Welcome to the latest edition of Hugh Watches Sports. In this week’s post we will look back on a match-up from round two of Prem rugby, the start of the Asian swing on the ATP Tour, Formula 1’s return to an iconic circuit, one of rugby league’s showpiece events, plus this year’s first NFL London game. Let’s get into it.
BATH RUGBY VS EXETER CHIEFS (RUGBY UNION)
After a thrilling opening weekend of action which featured a record fifty-two tries scored, week two of the season kicked off with Bath Rugby hosting Exeter Chiefs. These two sides contested one of last season’s play-off semi finals in which Exeter emerged victorious by a 27-26 scoreline to book their place in the final. Therefore both side’s would be expecting to be in the hunt to qualify for the playoff’s once again this season. However Exeter didn’t get off to the best start as they lost 45-24 against Gloucester last weekend. In contrast, Bath made a winning opening to their campaign as they defeated Harlequins 33-17. Now they returned home to the Recreation Ground looking to build on last week’s win as well as exact some revenge on Exeter for their playoff defeat back in June. After a tightly-fought opening ten minutes, Bath took the lead in the twelfth as Cameron Redpath intercepted a pass inside his own half and then carried the ball all the way to the try line before diving in to score. With Finn Russell providing the extra two points courtesy of a conversion, the home side went 7-0 up. Five minutes later Bath extended their lead thanks to a try from Bernard Van Der Linde and another conversion from Russell. That left Exeter two tries down and needing a response which duly arrived in the twenty-fifth minute as Stephen Varney forced the ball over the try line after a quick exchange of passes on the left wing. That got Exeter on the scoreboard although they were then caught out by a counter-attack from Bath which ended with Dan Du Preez charging in to score a try and restore the hosts fourteen point advantage. As Exeter grew more and more into the encounter, it became an end-to-end game and the visitors were next to score as some excellent work in the aftermath of a line-out deep in Bath territory saw Jack Yeandle carry the ball over the try line. In the closing moments of the first half, a touch of class from Russell helped Bath to their fourth try of the evening as he dropped his shoulder and faked a pass to trick his way past Exeter’s defence and run beyond the try line. The Scottish star man then stepped up to kick the following conversion through the posts to put Bath 26-10 ahead at the conclusion of the opening forty minutes. Moving into the second half, Exeter came out firing with two tries inside the first ten minutes. First, Josh Iosefa-Scott forced the ball over the try line, before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso finished off a patient cross-field passing move by carrying the ball in to score. With both of those tries successfully converted by Henry Slade, Exeter closed their deficit to just two points at the fifty-minute mark. Remarkably, the visitors’ superb start to the second half continued as in the fifty-fifth minute Will Butt charged through a gap in Bath’s defensive line and then laid the ball off for Feyi-Waboso to run in for his second try. That completed a stunning fifteen minute comeback for the hosts as Slade’s third conversion saw them take a 31-26 lead. On sixty-one minutes, a moment of indiscipline cost Exeter as Varney parried the ball out of the path of Joe Cokanasiga as he looked destined to score, resulting in a penalty try being awarded and Varney being shown a yellow card. Whilst he was off the pitch, Bath made the most of their extra player to go further ahead as Ted Hill powered himself and the ball beyond the try line in the sixty-eighth minute. When Russell then scored the resulting conversion, the home side moved 40-31 up on their visitors. From then on, Bath looked comfortable in holding onto their lead and even after Harvey Skinner scored a late penalty for Exeter, Bath remained in control. In a thrilling encounter under the lights on Friday night, Bath continued their winning start to the new season with a 40-34 triumph. That result means that Exeter remain winless, although they could take confidence from their display in the second half, particularly in its opening fifteen minutes. Looking ahead to round three, Bath travel to face champions Northampton Saints next Saturday, whilst Exeter will host Newcastle Red Bulls on Sunday.
