Sport

Asia will host end of season Bledisloe meeting

Rugby Digest: AUSTRALIA and New Zealand are likely to face each other in another end-of-season match in Asia this year, Australian…

Wed Jan 06 2010 - 00:00

Rugby Digest:AUSTRALIA and New Zealand are likely to face each other in another end-of-season match in Asia this year, Australian Rugby Union (ARU) boss John O'Neill said yesterday.

In each of the past two seasons, the two rivals have added an extra Bledisloe Cup match in Asia to their regular three Tri-Nations games. They played each other in Hong Kong in 2008 and then Tokyo last year and O’Neill said he expected they would agree to another game on neutral territory at the end of this year.

“I’m not sure whether it will be Hong Kong or Tokyo but it’s highly likely there will be a fourth Bledisloe,” he said.

Meanwhile, a consortium known as the Melbourne Rebels have been awarded ownership of Australia’s new Super rugby team.

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Yesterday’s announcement ended months of speculation and wrangling between rival bidders over who would control the new team in an expanded Super 15 competition in 2011.

Julien Dupuy'sappeal against a 24-week ban for eye gouging will be heard in Heathrow on Wednesday, January 13th. The Stade Francais scrumhalf was handed the ban on December 18th for gouging Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris, but chose to appeal the suspension which was branded "excessive, very political and anti-French" by Stade owner Max Guazzini.

Dupuy’s team-mate David Attoub will also appear at a hearing later the same day after his initial hearing was adjourned, the prop having been involved in the same incident at Ravenhill on December 12th.

One of Limerick'sbusiness and sporting personalities, Pat O'Connor, has died, aged 73. A butcher by trade, he was a former club chairman and vice-president of Shannon rugby club but illness prevented him from becoming president. He was also honorary treasurer. He also owned a number of greyhounds, the most successful of which last season was Rocking Rolo, who was trained for him by Denis P O'Malley.

O’Connor began his working career in the family shop in Wickham Street, where his father and grandfather traded before him. He is survived by his wife, Kate, daughters Patricia and Jane, son Noel and also by his brother, Noel.