Jones angry at four-week ban

Mark Jones, Ebbw Vale's former rugby league forward, has received a four-week suspension after being sent off for punching. The club's officials are planning an appeal as Jones will miss important league games against Dunvant, Newbridge and Bridgend.

The Swansea prop Stuart Evans, dismissed after fighting with Jones in a club match last month, is still waiting to hear his fate.

"It is rough justice. A professional footballer gets a one-match ban, but we are dishing out the same 30 days as when rugby was an amateur sport," Vale's chairman, Malcolm Shepherd, said. "We are not going to take this lying down. It's crazy that a professional sportsman still has to answer to amateur rules, and has to obey masters of an amateur game."

Jones, who joined Vale from Warrington earlier this season, was punished by the Welsh Rugby Union's disciplinary committee. He won 14 international caps before joining the league ranks.

n Scotland cruised to their second successive victory over Italy at under- 21 level at Inverleith yesterday afternoon. Two tries each from the Edinburgh Academicals wing Danny Bull and the West of Scotland centre Alan Bulloch, plus 16 points from the boot of Heriot's stand-off Gordon Ross, helped the Scots to an easy victory. Scotland's next game at this level is against Wales in Edinburgh on 17 January.