NEWPORT scrum half Darren Edwards has confirmed he will be joining Zurich Premiership club London Irish later this week, barring any last minute hiccups.

It means he will have to commute from his new Cardiff home for some time because he leased out his London home after signing a new contract with Newport. Last season he commuted in the other direction.

"I signed my contract with Newport on June 1," he said, "and about three days later I had the call that Joost van der Westhuizen was coming.

"I realised then the writing was on the wall for me at the club and they agreed to let me go.

"It would have been hard, after playing in the European games last year, to sit on the bench. If you are competing for a place you don't mind.

"At London Irish hopefully I will at least have an opportunity to compete for a first team place and the English Premiership is a great standard as well (Edwards played in it for Saracens before joining Newport).

"I would have liked to have stayed in Wales for another couple of years, but all this arose at short notice."

* British Lions back Austin Healey is likely to suffer a major fine or stricter punishment following his remarks before the final Test against Australia. On the eve of the game in Sydney he made derogatory statements about Australian players and the country.

The Lions management have expressed their concern and will call Healey before them when he returns from holiday in Hawaii.