ATP HANGZHOU (TENNIS)
Following the conclusion of the US Open, the ATP Tour heads to Asia for three and a half weeks of tournament’s. First are two ATP250 events in Hangzhou and Chengdu, then two ATP500 tournaments in Beijing and Tokyo, ahead of the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event of the year taking place in Shanghai. My focus in this post is going to be on the ATP250 tournament in Hangzhou where former world number one Daniil Medvedev was the top seed. This was the third edition of this event with Marin Cilic winning the title in 2024 and Alexander Bublik triumphing twelve months ago. As the 2026 tournament got underway, the top four seed’s received a bye in round one, but there were still some great matches including seventh seed Jaime Faria battling past Terence Atmane in three close sets. Also in the opening round, there was a home success story as Chinese player Yunchaokete Bu defeated Michael Zheng 6-4 6-3. That saw Bu progress into round two where he recorded another victory by beating eighth seed Kamil Majchrzak 7-6 6-7 6-2 to reach the quarter finals. Elsewhere in the second round, the top two seed’s Medvedev and Andrey Rublev opened their campaign’s with respective win’s over Valentin Royer and Rinky Hijikata. Although there were immediate exits for the third and fourth seed’s as Kyrian Jacquet knocked out Tomas Martin Etcheverry, plus Roman Safiulin took out Quentin Halys. Moving into the quarter finals, top seed Medvedev overcame Coleman Wong in three tight sets to reach the last four. Meanwhile, home favourite Bu saw his tournament come to an end at the hands of Safiulin in straight sets. In the bottom half of the draw, Jacquet continued his magnificent week by beating sixth seed Fabian Marozsan 7-6 6-4 which confirmed that he will make his debut in the world’s top 100 when the rankings are next released. In the other last eight encounter, second seed Rublev came back from a set down to defeat Hugo Gaston 6-7 7-6 6-1. As we reached the semi final stage in Hangzhou, the top two seed’s seemed set for a meeting in the final although Safiulin and Jacquet would be hoping to prevent that. First up on court, Rublev took on Jacquet and they played out a tight opening set which was won by Rublev in a tie-break. Then, Rublev comfortably claimed the second set 6-1 to seal his spot in the final. Impressively that marked the 400th singles match win of his career and also saw him progress into his thirty-first ATP final. Next on court were Medvedev and Safiulin in a tight match which was won 7-5 6-4 by Medvedev. That result put Medvedev into his fourth final of the season and the forty-fourth of his career. In the final between the top two seed’s, Medvedev edged a tight first set 7-5 before then taking the second 6-4 to secure the title. It was a closely-fought contest which saw Medvedev hit an impressive twenty-three ace’s on route to picking up the twenty-fourth title of his career. Remarkably, those twenty-four titles have come across twenty-three different tournaments, with Dubai being the only place where he has lifted the trophy more than once. Both Medvedev and Rublev will now head to Beijing for the China Open as they are scheduled to play in the ATP500 event. Elsewhere on the ATP Tour, the ATP250 tournament in Chengdu was played at the same time as the event in Hangzhou. In Chengdu, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina claimed the title with victory over Hubert Hurkacz in the final.
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX IN MALAYSIA (FORMULA 1)
Yes, you read that title correctly. After being postponed in April due to the conflict in the Middle East, the Bahrain Grand Prix and its organisers have been looking for a way to still stage their race and the solution they settled on was to race in Malaysia. This was an exciting development for a lot of fans because the Petronas Sepang International Circuit was an extremely popular track on the calendar for many years and now we got to see racing there once again. The last time Formula 1 raced in Malaysia, Max Verstappen was victorious and over half of the current driver’s were still yet to make their debut in the sport. Nine years on we returned with Verstappen now a four-time world champion, although it is Kimi Antonelli who leads the way at the top of the driver’s standings this season. The Italian arrived in Malaysia sixty-six points ahead of teammate George Russell in the world championship. In qualifying on Saturday, Verstappen was fastest as he secured his first pole position of the season in an increasingly-competitive Red Bull car. Alongside him on the front row would be Lewis Hamilton, with Antonelli starting third. Initially, Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar had qualified in third but he was demoted to eighth due to a five-place grid penalty for taking new engine parts. On race day, the initial race start was delayed due to heavy rain. Then, when we finally attempted to get going with two formation laps behind the safety car, chaos erupted. An array of drivers experienced problems, particularly in the cars which included Ferrari engine’s. We later learnt this was due to software not working correctly in the cars and for a number of drivers it left them temporarily unable to accelerate. With cars all moving slowly at various points on the circuit, race control had no choice but to abandon the race start and wait for everyone to return to the pit lane. Over an hour later than planned, the race did finally get underway behind the safety car, before it was decided we would see a standing start on lap three. By this point, some of the track had started to dry out from the earlier rain so we had a mix of drivers on intermediate tyre’s and some on slick tyre’s. As the five red lights went out and the cars sped away, the Mercedes’ made an exceptional start as Antonelli took the lead and Russell came from seventh through to second. It was clear immediately that the intermediate tyre’s were the ones to be on as all those on slick’s, including Hamilton, fell to the back of the order. One of the drivers on intermediate tyres was Liam Lawson who got a superb start to rocket up into