Regan waits

Rugby Union Round-up

MARK REGAN, who made his England debut against South Africa last month, faces an anxious wait before discovering whether he will be eligible to face Western Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday week.

The Bristol hooker collected his second yellow card of the season yesterday at Moseley and now must hope that the Gloucestershire disciplinary committee's backlog of cases delays his hearing until after the international.

Mark Rowley made amends for last weekend's sending-off at Treorchy when he barged over for the try which earned Pontypridd a 7-3 victory at Ebbw Vale. With a game in hand, Pontypridd trail Cardiff in the Heineken League by just three points following the leaders' surprise 19-18 home defeat by Bridgend. Neath scored seven tries on their way to beating Treorchy 42-13, and Newport followed up their victory at Cardiff last weekend by losing 8-6 at Aberavon, whose player-coach Colin Laity scored the game's only try.

John Gallagher, the former New Zealand full-back whose parents were born in Ireland, made an unexpected appearance on the Exiles' replacements bench at Sale during their 42-26 defeat by Leinster, for whom Curt McQuilkin ran in a hat-trick of tries. Ulster head the Inter-Provincial Championship table after beating Connacht 27-9 in Galway.

Transvaal had their tight-head prop Kapstok van Greuning sent off for punching during their 16-16 draw with Munster in Cork.

Melrose still head Scotland's Tennents Championship after completing their programme by beating Gala 31-11 with three tries from Craig Joiner. Stirling County need to win their final match against Heriot's FP by more than 42 points to retain their title.

Wade Dooley, England's most capped lock, is still going strong at 38 - he had his first outing of the season in Preston Grasshoppers' 15-8 win over Macclesfield.