Bid to get Fortey ban backdated fails

NIGEL MELVILLE is remembered as a will-o’-the-wisp, slippery scrum-half from his distinguished playing days and he has lost none of his touch, if one is to judge by the sleight of hand he has attempted in a bid to clear banned Gloucester hooker Chris Fortey for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup tie at Kingsholm.

An English RU ban imposed on Tuesday ruled Fortey out of the game but Melville came up with a plan that he hoped would change the situation.

He tried to convince RFU top brass that Fortey's ban should be backdated to the end of his last match against Leicester last Saturday which would have meant it expired at 4.30pm tomorrow, thirty minutes before the Kingsholm kick-off.

Admitted Melville last night: "We certainly tried to get it backdated, but no such luck. We made a phone call but all we heard from the other end was a loud laugh."

Meanwhile, Leeds boss Phil Davies has made a handful of changes for tonight's Heineken Cup clash against Edinburgh in an attempt to "freshen the team up."

Tykes are 10th in the Zurich Premiership, and they produced a poor performance last time out, losing 27-3 at Saracens on New Year's Day.

Their Heineken Cup quarter-final hopes will be left hanging by a thread should Edinburgh claim a third successive Pool Two scalp, and Davies knows that an improvement is required.

Fly-half Tim Walsh is preferred to Scottish international Gordon Ross, while wing Diego Albanese, flankers Aaron Persico and Dan Hyde, and number eight Alix Popham all return at Meadowbank Stadium after missing the Saracens game.

Llanelli coach Nigel Davies wants the Scarlets to absorb the painful lessons from last season's Heineken Cup campaign when French challengers Agen visit Stradey Park tonight.

A quarter-final home defeat against Perpignan nine months ago still haunts the Welsh side as they target a third successive Pool Four victory. "When we played Perpignan, I think we took a lot of things for granted, and as a result we fell badly short of all the goals we had set ourselves," said Davies.

"I think we all look back at that game and think about it and where we went wrong, and I'm sure that if the players were honest with themselves they will say that they were complacent.

"You only get a couple of chances in Europe, and you have to make sure you prepare for every opportunity properly, both physically and mentally, for what is going to be thrown at you. Agen will be without their skipper and French World Cup prop Jean-Jacques Crenca due to suspension, but he is available for Saturday week's return appointment with Llanelli at Stade Armandie.

French internationals Francois Gelez and Philippe Benetton could both feature, though, as Agen look to bounce back from a defeat at Northampton on their last European outing.

South African rugby supremo Brian van Rooyen expects the new Springbok coach to be appointed in the next few weeks with Andre Markgraaff and Chester Williams the front-runners to take over from Rudolph Straeuli.

Former Springbok coach Markgraaff, Williams, the current South African sevens coach, Blue Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer and Border coach Dumisani Mhani were the four names put forward for the position by the South African Rugby Board last month.

"An announcement about a coach will be made on January 30 or very soon thereafter," van Rooyen added.