The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 29

Sport 1 9 The Guardian Monday November 3 1997 Rugby Union Heineken Cup, play-offs: Brive 25, Pontypridd 20 Brive and Welsh banish evil spirit have to look at if we want to be successful against Wasps HHKRjH KBSBaaBaaHaBeasasasafllaa sSPHF' Hfii Hrl' JHnflaHaaaHH aHWsflSIIHlFR VW'iMBaTMiaWaw. I V' sbbbbbbbbbbB'xbbbbbbbbbb SbbbbbbbIbbbbbbbIbW 'tKKKKBBBSBBBSB BBBaBBaBBBaaBBiH looking hungry for tries after a three-week lay-off and just as desperate to play spectacular running rugby. They attacked virtually every ball and quickly had the Welsh on the back foot. For the 12,000 crowd, largely respecting the club president's plea to "show dignity and kindness to the it seemed too easy to be true as Brive shot to 10-0 after 10 minutes and pressed Pontypridd in all sectors of the game. When Brive stole a ball from a scrum on the Welsh put-in after only 14 minutes things looked even more ominous for the visitors.

Laurent Travers, the bustling hooker, added five points with an effortless-looking try after a superb break from Carbonneau who, after picking up a tapped ball from Eric Alegret, burst straight through the Pontypridd line-out. At half-time Brive were not only ahead 18-0, Christophe La-maison having scored an earlier try, but Pontypridd had not had a single scoring opportunity. The gremlins took advantage of the interval to infiltrate the Brive camp. Concentration dropped, application evaporated and Brive took the liberty of changing two forwards early in the second period. "We became far too overconfident," admitted Alain Penaud, their fly-half, whose deadly tactical kicking played a key role.

"As soon as we get ahead we seem to let our intensity drop. It is a major defect and something we will Ian Borthwick WITCHES' hats and pumpkins might seem bizarre accoutrements in deepest France, but Hallowe'en is alive and well in Brive and on Saturday many of the bars and boutiques in the town were well equipped to chase away the evil spirits. As a precaution the tiny and sadly famous Le Toulzac bar remained resolutely closed. But over at the Stade Municipal the final instalment of the weird trilogy of Brive versus Pontypridd was devoid of the malevolence and violence that characterised their first meeting here. Only one point separated the teams after their two previous encounters and, as this quarter-final play-off eventually confirmed, there is little if anything to differentiate them.

In a curious match which first looked like producing a runaway win for the locals, who then had to come from behind to win in the dying stages, the rivalry remained as intense as ever. If the first half belonged almost totally to Brive, the second was a different story with the under-strength Welsh displaying depth of character. "We knew they would be tough to beat even if they had players missing," said Brive's captain Philippe Carbonneau. "If they had not been in our pool they would certainly have gone further." The European champions started at an alarming pace, PHOTOGRAPH: TOM JENKINS Rubbing it in Brett Mullins outpaces the British cover to score his second and Australia's seventh try at Wembley Leicester 90, Glasgow 19 First Test: Great Britain 1 4, Australia 38 Outlook fraught for Farrell After the feast Tigers will find Pau no picnic from the Wembley bench, also seems certain to be promoted to the starting 13. Saturday was a difficult day for Goodway, who was criticised for selecting Farrell out of position and was even spat at by a few Great Britain spectators as he walked back to the dressing rooms after Australia had run in two late tries to build a slightly flattering winning margin.

But it was hardly his fault that his players made such a nervous opening and handed Australia their first two tries on a plate. "People look at the international stage to help us get over the World Club Championship, and they get emotional," he said. "But the international team is only the icing. The clubs are the cake, and we have got to get the cake right before the icing." That is why, for all the talk of Farrell switching back to loose-forward for the remaining two Tests, Goodway will outgunned pack. As Daley said: "All big games are won in the forwards and they laid the platform for my tries." Great Britain allowed the props Jason Stevens and Brad Thorn, the Australia players' Man of the Match, to dominate the ruck area.

Paul Broadbent and Brian McDer-mott enjoyed some early success going forward but failed to sting in defence. "We were too soft; we needed more steel," said the Great Britain coach Andy Goodway. "We weren't making the hard shots. We need -to test the referee a little bit." With both his first-choice props Barrie McDermott and Harvey Howard unavailable, Goodway may have to turn to the Wigan veteran Neil Cowie for next Saturday's second Test at Old Trafford for the required injection of The Leeds youngster Adrian Morley, who injected some much-needed vigour the blame being laid on his performance in the unaccustomed position of stand-off. He was undeniably second best to the opposing skipper and stand-off Laurie Daley, whose first-half hat-trick killed off the game disappointingly early for the bulk of a satisfactory 41,000 crowd.

