Otherwise the team is the one that lost narrowly in France last week.As one season ends, the pre-amble to the next one begins – and there was also a Celtic dimension to the draw for the first round of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup, held at Manchester Airport last night.The Irish champions, the Northside Saints from Dublin, have been drawn away to the Yorkshire team Siddal while the Scottish Border Eagles are at home to Wath Brow. An Emerging England side will also be involved and all four home nations will compete as separate entities in the World Cup in 2000.Small beer as it is at this stage, there are signs that the rugby union authorities are nervous about the potential of this competition.The Scottish Rugby Union this week pulled the plug on an advert for the game, which they had earlier accepted for one of their match programmes.Plans to publicise the league fixture in Glasgow earlier this week were stymied when the SRU called a hastily-arranged press conference with the South African tourists in Edinburgh at the same time.”That could just be a coincidence,” said the Rugby League’s spokesman, John Huxley. There was to be no escape, however, and Fu moved into the second round by potting the last three colours of the 13th frame.. GARY CONNOLLY and Terry O’Connor, Wigan’s Great Britain internationals, have won their battle to be fit to play for Ireland against Scotland in the last game of the professional season tonight.

The two, both carrying knocks from the series against New Zealand but eager to play, take their places in the line-up at Partick Thistle. Shaun Edwards, however, is ruled out.
The availability of second-generation Irishmen of the calibre of Connolly and O’Connor means that Cliff Eccles, the Salford prop who has just signed for Swinton, and Lee Child drop to the bench, alongside Conor O’Sullivan.Tonight’s winners will play Wales in Cardiff to kick off an expanded competition next April. The longer frame matches usually suit the better player so we’ll have to see what happens.”Fu still looked jet-lagged yesterday when he dropped three of the first four frames to Wilkinson, the world No 18. But he finished the opening session 5-3 up and rarely looked in danger of conceding his advantage.

A break of 71 doubled his lead and he got within one frame of victory before Wilkinson pinched frame 12 on the blue. “I was met by reporters at the airport when I arrived home and it never really stopped until I got back to England,” Fu said. “I didn’t really organise my time as well as I should have done, but my run in the Grand Prix created a lot of interest and it took off after I beat Ronnie O’Sullivan.”I’d love to have another good run here but it’s a tougher tournament to win. The world No 15 was crushed 9-3 by Scunthorpe’s Matthew Couch, the world No 78.
Fu’s performance at the Grand Prix made him an instant celebrity back home in Hong Kong.And it caused him to cut down on his practice for the current event. Fu, a Grand Prix finalist in Preston last month, defeated the 1991 World Matchplay champion 9-4 to reach the last 32.

However, he was denied a showdown with the original flag-bearer for Asian snooker, James Wattana. MARCO FU, the great new hope of Asian snooker, confirmed his promise with an opening victory over the seasoned professional Gary Wilkinson in the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship at Bournemouth yesterday. Yesterday’s appointment was another welcome breath of fresh air.. “I’m coming to it with a lot of passion, but without too much baggage. I believe this is a time of golden opportunity for the sport.” With a new five-year television deal worth about pounds 15m newly signed with the BBC, and a steady flow of Lottery money now established, the sport does indeed seem on the brink of a happier era. “It would take a very strong candidate to dislodge him,” Hemery said.Hemery, like Moorcroft, is likely to generate considerable goodwill within the sport.