fourth and even briefly challenged Verstappen for third. By the end of lap one, the leading driver on slick tyre’s was Hamilton and he was down in fifteenth. Out at the front, Antonelli was leading the field with Russell and Verstappen behind him. On lap six, both Red Bull’s moved up a position as Verstappen overtook Russell for second, meanwhile Hadjar got past Lawson to go fourth. Then, on lap nine, Valterri Bottas spun and ended up in the gravel, bringing out a safety car. That arrived at the perfect time for all those on intermediate tyre’s to head into the pit lane and put on slick’s as the track was drying at a rapid rate. The safety car also allowed those who had started on the slick tyre’s and lost a lot of time to catch-up to the back of the field. When racing resumed on lap thirteen, Verstappen immediately applied pressure on Antonelli and then made an incredible overtake around the outside of turn one to take the lead. That move inspired Russell to also try and find a way past Antonelli and he did so to move up into second. Although Antonelli was the quicker Mercedes and by lap twenty-one he was back ahead of his teammate, whilst Verstappen built-up a lead ahead of them. Elsewhere on the track, the progress of Hamilton was drawing attention as he showed his Ferrari had a lot of pace by pulling off a string of overtakes which saw him up into fifth by the end of lap twenty-five. Across the next ten laps, the majority of driver’s made their second pit stops of the race, with Verstappen holding onto his lead, ahead of Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar and Hamilton. On lap forty-three, the out lane became busy once again when Alex Albon reported a gearbox problem in his Williams car and had to stop on the circuit, creating a virtual safety car period which eventually became a full safety car. With less time lost by making a pit stop under safety car conditions, all of the leaders opted to put on some fresh tyre’s to take them to the end of the fifty-five lap race. Despite everyone being behind the safety car, the drama didn’t stop though as a mechanical issue saw Russell have to pull over and retire his car from the race. That saw him lose his third position and meant he would lose further ground on teammate Antonelli in the driver’s championship. Meanwhile, Lando Norris’ new tyre’s weren’t up to temperature and he went wide at turn one behind the safety car, dropping him down the leaderboard having been seventh. When we were finally ready for racing to resume on lap fifty-one, Verstappen was at the front, followed by Antonelli, Hadjar, Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson. On lap fifty-three, Hamilton’s incredible recovery drive continued as he snuck past Hadjar to move into the podium positions. That overtake was a popular one in the grandstand’s with an audible loud cheer from those in attendance as the seven-time world champion went into third. A lap later, Hamilton’s teammate Leclerc also got past Hadjar to take fourth spot. Out at the front though, there was no troubling Verstappen as he claimed his first Grand Prix victory of the season with a superb drive. Nine years after winning the last race held in Malaysia, the Dutchman made sure he would be standing on the top spot of the podium once again. Behind him came Antonelli in second, who extends his championship lead by eighteen points thanks to Russell’s DNF. Then came Hamilton with a sensational recovery to finish on the podium after having been as low as eighteenth at one point earlier in the race. Rounding out the point-scoring positions on a chaotic day in Sepang were Leclerc, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Norris and Arvid Lindblad. Ultimately though the day belonged to Verstappen as he clinched his seventy-second Grand Prix victory in Formula 1 and won a race for the first time this season. Next up, Formula 1 travels to Singapore next week where there are more crucial championship points to be won with a sprint race as well as the main Grand Prix.
WARRINGTON WOLVES VS WAKEFIELD TRINITY (RUGBY LEAGUE)
The 2026 Betfred Super League champions were crowned this weekend as Warrington Wolves took on Wakefield Trinity in the grand final. After twenty-seven games in the regular season, Warrington finished the season in third place whilst Wakefield came fourth, two points behind them. That saw both teams through to the elimination round of the playoff’s. In that round, Warrington comprehensively beat Hull KR, meanwhile Wakefield saw off Leigh Leopards. Then, in the semi finals, both of these teams pulled off upset’s by defeating the league’s top two teams. First, the Wolves edged a tight 14-12 win over Leeds Rhinos, before Trinity out in a stellar performance to beat Wigan Warriors 33-6. That set up a Super League grand final between two teams who have never previously lifted the trophy. In fact, Wakefield reached the grand final for the first time, whereas Warrington were in their first since 2018. As the game commenced at Old Trafford, Wakefield made a strong start and they thought they’d got ahead in the fifth minute when Tom Johnstone driver over the try line on the left wing. However, after consulting the video ref, the on-field decision of try was overturned as Johnstone was shown to have not fully stayed in play as he hit the ground. Despite that setback, it didn’t take long before Wakefield did officially open the scoring as an excellent passing move ended with Cameron Scott scoring a try on the right hand side. That, coupled with a first successful conversion of the evening from Max Jowitt, put Trinity 6-0 up after twelve minutes. As the game continued, Wakefield looked more likely to score a second try than Warrington did to open their account. In the twenty-fifth minute, Johnstone got up well to collect the ball from a kick forward and then laid it off for Isaiah Vagana to run in and score. With Jowitt on target again with his conversion, Wakefield increased their advantage to twelve points. A dominant first half from Trinity got even better late on when Jazz Tevaga added their third try, Jowitt kicked his third conversion and then Jack Sinfield scored a drop goal to put them 