Danny Cipriani was given a boost in his recovery from a badly broken ankle after being voted young player of the year by his fellow professionals.

The Wasps fly-half beat team-mate James Haskell and Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care to the honour at the Professional Rugby Players' Association awards.

Wasps claimed a double with Cipriani's team-mate Riki Flutey took the Player of Year honours.

He beat Bath centre Olly Barkley and Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel.

Cipriani, 20, had also been part of the five-strong nomination list for the Player of the Year award.

He was unable to collect his award - the Nick Duncombe Memorial Trophy - in person after suffering a dislocated fracture of his right ankle in Sunday's Guinness Premiership se

Rangers manager Walter Smith insists he will not look back upon an epic campaign with any regrets even if Celtic retain the SPL trophy.

Smith's side must win away to Aberdeen and hope Celtic slip up against Dundee United to take the title themselves.

"You can only try to win and do as well as you can in whatever competition you are in," he said.

"That's what we set out to do this season and we probably have succeeded to a greater degree than we thought."

Rangers, already winners of the CIS Cup, were on the brink of four trophies before they lost to Zenit St Petersburg in last week's Uefa Cup final.

A hectic fixture schedule meant that Rangers have since played Motherwell and St Mirren, a draw at Fir Park on Saturday putting Celtic in pole

Stephen McManus says it would be a fitting end to the toughest week of his career if Celtic were to win the title in honour of the late Tommy Burns.

The Celtic coach's funeral came two days before Thursday's trip to Tannadice, where victory should secure the SPL championship.

"We've always said we were doing this for ourselves, but Tommy's death has changed things." said McManus.

"He'll certainly be our motivation and we'll dedicate any title win to him."

Celtic enjoy a four-goal advantage over Rangers in the title race going into Thursday's final games.

Victory for Gordon Strachan's men against Dundee United would require a goal-fest from Rangers at Pittodrie to deliver the title to Ibrox.

But Celtic captain McManus says his team are taking n

Mark Jones expects Wales' forthcoming trip to South Africa to be 10-times tougher than his last visit.

Jones' first and only experience of rugby in the republic came 10 years ago when he was a youth player.

Jones said: "It will be my first tour to South Africa with Wales. I toured there with Crawshay's Youth in 1998 and played in a festival in Pretoria.

"It's a hotbed of rugby, there's no doubt about that and if I play it will be 10 times as tough."

606: DEBATE How tough do you think Wa

Hearts interim manager Stevie Frail is to leave Tynecastle and will be replaced by a new boss as Hearts plan ahead for next season.

Frail was unavailable for comment on Wednesday, but BBC Sport can reveal that he is aware that a new managerial team is to be brought in.

Hearts, who finished the season in a disappointing eighth place, appointed Frail caretaker boss in January.

He had previously been in joint charge along with Anatoly Korobochka.

That followed the departure of first-team coach Valdas Ivanauskas in March 2007.

Mark McGhee has been widely tipped to take over at Hearts after leading Motherwell to third place in his first season at Fir Park.