Rugby World Sevens set S.F. dates for 2018

The dates for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco were confirmed Saturday as July 20-22, avoiding a clash with the soccer World Cup in Russia.

The U.S. has never hosted a Rugby World Cup before but World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont, speaking to reporters during the Hong Kong Sevens, said he was confident the event would be a huge success after the surge of interest in the sport since it was featured at last year’s Rio Olympics.

Helio Castroneves has won the IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach pole for the third consecutive year, as the Team Penske driver held off five Hondas to secure the top starting spot for Sunday’s race on the temporary street course through Long Beach.

Erik Jones led 112 of 200 laps to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway track in Fort Worth.

Jarid Lukosevicius scored three goals in the second period, and Denver beat Minnesota Duluth 3-2 for the NCAA men’s hockey championship.

Five Stanford women’s water polo players scored two goals apiece as the No. 2 Cardinal led wire-to-wire to beat No. 1 USC 12-8 in Los Angeles, snapping the Trojans’ NCAA-record 52-match winning streak.

Tanner Dodson’s two-run triple highlighted a four-run third inning and Cal’s baseball team secured its second consecutive Pac-12 series victory with a 6-4 win over Arizona State at Evans Diamond.

Daniel Bakst’s two-out, three-run double in the seventh helped Stanford to a series-clinching 6-3 victory at USC.