SPORTS DIGEST/CYCLING: Following his stage win, tenure in the yellow jersey and eventual fifth place overall in the Tour of Denmark, Mark Scanlon has moved up almost 200 places in the latest UCI world rankings, writes Shane Stokes.The 22-year-old former world junior champion is now 269th in the world with 208 points, the highest position by an Irish rider in many years. Given his current form, the highly-motivated Sligoman will be aiming to further improve on this in the remaining months of the season.
Fellow professionals Ciarán Power and David O'Loughlin are ranked 703rd and 773rd, with Ireland now 33rd in the nations list. This entitles the country to one place in the world road race championships in Hamilton, Canada on October 12th. Should he be available to take part, Scanlon would seem to be the obvious choice.
RUGBY: Ulster women's rugby is mourning the loss of a wonderful stalwart with the tragic and untimely passing of Rosie Stewart (nee Gallagher) at the age of 33.
An immensely popular and colourful character, Rosie finally lost her brave battle against cancer on Saturday evening.
Married to Adrian Stewart, the Banbridge and former Ballymena hooker, shortly after being diagnosed last spring, she continued in spite of her illness to work as a geo-physical engineer and helping her husband set up his new dental practice.
For the past decade, she has toiled tirelessly with huge commitment and charisma in the cause of establishing and developing the women's side of the sport in Ulster.
Rosie's organisational skills and engaging manner made her a natural chairperson of both her beloved Cooke and Ulster.
An all-action flanker with a huge heart, she helped both club and province to dominate Irish women's rugby and won four Irish caps between February 1999 and May 2000.
She will be sadly missed by her many friends throughout rugby and beyond, but in particular Adrian and her family to whom deepest sympathies are extended.
RUGBY: The revamped Sportsground will host a pre-season friendly between Connacht and London Irish next Tuesday (6.30 p.m.), writes John O'Sullivan.
The game marks the official opening of the Connacht Branch's new headquarters at the ground, a redevelopment that cost €1.5 million, funded by the Government, the IRFU and a new stand developed by Bord na gCon.
The new Connacht coach, Michael Bradley, has added a dozen new faces during the summer to augment the bulk of last year's squad which reached the quarter-finals of the Celtic League and Parker Pen Challenge Cup.
New faces in the Connacht squad include hookers Bernard Jackman and John Fogarty, ex-Australian under-21 lock Andrew Farley, the Irish-qualified Wasps lock Mike McCarthy, former Irish winger Matt Mostyn and St Mary's College winger Conor McPhillips. London Irish are expected to bring a full-strength side to the West and three days later Connacht will host Munster at the same venue, their final warm-up game.
