SAILING: The ISAF Nations Cup reaches its conclusion on Cork Harbour this afternoon after the four-day double round-robin series concluded yesterday with few surprises writes David Branigan. Mary O'Loughlin's Irish team in the Women's event ended their series on a high with impressive sailing in the five matches of the day.
In the women's series, the world number one Claire LeRoy regained the overall lead from Australia's Nicky Souter. Both are joined in their finals series by Denmark's Lotte Pedersen and Klaartje Zuiderbaan from the Nethelands.
The latter was obliged to resort to count-back to break the tie for fourth place with Paula Lewin of Bermuda following a loss to O'Loughlin in the last race of the day. Although the Irish crew effectively lost the start of the race due to a penalty, the Howth team fought back on the first leg to draw level and then overtake the Dutch boat to score their third win of the day and their best result of the four days.
Meanwhile, the Open event will be decided between Mathieu Richard of France, Russia's Eugeniy Neugodnikov, South Africa's Ian Ainslie and Brian Angel from the United States. The four were separated by just four wins in the 18 matches of the preliminary round.
Ireland's George Kingston placed last in the group after half a point was deducted from his score following boat-to-boat contact in yesterday's racing.
BOXING: Unbeaten Irish super middleweight Andy Lee has been pencilled in to meet Texan, Gabriel Rivera in Nevada on September 14th. Both men will go head to head at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas next Thursday.
Lee is also due to fight on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko/Galvin Brock world heavyweight showdown at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 11th.
Meanwhile Katie Taylor from the St Fergal's club in Bray, puts her European lightweight title on the line against reigning world champion Tatyana Chalaya from Russia, in Poland today.
RUGBY: Ireland beat South Africa 37-0 at the Women's World Cup, picking up their first win of the tournament in Canada and securing a much needed bonus point in the process.
Ireland dominated the game from the outset as centre Grace Davitt's boot saw them take an early 3-0 lead.
Number eight Joy Neville, crashed over for a try less than five minutes later and before the half there were also tries from scrum-half Tania Rosser, prop Fiona Coghlan and winger Jeannette Feighery to give Ireland a 25-0 lead at the turn-around.
Twelve more points in the second half followed with tries from captain Sarahjane Belton, and Mariead Kelly who finished off a super run by Belton to score on her first appearance at the tournament.
The win pushed Ireland up to eighth place ahead of Samoa and they will now play in the 5th-8th placed play-offs next week.
