CHALLENGE TOUR: Stephen Browne got his bid for two European Challenge Tour victories in a row off to a solid start at the Skandia PGA Open with an opening round of two under par 68 at the Arlandastad Golf Club, Stockholm, Sweden.
The Dubliner picked up his maiden professional victory at the Norwegian Challenge Open last week and is playing full of confidence as a result. Browne took that confidence into his first round in Sweden, going to the turn in two under par 32 before coming home in level par to post an opening 68 and lie just four shots behind the leaders Mathew King of England and the Swede Henrik Nystrom.
WOMEN'S AMATEUR: Tipperary's Marion Riordan stepped up a gear to become the top Irish golfer at the halfway stage of the British Women's Strokeplay Championship at Alwoodley GC, yesterday.
Riordan returned a second round 74, an improvement of three strokes on her opening day performance for a 151 total - seven strokes adrift of leader Clare Queen. Gillian O'Leary from Cork also improved considerably taking 73 for a 152 while Claire Coughlan is on the 157 mark after a 77 yesterday.
BOYS' GOLF: Ulster are poised to take the Boys' Interprovincial crown from the heads of Munster as the teams clash today at Warrenpoint in the final tangle for the honours. After wins over Leinster and Connacht, the northern boys are in pole position as treble-chasing Munster crashed to a 6-3 defeat by Leinster while Ulster carved out a 5½-3½ win over Connacht.
RUGBY: Ireland's schools rugby team lost their final tour game yesterday.
They went down 23-12 in the Test match against Australia in Canberra today.
Ireland had won their six lead-in games to raise hopes of a Grand Slam visit Down Under. But their unbeaten record ended when conceding four tries to two, the Irish scorers being right wing Fionn Carr (Newbridge) and Darren Cave (Sullivan Upper).
Full back Robert Kearney (Clongowes Wood College) landed a conversion. Saia Faingaa, Christian Lealiifano, Alec Bishop and Richard Stanford crossed for the Australian tries and Nicholas Woolf landed a penalty.
RUGBY: Leinster have signed England A international forward Ricky Nebbett on a one-year deal. The 27-year-old tight-head prop gained England under-21 honours at NEC Harlequins. While at Harlequins he competed in both the Zurich Premiership and the European Shield.
Nebbett signed for the Leicester Tigers in March 2000 making his debut against Munster.
He made over 60 appearances for the Tigers and represented England at A level (four caps).
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