  The gauge gravity action for general relativity in any dimension using a
connection for the Euclidean or Poincar\'e group and a symmetry-breaking scalar
field is written using a particularly simple matrix technique. A discrete
version of the gauge gravity action for variables on a triangulated 3-manifold
is given and it is shown how, for a certain class of triangulations of the
three-sphere, the discrete quantum model this defines is equivalent to the
Ponzano-Regge model of quantum gravity.