19-0 up at half time. It was a staggering first half display from Wakefield as they showed their quality on one of the biggest stages in rugby league. In contrast, Warrington had struggled to find any way to get into the game as they chased the shadows of their opponents and were now in need of a huge second half comeback. After the break, a high tackle by Wakefield’s Corey Hall saw him shown a yellow card and gave Warrington a boost as they gained the temporary advantage of having an extra player. Five minutes later, they capitalised on that advantage when Aaron Lindop spotted a gap in Trinity’s defence and charged right through it and over the try line. With Ewan Irwin then kicking the conversion between the posts, Warrington finally posted six points on the scoreboard. Although that was all they were able to achieve during their ten minutes with an extra player against a resolute Wakefield defence. When Hall returned to the pitch to level the numbers, Trinity became dominant again and managed to re-establish their three try lead when Johnstone powered in to score down the left wing. By this point, even with twenty minutes still to go, it was clear that the trophy would be in the hands of Wakefield’s players at full time as they moved seventeen points ahead and into a comfortable lead. On seventy-one minutes, a resilient Warrington side set up Lindop to score their second try of the final but it was only a consolation. As the final whistle blew at Old Trafford, Wakefield won the Betfred Super a league for the first time with a comprehensive 23-10 victory against Warrington. It was a historic moment for Trinity as they came through the playoff’s to reach their first grand final and then won it with a stunning display. That kicked off a weekend of celebrations for everyone associated with the team as they took the trophy back to Wakefield to parade to their fans the following day.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS @ WASHINGTON COMMANDERS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)
October in the NFL means the London games take place with three matches played across the next three weekends in the English capital. First up this year the Washington Commanders came up against the Indianapolis Colts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Both of these teams arrived in London with a 1-2 record for the season so far which set us up nicely for a tightly-contested match. Furthermore, they both picked up their win last weekend which provided the teams with a timely confidence boost. The Commanders victory last Sunday was particularly impressive as it came against the reigning Super Bowl champions the Seattle Seahawks. Meanwhile, the Colts defeated the Houston Texans 19-17 to get their first win of the campaign. Coming into week four, a victory for either team in London would see them move to 2-2 and continue to build some momentum to take into their upcoming games. As play got underway, the Commanders scored points on their first possession as Drew Stevens sent a thirty-one yard field goal through the uprights. Whilst a touchdown eluded them, Washington extended their lead courtesy of another Stevens field goal later in the first quarter to go 6-0 ahead. With their defense starting strongly and Colts quarterback Daniel Jones looking nervy in the early stages, it was an ideal start for Washington. However, they lost quarterback Marcus Mariota to an injury which meant third-choice quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was required to replace him. That was a further blow to an already depleted Washington offense that was also missing starting quarterback Jayden Daniels and star receiver Terry McLaurin. Following a quiet start to the second quarter, Jones and the Colts offense finally found some rhythm four minutes before half time to get on the scoreboard. Running back Jonathan Taylor rushed into the end zone from five yards to score the game’s first touchdown. Then Spencer Shrader added the extra point to give the Colts the lead. Having quickly won the ball back, Indianapolis drove down the field again to set up Shrader for a forty-eight yard field goal, which he duly scored to put them 10-6 ahead at the interval. Moving into the second half, the Colts picked up where they left off at the end of the first with a second touchdown of the day for Taylor. That, coupled with Shrader’s extra point, saw them extend their advantage to eleven points. Next came a positive response from Washington as Kaliakmanis showed a glimpse of his quality with an ambitious but well-executed forty-seven yard pass to receiver Treylon Burks to score a touchdown. With Stevens then converting the extra point, the Commanders narrowed their deficit back down to four points. Although a fifty-two yard field goal from Shrader shortly after put the Colts 20-13 ahead. That was the scoreline heading into the fourth quarter as the Colts looked to close out a crucial win. They put themselves in a strong position with an early touchdown scored by quarterback Jones as he opted to run into the end zone on third down and managed to evade the Commanders defense. The extra point from Shrader saw the Colts move into a 27-13 lead and left Washington needing at least two touchdown’s in the remaining minutes. With their offense depleted, Washington struggled to keep hold of the ball and it was soon back with the Colts. They added some extra gloss to the scoreline thanks to a third field goal of the game from Shrader. That closed out the scoring on a superb second half performance from the Colts as they moved to 2-2 for the season with a 30-13 triumph over the Commanders in London. As fans of the other type of football will know it was particularly note-worthy to see a team wearing white win a game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium because that hasn’t happened very often in recent years. Elsewhere in week four of the NFL, the New England Patriots recorded a 29-26 win over the Buffalo Bills in a huge AFC East battle. Meanwhile, in a clash between two potential NFC contender’s, the Los Angeles Rams pulled off a fourth quarter comeback to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles.
