LEINSTER could come face to face with Gavin Henson this weekend after the enigmatic Welsh back was added to Saracens’ Heineken Cup squad.

Phil Vickery has been forced to retire from rugby with immediate effect.

Phil Vickery has thrown his weight behind Warren Gatland to be the head coach of the 2013 British and Irish Lions.

WASPS head coach Tony Hanks was proud of his players after the London club came close to pulling off a shock victory at the reigning Heineken Cup champions.

Leinster 6 London Wasps 41, Donnybrook

Fit-again Sean O'Brien will captain Leinster against London Wasps in Friday's pre-season friendly in Donnybrook (KO: 7pm).

MARTIN JOHNSON fired a warning to Australia that England will head Down Under next month with the strongest touring team since he lifted the Rugby World Cup on their shores in 2003.

Wasps 15 Cardiff Blues 18

Delon Armitage revealed England’s players are thrilled by their new licence to attack and ready to take out months of frustration on Wales in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash.

England international Matt Stevens is set to relaunch his rugby career with Saracens in 2011.

ONE EVENING, while I was relaxing at home on my couch, I got a phone call out of the blue from Rua Tipoki. We had never set foot on the pitch together, but mutual respect meant we often consulted each other for an opinion. Munster were to play the All Blacks in about a week and rumours were flying that a Red Haka would take place.

DANNY CIPRIANI is rewarded for his “continued improvement” on the comeback trail by starting at fly-half when Wasps tackle their fellow Guinness Premiership heavyweights Leicester today.

YANN DAVID will earn just his second cap for France in Friday’s Test against world champions South Africa.

MARTIN JOHNSON finds himself in the rare position of being an England coach finalising his Test selection without having to fret over the fitness of Jonny Wilkinson.

England have been dealt another major injury setback with the loss of World Cup winner Phil Vickery from their autumn Tests.

Fern Britton wiped away tears today as she received a surprise video message from her former 'This Morning' co-host John Leslie during star-studded farewell celebrations on her last day on the show.

THE smiles were back and promises kept as the 2009 British and Irish Lions produced the performance of this South African tour to emphatically avoid a whitewash at Ellis Park, Johannesburg on Saturday with a victory that highlighted just how unlucky they were to lose the three-game Test series.

South Africa 9 British and Irish Lions 28

ONE last stand. After ten months of high octane rugby encompassing Magners League, Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup, Challenge Cup, Autumn Internationals and the Six Nations those who have survived to this point with willing hearts and minds must summon their reserves of pride and energy for one last effort.

BRING on Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira, declared Phil Vickery yesterday as the Lions prop insisted it would be a different battle second time around.

Phil Vickery has revealed he is looking forward to tomorrow’s third Test against South Africa – his last appearance in a British and Irish Lions jersey – more than any other game of his career.

Ian McGeechan has backed a much-changed British and Irish Lions team to produce another combative performance in tomorrow’s Test series finale against South Africa at Ellis Park.

SOUTH AFRICA forward Schalk Burger has reacted to his eight-week suspension byinsisting: “I am not a rugby thug.”

British and Irish Lions boss Ian McGeechan has made wholesale changes for Saturday's final Test against world champions South Africa.

British and Irish Lions assistant coach Graham Rowntree has backed Brian O’Driscoll’s condemnation of comments made by South Africa boss Peter de Villiers that he appeared to condone eye gouging.

SOUTH AFRICA coach Peter de Villiers has been forced into a humiliating apology for suggesting rugby players should “get some nice tutus and have a great dancing show” if they didn’t accept gouging was part of the game.

FOUR DAYS on, and that defeat in Pretoria is still pretty hard to take, especially from a smug South African support base who are slow to recognise the limitations within their own set up. Let’s face it; the Lions could have done with winning last Saturday or even in the circumstances holding on for the draw which their herculean efforts over the last two weekends have deserved.

DR James Robson yesterday described the second Test against South Africa as “brutal” after it left five of the British and Irish Lions in hospital.

IT COULD have been one of the greatest Lions victories of all time, in fact even a draw would have offered something tangible to play for in Johannesburg next Saturday. To lose that opportunity and the series as a whole to a last ditch penalty converted from five metres inside the opposition half makes the second Lions test defeat even more harrowing.

The British and Irish Lions made five changes – three of them in a reinforced pack – for the crunch second Test against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld.

VICTOR MATFIELD believes referee Christophe Berdos should be left to do his job and the rest should adapt when the second Test against the British and Irish Lions kicks off today.

BY MAKING five changes to the starting lineup for tomorrow’s second test, the Lionsmanagement have put their hands up andaccepted they got it wrong last weekend. Nowhere is this more striking than in the make-up of the front five who were pummelled in Durban.

LUKE Fitzgerald was handed the biggest Test experience of his life when selected to play for the Lions against South Africa in Pretoria tomorrow, adding another amazing Irish chapter in the history of the touring side.

Adam Jones was told by Phil Vickery to “make sure you stuff him” after being picked to face ’The Beast’ in Saturday’s second Test against South Africa.

BRITISH AND IRISH Lions defence coach Shaun Edwards yesterday hinted that Ireland’s Luke Fitzgerald might have won a starting place in Saturday’s second clash with South Africa in Pretoria, swelling Ireland’s representation on the Test team.

Luke Fitzgerald claims he is “pretty relaxed” about possible British and Irish Lions Test selection after putting himself in the frame for Pretoria.

Emerging Springboks 13 British and Irish Lions 13

Ronan O’Gara wants his team to “make a statement” when he captains the British and Irish Lions at Newlands tonight.

JOHN HAYES had his hands full when he received a call up to this Lions Tour.

Ireland fly-half Ronan O’Gara will captain the British and Irish Lions in tomorrow night’s clash against the Emerging Springboks at Newlands.

SPRINGBOK prop Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira single-handedly destroyed the British and Irish Lions scrum on Saturday.

WE HAVE a series. At least that was the general consensus in the press box at the final whistle. That, I hope, is not wishful thinking.

BRITISH and Irish Lions forwards coach Graham Rowntree has admitted that the number of scrum penalties conceded in Saturday’s first Test with South Africa will force changes for the second Test.

IRELAND full-back Rob Kearney, who realised a lifetime ambition when coming on for the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday, believes a Test series victory is still possible.