McRae makes a hot start in Cardiff

RALLYING: Colin McRae drew first blood in his battle with Richard Burns as he made a blistering start to the Rally of Great Britain last night.

The 33-year-old Scot saw off his English rival in their head-to-head on the opening special stage of the rally in Cardiff Bay.

Championship leader McRae finished the 1.52 mile test 2.5 seconds quicker than Burns to set the fastest time of the night.

BASKETBALL: The narrow defeat to highly-ranked Germany (85-77) on Wednesday may give Ireland's senior men's team a boost as they head into their second match of the European semi-finals against Croatia tomorrow, writes Ian O'Riordan.

"I am proud of our guys' gutsy second half performance," coach Bill Dooley said. "To scratch it back like that against a team of Germany's calibre is incredible."

Men's Superleague fixtures - Tomorrow: Tralee Tigers v UCD Marian (7.45); Neptune v Sligo (8.0); Tyrone v St Vincent's (8.0); Sunday - Notre Dame v Tyrone (3.30).

CRICKET: An alternative umpiring team has been named for the final Test between South Africa and India in the wake of the controversy surrounding match referee Mike Denness.

The changes were made by the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) after the match had its Test status withdrawn by the International Cricket Council (ICC) because the UCBSA stopped Denness from officiating.

The UCBSA acted after India threatened to boycott the final Test when Denness sanctioned six Indian players, including Sachin Tendulkar, on Tuesday in the drawn second test.

TENNIS: Peter Clarke, who won through to the final of last week's Unity Tour Futures Tournament in Australia, suffered a shock first-round defeat as the tour moved on to Berri in South Australia. Clarke, seeded four, lost out to Australian Anton Klaric, ranked over 100 places below him on the world lists. Klaric won 7-6 6-4 after taking the first set tie-break 8-6.