"I love playing for Queensland and the Wallabies and I was honoured to play my 50th game for Queensland as the captain," said Horwill.

Reds Head Coach Phil Mooney praised his skipper for his decisiveness in deciding to remain for another two years. "James made his intentions pretty clear a couple of weeks ago and he's stuck to his guns," Mooney said. "He's committed to leading the Reds into a new era and as captain knows more than most how close we are to turning that ability and hard work into wins on the field.

The head of the ARU's high performance unit David Nucifora is delighted with the decision by the powerful lock to re-commit to the Wallabies for another two years and to add to the 10 internationals caps he already has.

"James made rapid strides as a Test player last season," Nucifora said. "His decision to remain in Australia now allows him the opportunity to continue with that development. It is great news for the game in this country."

Horwill, who already has four tries for the Wallabies, suffered a setback in November last year when he required an operation to due to ligament damage in his foot.

The Australian coach Robbie Deans met Ioane about continuing his test career with the Wallabies and the Reds now believe he is close to re-signing with the national side. "With Digby, we're far more hopeful now of keeping him than we were a week or two back, so that's really positive," said Mooney. "He's now talking about how good it will be to play in the next World Cup."

A move abroad would bring a premature end to his international career and the Reds have been working hard behind the scenes to offer the paceman a larger contract. Reds chairman Peter Lewis and the Queensland Rugby Union are giving Ioane the assurances he needs after he slammed the ARU's initial $175,000 base contract offer, claiming he felt 'insulted' when he had received offers of $1.1 million from abroad.

Braid was injured playing for the Reds and his arrival was dependent on him passing medical checks. Meanwhile the Welsh outfit have announced the signing of four new players for next season's campaign. The new players are Wales Sevens World Cup winner Richie Pugh, 25, from Exeter Chiefs and Andrew Fenby, 23, from Newcastle Falcons. Also joining the club are Gareth Maule, 21, from Newport Gwent Dragons and flanker Damien Welch, 26, from Cardiff RFC.

Genevois was sent off by referee George Clancy in the 76th minute for striking Saint's replacement Courtney Lawes and the committee will decide if further action is required. The flanker's teammate, Julien Frier, will also appear before the panel on the same day after he was cited by the Citing Commissioner for the game, Ray Wilton.

The independent Disciplinary Committee will be chaired by Pat Barriscale (Ireland) and he will be joined on the panel by Simon Thomas (Wales) and John West (Ireland).

Fa'afili, who will turn 29 next week, has spent the last two seasons in France after switching from league and joins the Guinness Premiership newcomers on a two-year contract.