Canada call back scrumhalf

INTERNATIONAL SQUAD NEWS: FORMER CANADIAN scrumhalf Morgan Williams is to come out of retirement for a warm-up fixture against Portugal on Saturday, before the Canucks embark on a November Test series against Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Coach Kieran Crowley has called up Williams primarily because of an injury to Phil Mack, and because Ed Fairhurst is still with his club side, Cornish Pirates, and young Seán White is not considered ready at this point.

"He (Williams) is still very fit and plays every weekend with his club, James Bay," said Crowley, a former All Black fullback. "And when you look at how he played at the World Cup last year, it is a very easy decision to come to."

The Canadian squad includes 10 players who have not played Test rugby. They arrive in Ireland next week and will provide the opposition for national coach Declan Kidney's first game in charge at Thomond Park on Saturday week.

The Ireland squad continued their preparations in Limerick yesterday, buoyed by the return of captain Brian O'Driscoll.

He took a full part in training, his first day back after damaging a knee during Leinster's Heineken Cup victory over Wasps.

John Hayes also returned to the paddock having missed Tuesday's run-out, but Bernard Jackman (knee strain) and Tomás O'Leary (foot strain) watched from the sidelines for a second day.

Another of Ireland's November Test opponents, Argentina, could be without prop Rodrigo Ronchero, as he faces a ban following an incident with Thierry Dusautoir during a French Championship match between Stade Francais and Toulouse last weekend. Roncero is expected to learn his fate next week arising from the post-match citing.

The first graduates from the Hetac Programme - a diploma in professional rugby - from the Leinster Academy received their parchments at a ceremony in the RDS yesterday. The programme, the first of its kind in Europe, has been running for three years, and covers rugby theory and practical, fitness theory and practical, sports psychology and lifestyle.

The IRFU's Stephen Aboud and Colin Moran of the IRFU, in conjunction with Philip Lawlor and Colin McEntee of Leinster Rugby, designed the course.

The graduates are Fionn Carr, Matthew D'Arcy, Ross McCarron, Kevin McLaughlin, Seán O'Brien, Jonathan Sexton, Devin Toner and Cillian Willis.

• The South African Rugby Union have failed in their attempt to scrap the controversial sanctions regulation from the ELVs from next season's Super 14 and Tri-Nations.

South Africa wanted to ensure the 2009 competitions were played under the same laws as next summer's Test series against the British and Irish Lions.

That meant ditching the controversial sanctions regulation - where most penalties are replaced by free-kicks - which was used in this year's Sanzar competitions but does not feature in the global trial of the ELVs.

But South Africa could not convince Australia and New Zealand, who believe it makes rugby more entertaining.