Food and Events

Amid the unequal scorelines in this weekend's Benson and Hedges Cup games (17-2 to Paisley Pirates and Humberside Hawks against Murrayfield Royals and Telford Tigers respectively were the extreme two), two matches provided close finishes The first was between Slough Jets and Cardiff Devils. "Tigers have been a first-rate honest amateur club and it's my intention to guide them towards becoming a first- rate open club," Thomas said.Coventry, the Cup winners in 1973 and 1974, the RFU knock-out competition's second and third seasons, were given an away tie at Rotherham, who have been promoted five times in eight seasons, in yesterday's Pilkington Cup second-round draw at Twickenham. This is the round at which Courage Championship National League Three and Four clubs enter the competition, with the 1975 and 1976 Cup runners-up, Rosslyn Park, drawing a derby match at home to Richmond, and London Welsh, the 1985 runners-up, away to Gloucester Old Boys.PILKINGTON CUP Second-round draw: North: Otley v Stoke; Stockton v Leeds; Scunthorpe v Walsall; Macclesfield v Morley; Netherall v Winnington Park; Rotherham v Coventry; Bridlington v Aspatria; Harrogate v Fylde; Rugby v Broadstreet; Liverpool St Helens v Hull Ionians; Northern v Stourbridge; Birmingham and Solihull v Worcester. South: Basingstoke v Lewes; Tabard v Askeans; Redruth v North Walsham; Lydney v Harlow; Rosslyn Park v Richmond; Plymouth Albion v Camberley; Gloucester OB v London Welsh; Westcombe Park v Reading; Clifton v Metropolitan Police; Havant v Exeter; Henley v Hornets; Cheltenham v Weston-super-Mare (Ties to be played 7 October).. Seven of the Great Britain squad which won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona have been selected for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Cape Town in November. In a side packed with experience and with an average age of 27, there are few surprises.

The notable omission is Tina Cullen of Hightown, the top scorer in the National League last season. In addition to the expected choice of Jane Sixsmith and Mandy Nicholls, the coach, Sue Slocombe, has gone for the Scotland strikers, Sue MacDonald and Rhona Simpson, and Slough's Anna Bennett to provide her strike force. With Kath Johnson not returning to international hockey after the birth of her first child, the biggest question mark will rest on a possible lack of speed in defence.GREAT BRITAIN SQUAD (Women's Olympic qualifying tournament, Cape Town, November): J Atkins (Bradford Swithenbank, capt), H Rose, M Davies, J Sixsmith (all Sutton Canada Life), J Thompson (Ipswich), A Bennett, M Nicholls, K Brown (all Slough), C Cook (Hightown), L Cope (Balsam Leicester), T Miller (Clifton), S Fraser, P Robertson (both Grove), S MacDonald (Glasgow Western KP), D Renilson, R Simpson (both Edinburgh).. Allen resigned the position last week because he was unwilling to serve in an honorary capacity once rugby union had opened itself up to professionalism. The Springboks are on annual contracts of around pounds 100,000 a man. The attack had some influence on Jones's decision to reject a lucrative offer to play for Transvaal, Wiese's province, and the fine does something to redress the balance between assailant and victim, Jones himself having a mandatory 21-day stand-down because Wiese's attack concussed him.Leicester, England's champion club, yesterday filled their secretary's vacancy left by John Allen with their immediate past president and former team secretary, Tudor Thomas.

Wiese, already suspended for 30 days after being cited for the punch from behind that felled Derwyn Jones early in the South Africa-Wales game on 2 September, will now also have to pay the equivalent of pounds 9,000. "I was ready to serve, I heard the noise, I looked over, and there he was, The Terminator," he said.Agassi also looked up and saw The Terminator His name was Sampras.. The new exigencies of professional rugby hit Kobus Wiese, the Springbok lock, in the pocket yesterday when the South African Rugby Football Union fined him nine per cent of his annual Sarfu contract for foul play. Though Sampras's serve, his chief ally, occasionally let him down, he hit 24 aces and ended the tournament with 142.At one stage, Sampras was distracted by the crowd's reaction to the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He stumbled through two of his earlier matches, and found himself with too great a task after Sampras had won the first two sets. Like I said a long time ago, being No 1 is great, but after the first hour it doesn't make a bit of difference, because you've still got every guy in the tournament trying to beat you. You want to peak for these events."Unseeded when winning the title a year ago, Agassi quickly discovered the difference that goes with being the top seed.