Cardiff stir row over Rogers' eligibility

Two things can be guaranteed when the Heineken Cup show hits town: a whole series of classic cross-border confrontations and, more problematically, a whole series of scandals. While this weekend's St Helen's showdown between Swansea and Stade Français is likely to provide the first five-star contest of the new European campaign, connoisseurs are already savouring the opening rumpus, thanks to Tim Horan's tangle with organisational bureaucracy and some serious fun and games over the eligibility, or otherwise, of three more leading players: Peter Rogers, Norm Berryman and Jaco Espag.

Two things can be guaranteed when the Heineken Cup show hits town: a whole series of classic cross-border confrontations and, more problematically, a whole series of scandals. While this weekend's St Helen's showdown between Swansea and Stade Français is likely to provide the first five-star contest of the new European campaign, connoisseurs are already savouring the opening rumpus, thanks to Tim Horan's tangle with organisational bureaucracy and some serious fun and games over the eligibility, or otherwise, of three more leading players: Peter Rogers, Norm Berryman and Jaco Espag.

The Cardiff hierarchy believe Rogers, their recruit from Newport, should be allowed to play in their front row when Toulouse come to the Arms Park on Saturday. The fact that Derek McGrath, the chief executive of European Rugby Cup Ltd, is taking a different view did not stop David Jenkins, the Cardiff operations director, insisting yesterday that the Wales loose head and leading Lions contender was "available for selection" and that playing him was "definitely an option".

Discussions with the Dublin-based ERC board were continuing last night, but there is a possibility of Cardiff defying the tournament administrators and playing their prize capture against Christian Califano, Franck Tournaire and company. "We asked a question of someone at ERC and the response we received led to us sign Peter," Jenkins said. "We are convinced of our argument and we do not believe you can bracket the situation with other cases that have arisen. We would like to see the ERC board hold a meeting to decide what is going to happen, rather than rely on the chief executive to make decisions as the issues come along."

Rogers was named in Newport's 30-man squad for the competition, but Cardiff say they registered him before the last ERC-imposed deadline expired. Horan is ruled out of the pool stages because Saracens failed to register him with the Rugby Football Union.

ERC are investigating whether Berryman, the centre from New Zealand, and Espag, the prop from South Africa, should have played for their French clubs, Castres and Pau, in last weekend's opening round of pool matches. Both were playing provincial rugby in the southern hemisphere until very recently, and there are doubts whether they can possibly have met ERC's eligibility criteria.