Sometimes I feel the fun is missing from Formula One.”* Eddie Irvine faced retirement from Formula One yesterday after Jordan confirmed he would not drive for them this year, even though he was understood to have been prepared to drive for as little as £650,000 after earning £20m in his last three seasons with Jaguar Racing “It’s a sad day,” he said. “I’ve decided not to drive in Formula One this year, or at least at the moment.”. Warrington have released two international forwards because of long-term injury problems. They have reached severance agreements with Dale Laughton and Dean Busby and have no plans to replace them in next season’s squad. I’m delighted with the progress he has made since joining us and I feel he can have a very big future in the game.”The Bulls’ two close-season signings, Shontayne Hape from the New Zealand Warriors and Karl Pratt from Leeds, will make their debuts in the pre-season friendly at Castleford tonight. Those two, plus Bridge, should more than compensate for the loss of Nathan McAvoy, who is about to join Saracens, from the three-quarter line, Bradford believe.Halifax’s new imports, Lee Finnerty and Dane Dorahy, are also due to make their first appearances, against Wakefield tonight. Wakefield will have Colum Halpenny, Jon Wells and Clinton O’Brien making debuts for their new club.Also tonight, three professional sides face the prospect of being ejected from the TXU Energi Challenge Cup by amateurs.

Chorley Lynx have twice gone out in this way in recent years and face one of the form sides in the National Conference in Leigh Miners Rangers, but should have strengthened sufficiently over the winter to survive.Sheffield Eagles’ player-coach, Mark Aston, will be facing his old amateur club, Oulton, in a potentially tricky tie, whilst Workington Town take on their fellow Cumbrians from Wath Brow.. There has been nothing radical about Welsh rugby for decades, apart from the national union’s ability to dream up brilliant new ways of making sows’ ears from silk purses, but revolutionary times are finally here. “We have been told unequivocally that there is no prospect of their reaching an agreement.”Moffett seemed in little doubt that the 239 EGM delegates, the vast majority of them representing village and district teams, would support the regional franchise option. Quite how the big-time clubs react to being drummed out of the top flight of European rugby and driven headlong into competitive oblivion is another question entirely.Moffett agreed that litigation was a possibility “I guess it’s my biggest fear,” he admitted. “It would be damaging to the union’s finances, and those of the clubs.”Under the Moffett plan, the 130 best players in Wales will be distributed among the four teams under an American-style draft system. Precious few foreigners would be granted a full-time professional contract – “It’s a bit grim for them, I would say,” the chief executive acknowledged, unapologetically – while the likes of John Connolly, the respected Australian currently in charge at Swansea, would not be considered for one of the coaching jobs.The cleverness of Moffett’s scheme is in the franchise element.

He could have proposed four provincial teams, run and funded wholly by the WRU. But the union is up to its neck in debt, and will struggle to afford even the £2m per club it is offering. By allowing the likes of Llanelli and Cardiff – or rather, their principal investors – to apply for a franchise and, if successful, employ players on contracts held jointly with the union, he has offered his chief opponents a role in the brave new world.Broadly speaking, there will be a new team in each of four areas covering the whole of South Wales: east, central, west and south-west. The teams will have their own management structures, marketing departments and support staff. All will play in the Heineken Cup, or whatever the ?te European tournament calls itself next season.

Tender documents will go out within a week, following discussions with the Premiership clubs.”I think the committee should be commended for taking a very hard decision,” Moffett said. “If it had been easy, this would have been sorted five years ago. People can still put roadblocks in the way, but we can talk about obstacles until the cows come home. It won’t put Welsh rugby where it needs to be.”And he ended on a fighting note. Asked whether the English and French clubs would agree to Welsh regional sides playing Heineken Cup rugby, Moffett replied: “It would be very dangerous for clubs from other countries to say to us: ‘You have reached a democratic decision, but we don’t like it.’ In the end, this is about what is best for Wales.”. The women’s final at Melbourne Park will be an all-Williams affair yet again, but Serena made it to the party only by the skin of her teeth after facing two match points against Kim Clijsters yesterday.