Farrell himself admitted to some early errors, notably kicking out on the full on Great Britain's first possession, missing a tackle on Gor-den Tallis and allowing Ryan Girdler to get outside him in the build-up to Australia's first try. "But finding my feet at stand-off was not the problem," he insisted. "People might say it's not my position because I made a few basic errors. But it wasn't that. It was just dumb play." What Farrell might have added, were he the type to criticise his team-mates, was that he was playing behind an next Saturday.

Pontypridd, although clearly missing the penetrative power of their banned' No. 8 Dale Mcintosh, sensed their chance and the pack started to domi nate set phases. Astonishingly they racked up 20 points in 11 minutes: two penalties from Neil Jenkins followed by con verted tries from Mark Spiller and Dafydd James. Suddenly they were ahead 20-18. But the Brive players were exhorted by Didier Casa dei, the loose-head prop, who told them: "Keep calm, remember the basics and we can score." As if stung into action by boos from their own fans, within three minutes Brive regained the lead with Jerome Carrat going over for a con verted try for 25-20.

Jenkins then missed two eminently kickable penalties, the first hitting a post, before the match ended with Brive failing to score from several attacking scrums. On the whistle the players ex changed jerseys, and oppos ing front-row forwards fell into One another's arms. It was almost like the good old days. SCORERSi Brlvei Trlaai Lamafson Travers, Carrat. Lamaison 2.

Penalties! Lamaison 2. Pontyprlddi Trlaai Spiller. James. Convaralons: Jenkins 2. Panaltiaai Jenkins 2.

Brlvei Vlars; Bomali, Lamaison. Venditti, Carrat; Penaud. Carbonneau (capt) Casadei, Travers, Crespy (Laterne 79min), Alegret, Manhes (Lubungu, 49), Van der Linden (Malller, 55), Magne, Duboisset ISonnes, 51). Pontyprlddi Wyatt; Lewis, Lewis (J Lewis, 61), James, Ford; Jenkins (capt), John; Eynon (A GrlHIths, 67), Evans, Griffiths, Prosser, Howley, spiller, Williams, Lloyd (a Lewis, 73). Rafaraai Fleming (Scotland).

outstanding when the tack ling was non-existent. Joel Stransky scored 35 points, including three tries, an individual record for the competition. The former Springbok fly-hall orchestrated proceedings expertly while another South African, Michael Horak, scored four tries in a magnificent exhibi tion of running full-back play. Will Greenwood was also back to his form of last season in the centre, using his strength to stay on his feet in tackles and delivering a series of Tevastating passes. Leicester's coach Bob Dwyer knows that Pau will not allow his team to cut loose, and the Tigers will be without their lock Matt Poole, who limped off with damaged ankle ligaments in the second minute.

Yet another South African, Fritz Van Heerden may be available to replace him. Dwyer said: "Pau are very strong up front and it will be extremely difficult. I saw their scrum destroy Llanelli. Aucagne at fly-half can make something out of nothing and their scrum-half is a lunatic; how he wasn't suspended for his head-butting beats me. Sunday in the south of France will not be as pretty as this.

SCORERSi lalcestan Trlaai Horak 4 Stransky 3. Cockeritt 2. Corry, Healey, Richards, Greenwood, Lloyd. Conver-alonat Stransky 10. Qlaagowi Trlaai Craig, Little, Hayes.

Converelonai Hayes 2. Leieesteri Horak; Healey, Greenwood, Rotter (Malone. 68mln), Lloyd (Joyner. 77); Stransky, Serevi; Freshwater, Cockerltl, Rowntree (Gartorth, h-t), Johnson (capt), Poole (Richards, Gustard, 72), Corry, Back, Miller. Glaagowi Sangster; Stark (Fraser, 29), Jardlne (Metcalfe, 29), McGrandles, Craig (Little.

