Today's other stories in brief

Habana cleared of 'kicking' charge

SOUTH AFRICA wing Bryan Habana has been cleared of kicking French wing Vincent Clerc and is free to play in Saturday's game against Italy, disciplinary officials said yesterday. Habana was cited after the Springboks' 20-13 defeat in Toulouse on Friday.

The IRB's judicial officer for the match, Lorne Crerar, considered a series of video clips as well as the player's explanation and was unable to determine, upon the balance of probabilities, that Habana had deliberately kicked Clerc.

A disciplinary committee statement said "a detailed examination of the video clips shows the upward body movement of France no 15 (Damien Traille) while gripping the lower leg of Bryan Habana, pulling Habana's leg towards him and the prostrate player (Clerc)".

Scotland stick with same again

SCOTLAND COACH Andy Robinson demanded an improved performance after naming an unchanged team from the side that defeated Fiji 23-10 last weekend for the test against Australia at Murrayfield on Saturday.

"I believe every player should be given a second opportunity but they have to improve game by game. I hope that the match against Australia will give them the chance to show an improvement," said Robinson yesterday.

Robinson was far from satisfied with the display against Fiji.

"We have to improve at the scrum, our lineout has to be more efficient, our defence has to be better and we have to put in harder hits," he added.

SCOTLAND: R Lamont; S Lamont, A Grove, G Morrison, S Danielli; P Godman, C Cusiter (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, M Low; N Hines, A Kellock;, A Srokosch, J Barclay, J Beattie. Replacements: D Hall, K Traynor, J White, R Vernon, M Blair, C Paterson, N De Luca

South Africa lose to club side again

FOR THE second time in a week world champions South Africa lost by a point to an English club side when Saracens won last night's warm-up match 24-23 in front of a crowd of 49,000 at Wembley.

Last week the Springboks' second string lost by the same margin to Leicester and on this occasion they threw away a 12-point half-time lead against the Premiership leaders.

First half tries from Juan de Jongh and Jongi Nokwe sent South Africa in 18-6 up at the break but Andre Joubert and Brad Barritt crossed to bring Saracens back level and, in the end, a drop goal from replacement outhalf Alex Goode clinched victory for the English side.

THE SOUTH African Rugby Union have received an apology from their French counterparts after they complained about the performance of their national anthem before last week's Test match in Toulouse.

The French union (FFR) president Pierre Camou sent a written apology to the SARU over the matter.

Lievremont rings the changes

FRANCE COACH Marc Lievremont has rung the changes for Saturday's match against Samoa at the Stade de France, resting 12 of the side who defeated world champions South Africa last Friday.

Captain Thierry Dusautoir will be on the bench with prop Sylvain Marconnet taking over as skipper. Julien Bonnaire will replace Dusautoir on the flank of the backrow.

Wing Vincent Clerc, flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc and number eight Louis Picamoles retain their starting places from last week.

FRANCE: M Medard; B Fall, D Marty, Y Jauzion, Vincent Clerc; F Trinh-Duc, M Parra; T Domingo, D Szarzewski, S Marconnet (Capt); , S Chabal, P Pape, A Landry, J Bonnaire, L Picamoles. Replacements: G Guirado, N Mas, R Millo-Chluski, T Dusautoir, J Dupuy, D Traille, Y David, F Barcella

Davies back to face Argentina

SCARLETS CENTRE Jonathan Davies will replace injured Tom Shanklin as Wales coach Warren Gatland reverts to a first-choice team for Saturday's Cardiff clash with Argentina.

WALES (v Argentina): J Hook; L Halfpenny, J Davies, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, G Cooper; G Jenkins, M Rees, P James, A Wyn Jones, L Charteris, A Powell, M Williams, R Jones (c). Replacements: H Bennett, D Jones, B Davies, D Lydiate, D Peel, A Bishop, T James.