Sports Digest/RUGBY: Mike Ruddock looks set to sign a new two-year deal as Wales coach as reward for delivering the Grand Slam.
Ruddock's current deal expires after next year's Six Nations championship in April 2006.
He will be asked to lead Wales into the 2007 World Cup with the offer of a two-year extension following a historic first year in charge. WRU chief executive David Moffett said: "We are pretty close to a deal with Mike that will lead us into and beyond the next World Cup."
HOCKEY: The death has occurred in Limerick after a short illness of Stan de Lacy, winner of five Triple Crowns at hockey with Ireland, in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946 and 1947. He was first capped for his country at the age of 15. Born in 1914, de Lacy started his hockey career with the LPYMA club. He captained the British Isles and Ireland hockey team on their tour of South Africa and Rhodesia in 1952.
He was also a noted athlete at 100 and 220 yards events, having won several Irish championships from 1932 to 1942. He competed with Limerick AC and Clonliffe.
De Lacy, who was managing director of Mattersons, Limerick prior to retirement, won the Texaco Hall of Fame in 1995. His funeral service will take place in his native Castleconnell, four miles from Limerick city, tomorrow, at noon, followed by cremation in Dublin.
RUGBY: Celtic Rugby is adopting a new points system in the Celtic League for the 2005/06 season.
Designed to address the imbalance in the league table caused by an uneven number of teams in the competition, the scheme awards four points to the side having a weekend free from scheduled fixtures.
Each team will have two free weekends during the season which, when taken, will be recorded in an extra column in the league table denoted as "FW" and added into the total number of games played for the relevant side.
This will mean that for the first time since the league was reduced to 11 teams there will be a truer reflection of actual league placings, especially on the run-in to the end of the season.
Tournament director David Jordan stated: "Celtic Rugby has been concerned with the lopsided nature of an 11-team league table. We took a look at the way other major sporting leagues throughout the world with an uneven number of competitors operated and discovered that the Australian Rugby League cured their similar problem with the introduction of two points for a bye week. After much deliberation we decided this was the correct route to adopt for the Celtic League."
CYCLING: National criterium champion Eugene Moriarty showed good form in advance of the Tour of Britain start in Scotland today when he finished seventh in the Glasgow Grand Prix yesterday, writes Shane Stokes.
The race was won by Poland's Peter Mazur (Navigators Insurance) in a sprint with Dean Downing of Recycling.co.uk. Downing's team-mate Rob Hayles took third, while Moriarty finished to the fore of the bunch sprint for fourth.
Three other Irish riders took part: Moriarty's Ireland team-mates Paídi O'Brien and Roger Aiken, plus Navigators Insurance professional Ciarán Power. These will be joined by Paul Healion and Ryan Connor (Team DFL), along with David McCann, Paul Griffin and Tommy Evans in the Tour of Britain line-up today.
The race begins with a mainly flat 184.2 kilometre stage from Glasgow to Castle Douglas.