59); Hayes, Stott; Mcllwham. Bullock (capt), Kittle (Beckham, 70), Norval (Begley, 59). Perrett, Wallace (Shaw. 59), Sinclair, McLelsh. Rafaraai Dume (France).

of tight corner I hope Cardiff do well in Europe," said the Llanelli scrum-half Rupert Moon. "Welsh rugby needs them to go all the way and their pack is good enough to give anyone problems." For all their purchasing power in the past two years, Cardiff have failed to address their most obvious problem area at inside-centre. Without a soft pair of hands in mid-field they rarely achieve width and Nigel Walker is virtually a spectator on the wing. They need a mix of Llanelli's wit and inventiveness together with Pontypridd's community spirit if they are to flourish on the big stage. As yet the Heineken Cup looks a platform beyond them.

SCORBRSi Cardlffi Trlaat Thomas, Kacala. Converaloni Jarvis. Panaltiaai Jarvis 4. Llanellli Trlaai McBryds, Proctor, Evans. Convaraloni Warlow, Penalty! Warlow.

Cardlffi Thomas; Morgan, Davlei, Hill (Ross, 41mln), Walker; Jarvis, Howley; John, Humphreys (capt), Young, Tall, Jones, Kacala, Jones (Ringer, 71), Williams. UanaMi Jones; Proctor, Boobyer, Bollca (Williams, 14), Evans (Thomas, 78); Warlow, Moon; Jones (Gale, 53), McBryds (capt), Wllllams-Jones, Hodges (Ford, S3), Voyle, Qlbbs, I Jones, Jenkins. Rafaraai Morrison (RFU). Ian Malin sees Bob Dwyer's side cut loose on a bad day for the Scottish game WATCHING Glasgow's capitulation at' Wel-ford Road recalled the old story about Gavin Hastings and the pep talk he gave his Scotland side in the dressing room before an international. "It'll be hard out there.

This will sort the men out from the boys," he said to his less than awesome team. They were interrupted by the referee. "Okay, boys, are you ready?" he asked. There was an echo of that tale after this quarter-final play-off on Saturday, a day that Scotland, preparing to face Australia and South Africa, will find it difficult to laugh off. "It was boys against men out there," said Kevin Greene, the New Zealander whose two-year spell as Glasgow's coach came to a shuddering halt.

When Leicester travel to Pau for next Sunday's quarter-final, Greene will be back on his Waikato farm. Autumnal gales often crack dead wood and he admitted: "We were blown away. In Scotland we're still a year behind as far as physical development is concerned. We haven't got the big hitters. This isn't the Glasgow team that had played so well throughout the competition.

We had the big stage but we let ourselves down." How Glasgow managed to overcome Swansea and Ulster in the qualifying group is a Stransky scoring record mystery after an abject display in which they conceded 14 tries. A last-minute try by their Cook Islands fly-half Tommy Hayes ensured they avoided the indignity of defeat by a record margin for the competition Treviso's 86-8 beating of Farul Constanta pips it by seven points but nobody had conceded 90 points. Glasgow only avoided a century when Leicester eased off the throttle in the last 15 minutes. The Scots will argue that most of their best players had been poached by English clubs, and it must have been galling for Glasgow to see Craig Joyner, a wing who would have qualified to play for them, on Leicester's bench. And James Craig, the pacy wing who scored a magnificent early try for Glasgow, has also been the target of English cherry-pickers.

But the Scottish Rugby Union has pumped 1 million into each of its districts and expects a better return. Glasgow were destroyed up front. Leicester could not fail to be bound for Trent Bridge Cricket Galllan OTTINGHAMSHIRE are confident of signing the former England opener Jason Gallian from Lancashire, after meeting the player in London yesterday. The Australian-born Gallian, about to start a two-week tour of the Caribbean, has also interested Middlesex and Glamorgan, but Nottinghamshire's cricket manager Alan Ormrod said: "We have made Jason a very attractive offer Hockey surely stick with his captain and Bobbie Goulding in the critical half-back positions at Old Trafford. Neither gamble paid off on Saturday but with Iestyn Harris, Tony Smith, Shaun Edwards, Tommy Martyn and Nigel Wright all ruled out by injury and Martin Crompton apparently furious at his first-Test exclusion, Great Britain simply have no alternatives.

GREAT BRITAIN: Roblnaon (Wigan). Hunts (St Helens). Radllnski (Wigan) Newlove, Sullivan (both St Helens). Farrell (Wigan, capt), Colliding (SI Helens); McDermott, Lowaa (both Brad-lord), Broadbent (Sholtiold), Joynt (SI Helens), Caasidy (Wigan), Sculthorpo (Warrington). Substitutes! McNamara (Bradford), Atchason (St Hoicns).

