Briefs

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

Ulster confirm Bowe out for four months

SIX NATIONS:Ulster have confirmed winger Tommy Bowe will be sidelined for four months which rules him out of the province's two pool matches in the Heineken Cup in January and Ireland's entire Six Nations Championship campaign.

Bowe was stretchered off in the 77th minute of Ulster’s 10-9 defeat to the Northampton Saints last Saturday at Ravenhill and there were immediate fears that the 28-year-old had suffered a severe injury.

The initial prognosis was that he had sustained significant lateral ligament damage to his right knee. Bowe underwent surgery yesterday and tweeted that the operation had gone well. If Ulster qualify from their pool, the quarter-finals of the European Cup take place on the first weekend in April and that may come a little too soon for Bowe.

The injury also hugely compromises his chances of making the Lions tour to Australia next summer, which would be most unfortunate given the impact he made in 2009 when the Lions toured South Africa.

JOHN O'SULLIVAN

French refs for the provinces

HEINEKEN CUP:The Irish provinces will be hoping for a little entente cordiale as they will be predominantly refereed by French officials in the final two rounds of the Heineken Cup in January.

In the Round Five pool matches Pascal Gauzere will take charge of Ulster's game against Glasgow Warriors, Mathieu Raynal will preside when Harlequins host Connacht, Jerome Garces is the man in the middle for Leinster's game against the Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium while Romain Poite has been pencilled in for Munster's trip to Edinbugh.

In the final round of matches Connacht will have Gauzere for the second time this season, Ulster have Nigel Owens for their trip to Castres, Poite will preside over Leinster's trip to Exeter, while England's Wayne Barnes will be in charge when Racing Metro 92 visit Thomond Park.