THE John Smith's Easter Bank Holiday Pocklington Sevens will have a certain international feel about it this season - with an Asian first for the competition.

Along with the return of defending champions, Imphalas, the Fijian-backed Army side, Percy Road will welcome the Leconfield Jaguars and the South Asia Bulls into the event.

The Jaguars, from the Army School of Driving at Leconfield, are another side with a South Sea Island backing courtesy of a strong Fijian contingent, but it will be the all-Asian side, the South Asia Bulls, who will look to grab the headlines.

Spearheaded by the former Featherstone, Huddersfield and London Broncos rugby league back Ikram Butt, the first Asian to play rugby league for England, the side is backed by Commission for Racial Equality to promote relationships among the different Asian religions.

The South Asia Bulls were competitors in the York Nines Festival, the first of an international rugby league nine-a-side tournament to be held in the city, but this is the first year they have entered the area's premier union seven-a-side event.

And they will become the first all-Asian team to take part in the top rugby festival when they arrive on Easter Monday.

There could have been another team to add to the international feel of the tournament, however former participants London Nigerians have had to withdraw due to league commitments.

Among the raiders from further afield will be Kent-based outfit Beckenham, who are on tour in the area, Borough Road Old Boys, Isleworth and the Ipswich Exiles, although the latter is sure to have a certain Pock look about it.

A total of 24 teams will do battle for the prestigious prize of winning the county's oldest sevens tournament, with a bumper crowd expected along for what historically has been a highlight in the rugby calendar.

The draw for the group stages will be made early next week, with England's kicking genius Jonny Wilkinson doing the honours.

PERTHSHIRE RFC have seen their plans for future tours thrown into disarray after their whistle-stop tour of Pocklington.

Confusion reigned at Percy Road last Saturday when Perthshire and Radbrooke both turned up to face Pocklington's Merovigians side.

A quick round-robin tournament saw Radbrooke beat Perthshire and Pock draw 17-17 with Radbrooke. However, as the whistle blew on that game, Doncaster Veterans turned up for their fixture against Pock a week early.

Quick-thinking 'Meros' skipper Ian Johnston organised a Pock side to play half a game against Donny, with Perthshire playing the other half.

And while everything seemed to have gone to plan, one morose Scottish tourist was found in a confused state later that evening in a local drinking establishment - and not just because he had had one whisky too many.

It seems that the Perthshire side were on their 16th tour - having worked their way through the alphabet of sides to reach 'P'.

Unfortunately, the mix-and-match of games earlier in the day meant the Scots had made a several hundred-mile round trip without playing their intended fixture against Pock.

Now, Perthshire may have to return next season to complete the job.

MALTON and Norton may have been in Yorkshire Shield action today, but should they overcome West Leeds in their quarter-final tie they will face a long wait to find out who they would play in the last four.

Currently lined up in the other half of the semi are Leodiensians or Ilkley or Skipton or Stocksbridge - with the quartet still to play their second round ties, let alone the quarter-final.

The delay in teams playing their fixtures means the Yorkshire RFU are being forced to move the proposed date of the final from May 4 - also the date of the Yorkshire Silver Trophy - to May 11.

The other semi-final has also been beset by problems, with North Ribblesdale awaiting the winner of Acklam-Yarnbury tie. Neither side has been able to agree a date for the quarter-final clash, so the Yorkshire committee could step in to settle the dispute.

GOOD luck to Pocklington School's Rob Webber, who made his England Under-18s Schools bow today.

Webber, a member of the Leeds Tykes Academy, was part of the England U16s last season when he was named at prop.

However, a change of position to hooker and some expert coaching from England's Mark Regan has seen Webber catapulted into the U18s set-up at the tender age of 16.

England, and Webber, opened up their international campaign this afternoon against France at Broadstreet RFC in Coventry.

See next week's Scrum Down for details on how Webber got on.

YORK RI flanker Josh Binns produced a superb display of openside back-row play to inspire Yorkshire U16s to a 36-15 Roses' victory over Lancashire.

Yorkshire's win was built on their ability to retain and quickly recycle the ball, with Binns to the forefront, while team-mate Johnny Walters (York) rucked well and dominated the line out.

The win made amends for the White Rose side's 21-17 defeat by Cheshire the previous week, when Yorkshire were caught cold in their first match of the season against a side who had already had six fixtures.

Easterby's disappointment with England over RBS Six Nations pre-match farce

IRELAND'S Tadcaster-born scrum-half Guy Easterby has spoken of his 'disappointment' over the controversy that marred the start of his side's RBS Six Nations defeat by England.

It what turned into a playground style row, England refused to stand on the correct side of the red carpet for the pre-match formalities of shaking the hand of Irish President Mary McAleese and the national anthems.

The move, which has since seen the RFU write and apologise for the act, forced Ireland to stand further down the pitch and away from the red carpet, instead of their traditional spot.

Easterby told Scrum Down: "It was disappointing they did this as they were told two days before where to go regardless of the kick-off.

"It is tradition for us to stand there, but to be honest it didn't effect the final result, it was just a disappointment."

On the match itself, where Ireland were taken apart 42-6 by a rampant England side, Easterby, who saw former Ampleforth College team-match Lawrence Dallaglio score, added: "We were upset not to get the win for the Grand Slam, but overall we have got to be happy with what we have achieved this season."

Meanwhile, Guy's brother Simon, who missed out on all the Six Nations action, has been given a boost for his World Cup ambitions.

Despite being stuck in the Irish 'A' side, flanker Simon has been told that he remains in Eddie O'Sullivan's overall plans, having maintained his fine form for the 'A' team and Llanelli.

Updated: 09:59 Saturday, April 05, 2003