Morloy (Leeds), Sampson (Castlelord). AUSTRALIA! Lockyer (Brisbane) Mulllna (Canberra). Ettlnoahauson (Cronulla), Girdler (Penrith), Sailor (Brisbane): Daisy (Canborra, capl). Gower (Penrith); Stevens (Cronulla). Waltera (N Queensland), Thorn (Brisbane), Adamson (Ponrllh), Tallla, Smith (both Brisbane).

Substitutes! Koarns (Perth), Greenhlll (Cronulla). Nagas (Canberra), KImmorley (Hunter). Rafaraai Houston (Now Zealand). took four wickets in 13 balls to give South Africa a thrilling nine-run victory over Pakistan in the second match of the quadrangular one-day tournament. Gary Kirsten top-scored with 89 and Wasim Akram took four wickets in South Africa's total of 271, and 85 from Inzamam-ul-Haq kept Pakistan in the game.

Today South Africa play West Indies, who lost to Sri Lanka on Saturday. by Sheffield on Saturday in the League Trophy, will be strengthened by the former London Towers forward Tony Windless, who has signed for six weeks. "I can't wait to come back and get on the refs," he joked as he watched the animated Storm coach Steve Tucker. "He likes to win and that's the kind of coach I like." The Premier League teams progressed to the quarter-finals. Manchester survived a slow start to beat First Division Stevenage 90-63 and Thames Valley moved away in the second half to a 91-67 win over Coventry.

Worthing and Crystal Palace's all-Premier tie went to overtime after Worthing's Ryan Cuff tied the score 85-85 with a late three-pointer. Worthing went on to win 106-102. In the Budweiser League, Towers extended their lead to four points with a 80-70 win over Leicester Riders. Towers face Israel' Hatoel Eilat at Wembley tomorrow in a European Cup qualifier. target of 96 with three overs to spare.

Derbyshire's Phil DeFreitas provided some consolation for England, playing their fourth match in as many days, by claiming five for 38 the best figures recorded since Cricket Max was created by the former Kiwi captain Martin Crowe to boost flagging interest in the game in his country 18 months ago. In Lahore, Shaun Pollock Basketball Andy Wilson at Wembley ANDY FARRELL recently learned that the England rugby union captaincy will be worth up to 1 million to Lawrence Dallaglio. Farrell finds the Great Britain rugby league captaincy rather less rewarding. His only perks from the sport are a Wigan club-car and an endorsement for Faz Pads shoulder protectors in the trade newspaper, The Rugby Leaguer. He does not even have an agent.

And the fees for the Great Britain players, even the captain, in the current series against Australia are modest. But it is not just the money. Last autumn's 3-0 whitewash in New Zealand upset Farrell deeply and yesterday, after Saturday's 38-14 humbling by the Australian Super League team at Wembley, he found Ice Hockey Cardiff fear a backlash from Cobras Vic Batchelder THE Cardiff Devils coach Paul Heavey is taking nothing for granted after Saturday's 6-2 home victory in the first leg of the Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final against Newcastle Cobras. I know they didn't play as well as they can," said Heavey, who believes Cardiff have a fight on their hands in Thursday's return leg. But he added: "We have not been to the final since 1994 so we are focused and determined to win." Goals by Steve Thornton and Vezio Sacratini in the final three minutes of the opening period took the Devils clear, the first a five-on-three powerplay with Petri Rautiainen and Brett Stewart in the sin-bin.

There was more penalty trouble for the Cobras in 37th minute when the score stood at 3-2 after Newcastle goals by Randy Smith and Brett Stewart had been separated by Jason Stone's third for Cardiff. Roy Mitchell was penalised for interference, allowing Cardiff a manpower advantage which Doug McCarthy turned into a fourth goal. Ken Hodge and Ian Cooper added the fifth and sixth in the third period. Weariness cost both Car diff and Newcastle in Super-league action last night against fresher rivals, Bas ingstoke Bison and Man chester Storm respectively. Cardiff surrendered then- unbeaten record in Hampshire as Basingstoke ended their own run of three defeats with a 4-2 win.

