Sporting Digest: Rugby Union

MIKE TEAGUE, the Lions flanker, saw his England chance virtually disappear yesterday when the Rugby Football Union ruled him ineligible to play for the Midlands. Although he plays for Moseley, Teague was born and lives in Gloucester.

JAPAN (v East Wales, Abertillery, tonight): T Maeda; I Williams, M Fujikake, T Faarmasino, T Fujihara; K Matsuo, R Onitsuka; O Ota, M Kunda (capt), K Takahashi, H Kanashiro, B Ferguson, S Kaleta, S Latu, S Nakashima. Replacements: Y Nagatomo, S Aoki, Y Yoshida, E Hirotsu, M Nakamura, Y Sakuraba.

MIDLANDS (v South-West, Bath, 16 October): S Hodgkinson (Moseley); S Hackney, S Potter (Leicester), M Fielden, H Thorneycroft (Northampton); P Challinor (Harlequins), M Dawson (Northampton); G Rowntree (Leicester), J Olver (Northampton), D Garforth, M Johnson (Leicester), S Lloyd (Moseley), J Wells, D Richards (capt), N Back (Leicester). Replacements: J Steele, F Packman (Northampton), A Kardooni (Leicester), G Baldwin (Northampton), R Cockerill (Leicester), R Jenkins (London Irish).

WEST WALES (v Japan, Narberth, Saturday): D Weatherley (Swansea); S Barclay (Swansea), J Jardine (Aberavon), I Lewis (Swansea), G Wilkins; M Lewis (Bridgend), R Jones (Neath); I Buckett (Swansea), A Thomas (Neath), R Shaw (Swansea), Glyn Llewellyn (Neath), P Jones (Llanelli), I Davies (Swansea), S Williams, A Varney (Neath). Replacements: H Harries, C Stephens, M Wintle (Llanelli), B Williams (Neath), D Joseph (Llanelli), I Jones (Swansea).

SOUTH AFRICAN BARBARIANS TOUR PARTY: Backs: G Lawless, S Berridge, P Hendriks, D Oosthuizen, E Meyer, D Muir, C Scholtz, J Mulder, T Linee, J de Beer, G Johnson, J Roux, K Putt. Forwards: A van der Linde, J Barnard, D van der Walt, H Roberts, A Garvey, H Rodgers, W Bartmann, J Barnard, L Blom, P Schutte, R Opperman, K Otto, G Combrink, R Straeuli, M Mostert.

Itinerary: 19 Oct Gloucester, 21 Oct Leicester, 25 Oct Newport, 27 Oct Northampton, 29 Oct Ulster (Ravenhill), 1 Nov Bristol, 3 Nov Cornwall (Redruth), 6 Nov Bath.