During the week, Scottish Rugby Union President Andy Irvine admitted that the Union would have no problem if a private investor came onboard and bankrolled the region, and it would appear that former Edinburgh board member Graham Garvie could be the man to do just that.

He's now heading up the recently formed Borders Rugby Action Group and his proposals for the region will be presented to the SRU executive over the next couple of days. Last night in Edinburgh, thousands of supporters of the now privately owned capital side marched against the closing of the Borders region and there now seems some hope, however small, that they could be brought back to life in time to play professional rugby next season. The Heineken Cup trouble will put an obstacle in their way, as will the apparent cold shoulder by Chris Cusiter to the rescuers' plans, but fingers crossed they survive. We need some good news.

BUILD-UP TO WORLD CUP UNDERWAY IN FRANCE Things are hotting up over in France as the country builds up to the World Cup at the start of September. Over the past seven days, billboard adverts for rugby's greatest show have begun to pop up around the country, while La Parisien newspaper has begun a weekly column explaining the more technical side of the game to its more rugby-novice readers.

The official World Cup shop has also opened in Paris (32 Avenue de l'Opera, for anyone popping over for an Easter break) with two other stores, in Marseille and on the ChampsElysees, set to open in the coming weeks.

As for tickets, the initial two phases of sales have gone well and at the moment no more tickets are being sold for any of Ireland's matches.

However, keep an eye on www. france2007. fr over the next few months because we understand that more tickets for Ireland's pool games will be released in the weeks before the competition gets underway.

THE LAW LIBRARY The ACT Brumbies, as per usual, have been trying all sorts of tricks to work their way back up the Super 14 table this season. A couple of weeks back, for example, flanker George Smith began picking up the ball from the side of the scrum, rather than allowing his number eight to do it at the back. He got away with it once but then the referee seemed to rediscover the laws of the game and pinged him for it.

The only person allowed to pick the ball from the scrum, according to the laws, is the hindmost player. That could of course be either flanker, depending on what way the scrum has turned, but not in the case of Smith last week, who had his number eight firmly behind him. Law 20.10 (c) states: "The hindmost player in a scrum is the player whose feet are nearest the team's own goal-line. If the hindmost player unbinds from the scrum with the ball at that player's feet and picks up the ball, the scrum ends." A penalty was correctly awarded against Smith the second time.

GREAT MOMENTS IN IRISH RUGBY NUMBER 26 . . . Ireland tour Argentina for the first time In the summer of 1952, Ireland headed off for their second ever tour. Argentina was their country of choice this time (their first tour was to Canada in 1899), with the team and officials leaving Dublin on 20 July for their nine match tour. They started with a 30-0 victory over Chile in Santiago, and then it was on to Buenos Aires, a city still mourning the death of Eva Peron.

Indeed there was some doubt in the weeks leading up to Ireland's departure as to whether the tour would still take place at all, such was the outpouring of grief at Peron's death. But everything went ahead as planned, with Ireland winning one and drawing the other of their two test matches against a surprisingly powerful Argentinean outfit. Overall, Des O'Brien's Ireland won six, drew two and lost one of their nine tour games in South America.

MOUTHING OFF. . .

If the boycott goes ahead, Serge Blanco will not be remembered as one of the great full-backs of all time. He'll be remembered as the person who destroyed professional rugby in the northern hemisphere IRFU President Peter Boyle gives his assessment on European rugby's current woes Nothing of"cial, but there have been a few chats. Going back is something I've thought about but it's hard to know whether that is the right thing to do Geordan Murphy (right) on his club future We have to be smart on this tour. We will talk it through with Eddie; we will work out what's best for everyone in the build up to the World Cup Brian O'Driscoll admits that he doesn't know himself if he'll be on the plane to Argentina