bowls

Scotland secured eight wins from eight ties on the third day of the World Outdoor Championships in Adelaide yesterday, writes Anne Dunwoodie.

Troon's Paul Foster took his winning run in the singles to five with routine defeats of Richard Hayden (Zimbabwe) 21-8 and Anuruk Rodmanee (Thailand) 21-7 to stay second in his section two points adrift of the home player Leif Selby. Today he takes on Shannon McIlroy, of New Zealand, who is on 12 points alongside him, followed by a tie against the Israeli Zvika Hadar.

Alex Marshall's rink also made it five straight wins as he skipped David Peacock, Darren Burnett and Graeme Archer to convincing wins over Fiji and USA despite the challenging winds and fast greens at the Lockley's venue. They too are alongside New Zealand and two points behind Australia.

Michelle Cooper, Caroline Brown and Lyn Stein lead the way in their triples section after a seven straight wins. They scored a 4 and a single to edge out Philippines 13-11 and led from the outset against Japan to win 16-10. South Africa are two points and Wales third, four points behind.

In the pairs, Scotland and Australia lead with six wins each. Margaret Letham and Claire Johnston adding wins over Hong Kong China and Norfolk Islands to stay two points ahead of the defending champions New Zealand and Netherlands.

American Football

The Scottish kicker Lawrence Tynes contributed a 43-yard field goal as New York Giants put themselves on course for the play-offs with a 38-10 win over Green Bay Packers, writes Roddy Mackenzie. The Super Bowl champions had lost their two previous matches but have now moved to 7-4 for the season and have a two-game lead in their division.

Cycling

Kayleigh Brogan, the Scottish road race and criterium champion, is likely to line up against the world and Olympic title holder Marianne Vos, and Lizzie Armitstead, the London silver medallist, at this weekend's Revolution Meeting in Manchester, writes Colin Renton. The programme features an international omnium, and Brogan should be included, although the exact make up of the field has not yet been finalised. Should she miss out on selection for that competition, she will contest other endurance events. The competition is the second leg of this year's four-round series. Saturday's meeting, and the penultimate leg in January, have sold out but tickets remain available for the finale in Glasgow in February.

hockey

Ali Bell, the Scotland striker, scored a hat trick as Grove Menzieshill retained their 100% record in style by crushing Grange 10-1 to stay top of the Aberdeen Asset Management women's first division, writes Craig Madden. Linda Clement, Hazel Hall and Ailsa Wyllie all contributed two goals while Karin Belch got the other.

Edinburgh University continued their fine run of form with a 3-0 defeat of Dundee Wanderers – Nikki Kidd scored twice and Sarah Robertson hit the other – in a display acclaimed as "our best performance of the season" by player/coach Sam Judge. The students remain second.

Western returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Glynhill Kelburne at Titwood, courtesy of two goals for Ali Howie and one by Helen Walker. Their coach, Neil Menzies, was concerned by the number of wasted penalty corners, though.

Giffnock's indifferent campaign was lifted by a last-gasp goal from Laura Jarvie which earned a 2-1 win over revitalised CALA Edinburgh. Elaine Brierley's first-half goal for Giffnock had been cancelled out by Kerry-Anne Hastings for the Edinburgh side.

ICE HOCKEY

Edinburgh Capitals signed the offensive defenceman Brent Patry yesterday to bolster the squad after five straight Elite League defeats, writes Nigel Duncan. He is a former team mate of the one-time Capitals player Simon Lambert and was the top points scoring defence man in the French Magnus League last year. He will make his debut in tomorrow's league match away to Coventry Blaze and have his first home outing on Sunday against Hull Stingrays.

rugby union

Serge Betsen, the legendary former France player, has joined London Scottish as defence coach, writes Gary Heatly. The 38-year-old, who won 63 caps for France between 1997 and 2007, will be working twice a week with several Scottish players at the Richmond-based club, including Jim Thompson, Phil Godman, Lewis Calder and Tommy Spinks. James Buckland and Jim Evans have been named forwards coach and assistant forwards coach respectively at the club which plays in the Championship. The squad will also move training during the week to daylight hours to reduce pressure on time as all teams currently train on just two evenings per week under portable lights.