OLD Trafford, headquarters of the Lancashire County Cricket Club, could stage rugby union during the winter break.

Three Sale fixtures have been pencilled in although negotiations are still ongoing.

The two sports are played in tandem at grounds such as Lancaster Park, Christchurch and Eden Park, Auckland.

But there would be obvious concern over possible damage to the playing surface.

There has been dialogue between Lancashire and Sports Turf Research Institute at Bingley St Ives.

"There has been some discussion," said Dave Edmundson, cricket secretary of Lancashire, "but at this stage absolutely nothing has been agreed." A couple of the obvious games that spring to mind would be the Courage One matches against Bath on December 28 and Northampton on March 8.

A year ago Sale had talks with Salford Rugby League club over the possibilities of using The Willows but nothing was forthcoming.

The Cheshire club have been investigating several avenues of leaving their Brooklands headquarters on a permanent basis, inspecting sites just off the M63 by the Carrington Spur and at nearby Dumplington in the Trafford Park redevelopment zone, but nothing has yet been settled.

If Sale do wish to use Old Trafford for occasional dates they should heed the experience of neighbours Orrell who, last season, took home fixtures against Bath and Leicester from Edgehall Road to Wigan's Central Park and received a mixed reception from their support base. Neither game attracted anything like the attendance officials had imagined, many members steadfastly refusing to break from tradition.

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