Today's sports news: What you need to know

A scoreless second half has seen the Warrirors go down 20-18 against the Gold Coast Titans in Robina.

The Warriors trailed 16-6 midway through the first half before two late tries put them ahead at halftime 18-16.

Phillip Sami scored the only points of the second half for the Titans, with a try in the 58th minute ultimately good enough to clinch the tight contest.

The defeat is the Warriors second conescutive loss to start the new NRL season, after they succumbed to the Dragons in the opening round.

Their next match is against Wests Tigers next Friday in Sydney.

Mystics edge the Pulse

The Northen Mystics have defeated the Central Pulse 66-60 in their ANZ Premiership match in Porirua.

The Pulse lead 17-15 at the end of the first quarter before heading into halftime tied up at 30 all.

Sharp shooting from Grace Nweke gave the Mystics a 6 point buffer heading into the final quarter, and the visitors held on to their advantage to record their first win of the new season.

Nweke landed 49 of her 51 shots at goal, ending with a clinical 96 percent success rate for the match.

Phoenix humbled in Newcastle

An understrength Wellington Phoenix lost 4-0 to the Newcastle Jets in their A-League match in Newcastle.

Despite being without eight regulars, the Phoenix deserved to be level at nil-all at halftime and had a great chance to take the lead early in the second-half.

But Newcastle finished the stronger of the two sides, scoring three goals in 17 minutes to kill off the game and move up to eighth on the table.

The result leaves the Phoenix seventh on the ladder, level on points with sixth-placed Sydney FC.

The Phoenix will welcome back Oli Sail, Clayton Lewis, Ben Old, Ben Waine and David Ball for next weekend's match against Perth Glory at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney, but they will be without Tim Payne, who is joining the All Whites in Qatar.

Reds lose in Super Rugby Pacific

The Queensland Reds have suffered their first defeat of Super Rugby Pacific, falling 16-12 to the Brumbies at Canberra's GIO Stadium.

The 2021 Super Rugby AU Grand Final rematch didn't disappoint with a tight, physical 80-minutes of rugby. The Brumbies came out on top in a hard-fought fixture, despite the Reds scoring two tries-to-one.

The game came down to the wire once again, with the Brumbies holding on in the final minutes to break a three-game losing streak against the Queenslanders.

First five-eigth James O'Connor earned the Reds their first five-pointer of the night with a deceiving right-foot step and show and go close to the line to make it 7-3 in the 26th minute.

The Brumbies hit back immediately through Tom Wright, who crossed to give the home side a 10-7 lead going into the break.

With Darcy Swain yellow carded in the 58th minute, hooker Josh Nasser capitalised by diving over to score his third try in the past two games. The Reds drew closer at 13-12.

A 66th minute penalty goal by reserve halfback Ryan Lonergan gave the Brumbies a four-point buffer, but Queensland again rallied in front of a vocal Canberran crowd.

The hosts held on in the dying seconds as Queensland attacked their line, securing a dramatic 16-12 win to remain undefeated.

West Indies survive scare at Women's Cricket World Cup

The West Indies recovered from a batting collapse to defeat Bangladesh by four runs at the Women's Cricket World Cup in Tauranga as the two sides played out a rollercoaster first ODI meeting.

A defiant unbeaten 53 from Shemaine Campbelle saw the Windies recover from 70-7 to post 140 as Bangladesh's spinners suffocated the middle order.

Bangladesh had a less-than-ideal start to their chase as Windies spinner Afy Fletcher helped to reduce the opposition to 60-5 but Bangladesh battled back to take the match to the final over before falling just short.

West Indies 140/9 in 50.0 overs (Shemaine Campbelle 53 not out, Hayley Matthews 18; Salma Khatun 2/23, Nahida Akter 2/23)

Bangladesh 136 all out in 49.3 overs (Nahida Akter 25 not out, Nigar Sultana 25; Hayley Matthews 4/15, Afy Fletcher 3/29, Stafanie Taylor 3/29).

Hamilton supports disadvantaged student into motorsport

Lewis Hamilton will pay 50,000 euros to help a disadvantaged student into motorsport, Formula One's governing body said after discussing the seven times world champion's absence from last year's gala awards.

The Mercedes driver skipped the FIA ceremony in December after a controversial final race of the season in Abu Dhabi that denied him a record eighth title and handed it instead to Red Bull rival Max Verstappen.

Attendance is mandatory to the top three in the championship with Hamilton, who felt robbed by what had happened, facing a fine for his absence.

The FIA said in a statement at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix that Hamilton had met new FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, an Emirati, to discuss diversity and inclusion.

"The FIA President gave his full support to Hamilton's decision to make a donation of 50,000 euros that will be used to support a student from a disadvantaged background in achieving an educational qualification in motor sport," it said.

"Both the FIA President and Hamilton look forward to further positive steps in this area in 2022 and beyond, with diversity and inclusion being made a key priority for the Federation."

The FIA said the circumstances that led to Hamilton's absence from the awards were also discussed and the Briton acknowledged the importance of attending.

Hamilton, the sport's only Black driver, has pushed hard for diversity and wider access to motorsport after emerging from an under-privileged background to become one of the world's highest-paid athletes.

He set up a commission in 2020 and last year made a personal pledge of $26.25 million towards a new Mission 44 foundation supporting under-represented young people in Britain.

-Reuters

Wood out of IPL

Fast bowler Mark Wood has been ruled out of this year's Indian Premier League and the remainder of England's tour of the West Indies due to an elbow injury.

Wood, who left the field due to the injury after sending down only five overs on day three of the first test in Antigua, was set to play for newly-formed franchise Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL.

Wood previously played for the Chennai Super Kings in 2018.

"Scan results have confirmed that Wood has a right elbow injury. He will return to the UK next week for a specialist opinion regarding the management of his injury," the England and Wales Cricket Boardsaid in a statement.

"The Durham quick, who was due to play in the Indian Premier League, will now miss the tournament and will have an indefinite break from cricket until more information is determined from the elbow specialist.

"England men will confirm whether a replacement will be called up in due course ahead of the third Test in Grenada."

Lucknow have not yet announced a replacement for Wood.

-Reuters

Court of Arbitration for Sport rejects Russia's request

Russia's hopes of competing at the 2022 World Cup were effectively ended after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected a request from the Russian Football Union to freeze FIFA's suspension while their appeal is heard.

CAS said in a statement that the suspension of all Russian teams and clubs from FIFA's competitions would therefore remain in force.

The decision effectively prevents Russia from taking part in World Cup qualifying playoffs, scheduled later this month, as no CAS hearing has yet been fixed.

Football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA had decided together that all Russian teams, whether national or club sides, be suspended from participation in FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The CAS arbitration proceedings continue. A panel of arbitrators is currently being constituted and the parties are exchanging written submissions," the CAS said in a statement.

Russia were scheduled to host Poland in a World Cup qualifying playoff on 24 March.

FIFA said earlier this month that Poland would be given a bye to the final of their path in the playoffs on 29 March, when they will play either Sweden or the Czech Republic.

The Polish FA had said that they would refuse to play against the Russian team. The Czech Republic and Sweden, who are in the same playoff path, had also ruled out facing Russia.

All three associations sent out a joint statement last month saying they would refuse to play regardless of what FIFA decided.

The World Cup will be held in Qatar from November.

-Reuters