A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Meyer takes Springboks post

RUGBY: Former Leicester coach Heyneke Meyer, who built the Bulls team that provided the foundation of the Springbok squad for the last eight years, was named as the new South Africa national rugby coach yesterday. The 44-year-old, who steered the Bulls to four Currie Cup titles between 2002 and 2006 and their first Super 14 crown in 2007, was appointed on a four-year contract. "It's truly humbling but also a huge honour and responsibility because the Springboks carry the hopes and dreams of the whole country, said Meyer.

Boyle hopes for 'People's Games'

OLYMPICS:The London Olympics opening ceremony should make everyone feel like it is "the people's Games", artistic director Danny Boyle said yesterday.

He is hoping that everyone, both inside east London’s 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium and the worldwide audience of billions, will get a sense of intimacy and humanity.

With six months to go to the opening, he said: “We would be very honoured if we are compared very favourably to Sydney (the 2000 Games) and this was another people’s Games.”

The sound of an enormous bell, set to be the biggest ringing bell in Europe, has been commissioned from a foundry in Whitechapel, east London, to kick off the proceedings.

Boyle has picked the title Isles of Wonder for his work on the ceremony, setting a target to try to celebrate the best of British while representing all the regions.

Leona Maguire in contention

GOLF: Leona Maguire continued her impressive form at the Portuguese Ladies Amateur Open yesterday in Lisbon. She reached the turn on level par but as the wind strengthened on the tougher inward nine, she was forced to settle for a two-over-par 74, to add to her 72 from the first round.

Her sister Lisa double-bogeyed her first and last holes to record a frustrating 76, while Cork’s Gillian O’Leary finished on the same score.

Paula Grant was pleased with her level par opening nine only to drop 10 shots coming home after the misfortune of a lost ball and tree trouble.

Germany’s Rebecca Roeller added a 74 to her opening round of 66, and leads the field by four strokes from Finland’s Anne Hakula in second place. Matilda Castren (Finland), Baena Sanchez (Spain) and Karlijn Zaanen (Netherlands) are a shot further back tied for third place.

Boyne withdraw gouging allegations

RUGBY: Allegations of eye-gouging against a Highfield player, in an incident which led to Boyne's Eoin Collins losing the sight in his right eye, have been withdrawn by the Co Louth club.

Collins suffered the injury at the end of an AIL Division Two game on December 12th and is receiving ongoing treatment to restore vision in his eye.

A Highfield player was cited by Boyne after the match but the Drogheda club have decided against pursuing any complaint.

“Boyne RFC wish to confirm that the citation made by it on December 13th . . . has been withdrawn,” the IRFU said in a statement.

“While Boyne RFC originally believed there was sufficient evidence for the citing of a Highfield player, it now confirms that in the intervening period a review has taken place of additional evidence, including a high definition video provided by Highfield RFC, as a result of which Boyne RFC are satisfied that the Highfield player cited did not contribute in any way to the serious eye injury suffered by its player, Eoin Collins.

“Boyne RFC would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the cited player for the distress and inconvenience which the citation has inevitably caused him and his club.”

Australia close in on series sweep

CRICKET: Australia were on the brink of a crushing series sweep after reducing India to 166 for six in their pursuit of 500 runs for an unlikely victory at the close of play on the fourth day of the fourth Test yesterday. The hosts declared at 167-5 shortly after lunch on another sweltering day at the Adelaide Oval and that tally, added to their 604-7 declared, put them 499 runs ahead of India's first attempt of 272. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Virat Kohli all crumbled once again before the Australian attack to leave the tourists 333 runs behind with a full day remaining.

The Test record for a successful fourth innings run chase is the 418 West Indies scored against Australia in Antigua in 2003.