal.

Leg injury puts Don Cossack out to grass

The reigning Gold Cup champion, Don Cossack, has been retired with a leg injury.

The Irish-trained horse has not featured since sustaining the injury in April.

For the past two seasons the nine-year-old was the top-rated horse in Britain and Ireland, but had not featured since winning the 2016 Cheltenham race.

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Don Cossack retired after further setback says trainer Gordon Elliott

— Cornelius Lysaght (@CorneliusRacing) January 11, 2017

Burns to fight Troyanovsky in Glasgow

British boxing world champion Ricky Burns will compete in a unification fight in Glasgow on April the 15th.

Burns will attempt to unify the WBA and IBF world super-lightweight belts by facing Namibia’s Julius Indongo.

Indongo, who won the IBF title from Russian Eduard Troyanovsky with a 40 second first-round knockout, is unbeaten.

Burns became Scotland’s first ever three-weight world champion when he was victorious against Michele Di Rocco last May.

Scottish Boxer Ricky Burns defends his WBA world super-lightweight title against Kiryl Relikh #Boxing #TitleDefence pic.twitter.com/yWwKw937p9

— SNS Group (@snsgroup) October 7, 2016