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Tom May is not the first England Test player to be blooded at the home of Manchester United football club. In fact, Richard Cockerill very nearly drew some of the red stuff as he lined up for his first start for his country at Old Trafford, back in November 1997. Quite what possessed the cocky young hooker to give Norm Hewitt some in-your-face treatment as his opposite number performed the haka only Cockerill could say. Certainly, one of his Leicester team-mates was far from impressed. 'What the fuck have you done?' Martin Johnson enquired, after the referee had separated the bullet-headed new boy and the far- from-amused Hewitt. 'Raised the collective All Black dander,' Cockerill might well have replied. England were subjected to a 25-8 beating.

And so the tablecloth unravels. Luka Modric found an equaliser for Croatia midway through the second half - and twice they hit the post in the final four minutes - but a draw leaves them seven points behind England with four games left, and uneasy in the knowledge that, in the battle for second and a play-off spot, Ukraine are three points behind with a game in hand.

Should this column, like Fernando Torres and Michael Ballack, be rewarded with an extended contract on improved terms for next season, there will have to be an occasional item on The Power Of Football. Consider, for instance, the BBC's extraordinary decision to bring forward the final of The Apprentice from its regular Wednesday night slot to this evening, purely in order to avoid clashing with England's less than gripping World Cup game against Andorra. 'Our priority is to schedule programmes in a way that offers viewers the best possible experience,' said a Beeb spokesman in best possible PR-speak. More relevantly, when Sir Alan Sugar and his irritating entrepreneurs were in direct opposition to the Champions' League final, the audience dropped from 8.4 million the previous week to 6.5 million, compared to 7.9 million for the football. Now, thanks to the pulling power of those Andorrans, the apprentices need only go into bat tonight against the excellent but minority interest Empire

There is a time and a place to use the boot in rugby, and though England are often accused of knowing neither, their relocation to Old Trafford for a one-off Test in which, confusingly, Argentina were the hosts brought out the best in Mark Cueto. The Sale wing and Manchester United fan is a regular in the stands at the Theatre of Dreams and his volleys to create two second-half tries for Delon Armitage were telling pieces of improvisation, if a long way from anything practised by Wayne Rooney.

Croatia and Ukraine drew 22 in a World Cup qualifier in Zagreb leaving Slaven Bilic's team seven points behind England.

England Saxons make a winning start to their Churchill Cup campaign against Argentina A.

NEWPORT, Wales -- Nick Dougherty eagled the final hole in a 1-under 70 Saturday to share the lead in the Celtic Manor Wales Open after the third round was delayed by 6 1/2 hours due to rain.

New England looks to extend its unbeaten streak against the visiting New York Red Bulls to 12 games.

ENGLAND SAXONS kicked off their Churchill Cup defence with a hard fought victory over Argentina Jaguars.

On a warm (26C/78F) afternoon in Denver, the Saxons beat Argentina's Jaguars 28-20 in a tight game that only opened up in the second half. That the Jaguars had had longer to prepare at altitude showed in that they were better drilled at the start, but in the second half England's organisation told and they began to control the game,