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Ring sounds off in Echo

The Ulster fans who made the trip to Llanelli for Saturday's Heineken European Cup game would have found the two-part serialisation of Mark Ring's autobiography in the South Wales Echo interesting reading. The former Wales centre tells how he was offered £35,000 to throw an international against Ireland in 1990.

Ring claims that in the week leading up to the final wooden spoon game of the Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road he was the player at the centre of the whole business, though Allan Bateman had already referred to the incident in his autobiography.

"The approach came from a businessman who said he was representing an organisation from London," says Ring. "I was left in no doubt that the London people were major league - in other words, if you took their money you had to make damn sure you delivered what they wanted if you valued your kneecaps."

Ring recalls the conversation with the mystery man:

"'Would you consider taking part in an attempt to throw an international rugby match?' said the crook.

"'No way', I replied.

"'Look, there's a lot of money involved,' he countered.

"'How much are you talking?' I asked, purely out of interest.

"'Around £35,000,' came his answer.

"If I was playing in a world snooker final or tennis at Wimbledon, where I would have been very much master of my own destiny, I could have understood, but a 15-man team game?

"'If it means your hooker throws the ball in wonky, your kicker misses all his pots at goal, then so be it. Give them some cash and get them on board,' said the crook.

"'Or if you want to keep all the dosh yourself then you'll have to jump out of the way every time Brendan Mullin (who would be my opposite number at Lansdowne Road) gets the ball.'

"Thankfully, when I refused point-blank to get involved, the bloke accepted my decision and never leant on me.

"In Ireland, I was rooming with Bateman and one night as we lay awake before going to sleep, I asked him how he would have felt if I had offered him £5,000 to help me throw the game.

"I brought it up because even though I had laughed off the sinister approach, it had affected me mentally. It was on my mind and I suppose, in a way, I had to share it with someone. But it was a mere mention and just that. There was never any question of Bateman having been offered the money."

Ring Master, published by Mainstream, costs £16.99.

Boks take flatter line

South Africa are already ramping up their visit to Dublin by getting their complaints and flattery in first. Forwards coach Gert Smal and Allister Coetzee have made little secret of the fact they regard Ireland as a bigger threat to their tour than England, whom they face at Twickenham in back-to-back Tests.

They have also let it be known the New Zealand referee Paul Honiss is not someone they regard with particular fondness. Honiss was on the whistle in Ireland's victory at Lansdowne Road in 2004.

In that game Honiss awarded a penalty to Ireland and instructed the South African captain, John Smit, to speak to his players about repeated infringements.

When the South Africans turned their backs on play, Ronan O'Gara took a quick tap and dived over for the decisive try in a 17-12 win, Honiss allowed the score. Naturally the South Africans were apoplectic.

Roll on November 11th.

Bennett left feeling small

Phil Bennett, the Welsh outhalf legend, paid a visit to the Llanelli changing room before they faced Ulster on Saturday.

Bennett emerged afterward and said to a few people how he would love to be playing rugby again but quickly added that there was no way on earth he could have ever played against the players he had just seen and wished well in the changing room.

For the record Bennett was a kicker and runner and had the complete game. His form earned him a place on the Lions tour of South Africa in 1974, where he scored 103 points. His 50-yard try in the 28-9 second Test victory in Pretoria ranks as one of the supreme examples of individual brilliance on a rugby pitch.

He was and is a slight little fellow, however.

"They're so bloody big," said Bennett, adding that in his entire career he never once went near a weights room or did any organised training to build up his body.

Rough justice for Leinster

In yesterday's European Cup match between Leinster and Edinburgh in Murrayfield, the home side's inside centre Rob Dewey went over for a crucial try towards the end of the game. While Brian O'Driscoll appeared to slide in and put his body between the pitch and the ball, French referee Joël Jutge sent the decision upstairs for the video analysis to decide.

While Sky Sports showed every angle they had available to them, there was no definitive proof that the 6ft 4in centre had actually touched down the ball either on the line or over it.

While the various camera angles did suggest Dewey made contact, it was impossible to be certain. Even the normally opinionated commentators were unsure.

The irony is that Luke Fitzgerald's earlier try for Leinster was given despite a glaringly forward pass from Shane Horgan. It didn't need any video analysis to show the ball was well forward despite Fitzgerald taking it slightly behind his body and perhaps causing the illusion it was backward. No video analysis, though perhaps justice was done. And is that not the point of a match?