They then return to Britain for a pre-Admiral’s Cup World Championship in Lymington

They then return to Britain for a pre-Admiral’s Cup World Championship in Lymington.Still finding their feet is the crew of the big boat in the team trio, Graham Walker’s 45-foot Indulgence. Reading the combination of currents, rip tides and the bends in wind direction they generate has proved difficult.They will lead an extensive sail development programme, masterminded for all three boats by Grant Spanhake. They have also, according to the helmsman Glyn Charles, to match skills developed in a stiff breeze to the lighter conditions of south Florida.Also having trouble with rounding a mark was the Italian and European champion of 1996, Giorgio Zuccoli. He beat the veteran Keith Musto for the right to represent Europe in the Melges 24s. There is no room for error in such a tightly fought class and following Zuccoli’s retirement from the first race, although third in the second race of the day, it will take some luck as well as grit to fight his way back from 18th overall..

The French rugby federation has asked the Irish Rugby Football Union to look into possible foul play by three Irish players in Saturday’s Five Nations’ match in Dublin. The Irish have already asked the French to take action over their prop Franck Tournaire for kicking Allen Clarke, Ireland’s replacement hooker, in the head. Tournaire is expected to be suspended today.
However, the French claim video evidence shows that the hooker Keith Wood, the lock Paddy Johns and the scrum-half Niall Hogan all went unpunished for foul play. The French federation said it did not want to cite the players under disciplinary procedures, but preferred to ask the IRFU to take whatever action it deemed necessary.Scotland A yesterday made two changes to the team that beat Wales A 56- 11 last Friday for the match against England A at the Stoop on Friday week. Murray Wallace, dropped from the senior side, comes in at open-side flanker at the expense of Simon Holmes and Duncan Hodge comes in at inside centre in place of Paul Rouse.In the case of Hodge, justice has been done.

The Watsonian was denied the chance of playing at stand-off for the A team after he was brought into the senior squad last week as cover for Gregor Townsend. Scott Welsh filled the A team’s stand-off berth and did so with perhaps his best display at this level.. Scotland’s Hugh Duff endured some anxious moments in the first round of the Saga World Indoor Singles Championship at Preston yesterday before beating the English champion, Mark Bantock, in four sets. Duff, last year’s beaten finalist, had to come from 4-5 down to claim the opening set 7-5 and then took the second 7-4, despite having to take a break because of the flu bug he has been suffering from.
Bantock fought back to keep the game alive taking the third 7-1, but Duff dominated the fourth, winning 7-2 in seven ends to record victory.”It was a very hard game. Considering it was Mark’s first appearance in Preston he played exceptionally well and produced a lot of good pressure bowls,” Duff said.England’s Gary Smith also survived a scare before edging through with a four-set win over the Hong Kong qualifier Tony Tong. Smith dropped the opening set 5-7, but quickly hit back taking the second in just three ends. The No 13 seed turned around a 5-2 deficit in the third set to win it 7-5, and then cruised through in the fourth..

Marina Eltsova and Andrei Bushkov, the Russian world champions, won the pairs event at the European Figure Skating Championships in Paris last night. Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer, of Germany, took second place and the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze the bronze.
Last year’s winners, Russia’s Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, failed to make the team after finishing fourth in their national championships.Russia’s Ilya Kulik and Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, of Ukraine, put poor qualifying displays behind them to dominate the men’s short programme.Kulik, champion in 1995, and Zagorodniuk, champion last year, called on their experience to take the top two places after skating far below their best in qualifying on Sunday.Fourth and sixth in their qualifying group, both performed the key element of the short programme – the jump combination – superbly, each completing a difficult triple axel linked with a triple toe loop.The Briton Steven Cousins, fourth last year, managed only 10th place, six positions ahead of his team-mate Neil Wilson.. Kent yesterday parted company with their coach, Daryl Foster, with the 58-year-old giving personal and family reasons for his retirement. Foster, who had been with the county since 1991, had one year of his five- year contract remaining.

Brian McMillan, the South African all-rounder, has been fined pounds 450 for manhandling an abusive Indian spectator at the close of play on Saturday, the third day of South Africa’s drawn Test with India in Johannesburg. “He was abusing me in front of my wife and the wife of Indian opener Woorkeri Raman. After being asked to stop he continued with the verbal abuse so I pushed him against the combi But I did not punch him,” McMillan said .. Joe Kinnear, the Wimbledon manager, has admitted he is trying to clean up the Crazy Gang’s “bad boy” image and his drive has paid off so far. The Dons’ physical game and old tactics of intimidating the opposition used to mean a long list of yellow cards and suspensions. But now Wimbledon boast one of the best disciplinary records in the Premiership – a statistic which Kinnear believes will help their push for honours.
Kinnear said: “We have done ever so well this year as far as suspensions are concerned because that has also taken a big toll on us in the past.