Newcastle lost 6-3 at home to Manchester, the early pacesetters. Cardiff 24, Llanelli 20 Close call as Cardiff get out Balser and Berry almost stop Leopards in their cup tracks England pay price for change as South Korea finish in style and he has promised us a decision on his return from the West Indies." England lost the first ever Cricket Max international series 2-1 to New Zealand through being beaten by 10 wickets in the last match in Wellington. They were restricted to 69 for seven in their second innings of 10 overs, and the Kiwi openers Phil Chandler and Mark Douglas reached the winning Mel Clewlow who, like her Under-21 team-mate Jennie Bimson, has made an excellent transition to the seniors. England led twice through Tina Cullen and Tammy Miller but, unable to maintain possession, were swamped in the final quarter. Yesterday's EHA Cup third round confirmed that the standard of the National League First Division is poor this season.

Five sides Blueharts, Brook an ds, Chelmsford, Isca and Warrington were eliminated by junior opposition. Norton from the North League, who knocked out Hull in the previous round, were the most impressive, beating Warrington 4-0. Two former cup winners went down. Neston, 1983 champions, lost 5-1 at Harles-ton. Havant, 1990 winners, fell at home to Surbiton, Mark Owen scoring the only goal.

Corner goals by Bob Crutchley, Jon Wyatt and Ca-lum Giles enabled England to beat an Egypt Select 3-1 in the first of six matches in Cairo. England led 2-0 at half-time. there were a number of other injuries, yet Morrison added on only 107 seconds. Llanelli's coach Gareth Jenkins did not complain. "They had us pinned in the corner at the end.

We were going nowhere," he said. "I was more upset at the disallowed try, not because the referee was wrong but because I felt there was an element of crossing in Cardiff first try." For the fourth time in five weeks Cardiff built up a big lead only to let it slip. They were 21-3 ahead after 43 minutes and thinking of Bath when they conceded three tries in eight minutes. Cardiff are monolithic. Strong in the set pieces, efficient but programmed, they will need to show more variation against Bath.

Even the scrum-half Robert Howley is now a model of conformity and only their centre Leigh Davies offers the merest hint of individuality. Llanelli, by necessity, played it more off the cuff and outscored Cardiff on tries. Had they managed to secure 40 per cent of the possession they would surely have won. "It pains me to say this but Paul Rees A BAD week for European Rugby Cup Ltd almost ended on the lowest of notes when, with two minutes to go, Llanelli's replacement fullback Darryl Williams dived over in the corner, raising his arm in the belief that he had put his side ahead for the first time in the match. The celebrations lasted less than a second the time it took the referee Ed Morrison to blow his whistle and rule that Williams had been un-lawfuly assisted by some gridiron-style blocking.

Had Llanelli won they would promptly have scratched against Bath in the quarter-finals in order to host Instead the touring All Blacks this Saturday. Morrison's vigilance, and his significantly scant allowance for stoppages, spared ERC the embarrassment of having to give Bath a bye into the semi-finals or to reinstate Cardiff. It had taken nearly four minutes for the Llanelli wing Garan Evans to be helped from the field when he broke his collar-bone, and Rob Dugdale LONDON LEOPARDS had a hard start in defence of the National Cup against the Derby Storm, llth-placed in the Budweiser League, at the London Arena last night. Leopards' fast break was unstoppable in the first half and a 17-point half-time lead was soon extended when John White hit his fifth three-pointer on his way to a 22-point haul. Derby's response was to go to their long-range shooting specialist, the Englishman Bryan Balser.

He scored with four successive attempts and the American guard Ted Berry drove for 12 of his 31 points as Derby reduced the deficit to 78-74 with six minutes left, but then lost 99-90. Balser, who scored 24 points, had hit eight threes the previous night and his form will greatly interest England's coach Laszlo Nemeth, with three European Championship qualifiers this month. Derby, beaten in overtime Pat Rowley ENGLAND were defeated 5-2 by the Olympic silver medallists South Korea in the return game at Milton Keynes, probably because they made too many substitutions. England's coach Maggie Souyave will say the two matches provided an ideal opportunity to test as many of her players as possible against high-quality opponents, but they also exposed squad weaknesses. On Saturday, too much time was given to attackers who did not have the skill to beat good defenders, while the effervescent Jane Sixsmith, who caused the Koreans many problems, spent half the game on the bench.

Yet there was cause for some optimism before next year's World Cup. England had won the first game 4-2 and competed on fairly level terms for three-quarters of the second. The turning point was an injury to the central defender.