A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Humphreys excited about senior Ulster debut
RUGBY:Ian Humphreys will make his senior debut for Ulster tomorrow night against the Queensland Reds at Ravenhill following the retirement of his legendary elder brother at the end of last season and his own return from Leicester, reports Gerry Thornley.
"I am really excited. This is obviously my first time playing at senior level and my first time playing at Ravenhill in a while so I am really looking forward to it," said Humphreys.
Munster coach Tony McGahan has named a 25-man squad for the game against the USA Eagles at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut, next Saturday.
ULSTER:C Schifcofske; T Nagusa, D Cave, P Wallace, S Danielli; I Humphreys, I Boss; B Young, R Best (capt), T Court, E O'Donoghue, C D Fava, M McCullough, D Pollock, R Diack. Replacements: N Hanna, J Carey, T Anderson, C Henry, C Willis, R Dewey, B Cunningham.
MUNSTER SQUAD:Denis Hurley; Kieran Lewis; Ian Dowling; Brian Carney; Keith Earls; Barry Murphy; Rua Tipoki; Lifeimi Mafi; Anthony Horgan; Paul Warwick; Mike Prendergast; Jeremy Manning; Tomás O'Leary; Darragh Hurley; Federico Pucciarello; Denis Fogarty; Frank Sheahan; Tony Buckley; Donnacha Ryan; Mick O'Driscoll; Mark Melbourne; Billy Holland; Tommy O'Donnell; Niall Ronan; John O'Sullivan.
Ireland to compete in Group A
CRICKET:Ireland will take their place in Group A of next summer's Twenty20 World Cup after the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed yesterday that Zimbabwe had pulled out of the tournament, reports Emmet Riordan.
Phil Simmons's side will take Zimbabwe's place in Group A, while Scotland will now take part in the tournament after they finished in third spot at the recent qualifier event in Belfast. Scotland, who are captained by Zimbabwean-born Ryan Watson, take their place in Group D alongside New Zealand and South Africa and will also pick up €160,000 in participation fees.
Ireland's Group A rivals are defending champions India and Bangladesh, who were one of the two teams that Ireland defeated at last year's 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean.
The 17,000 capacity Trent Bridge ground in Nottingham will play host to Group A, with Ireland opening their campaign against Bangladesh on Monday, June 8th, before taking on India two days later.
The Netherlands, who also qualified in Belfast, join England and Pakistan in Group B, with the lure of an opening game against the host country at Lord's that will open the competition on Friday, June 5th.
Leinster and Nacewa on form
RUGBY:Leinster kicked off their pre-season with a 38-5 victory over Padova in Italy yesterday. Isa Nacewa crossed for his first try in Leinster colours after 10 minutes, Jonathan Sexton added the points.
The hosts rallied with a try four minutes later as Leinster led 7-5 at the break. The visitors raced out of the blocks after half-time with a try from Gary Brown, converted by Nacewa. On 51 minutes prop Jamie Hagan crossed for a try and eight minutes later Simon Keogh touched down. Nacewa added the points.
With 10 minutes to go secondrow Conor McInerney got his name on the try list and Luke Fitzgerald dotted down in the closing minutes.
CONNACHT SQUAD(v London Welsh, tomorrow, Queensland, August 26th): L Bibo, A Browne, K Campbell, F Carr, S Cronin, M Deane, G Duffy, A Dunne, A Farley, A Flavin, J Hearty, I Keatley, R Loughney, J Lyne, K Matthews, M McCarthy, B McGovern, C Muldoon, J Muldoon, F Murphy, T Nathan, J O'Connor, R Ofisa, C Rigney, D Riordan, M Roberts, M Swift, B Wilkinson, A Wynne.
Roche defends leader's jersey
CYCLING:Nicolas Roche defended his race leader's jersey in fine style on yesterday's second stage of the Tour du Limousin, following up Tuesday's victory with second place on the 183-kilometre leg to Bellac, reports Shane Stokes.
Yukiya Arashiro (Meitan Hompo GDR) was first in the 81-man sprint to the line, with Roche and Allan Davis (Mitsubishi Jartazi) finishing just behind the Japanese rider.
The young Irishman pulled further ahead in the general classification, ending the day 13 seconds ahead of Arashiro.
Roche is also the best young rider in the 2.1-ranked event.
Today's penultimate third stage takes the riders from Brive to Cublac and includes the Cote d'Aubazine and the Cote d'Yssandon.
Meanwhile, Roche's first cousin, Daniel Martin, placed 23rd in the bunch sprint that decided stage six of the Tour of Portugal, finishing in the same time as the winner, Candido Joaquim Venda Moreira Barbosa (Benfica).
First-year pro Martin is an excellent 11th overall.
