Other rugby stories in brief
Schooled in traditional rivalry
As the days speed towards the 17th it is interesting to note the respect both finalists in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup, St Michael's and Blackrock College, have for each other.
Perish the thought that anything should happen to break down the healthy and manly traditions between the two pillars of the community where pupils exchange points of view in a variety of ways.
Despite denials from the highest authorities in Blackrock that any of their star rugby playing pupils have been anything but ambassadors for the school, there do seem to be some scallywags around fomenting trouble.
When the above email arrived on the Planet Rugby desk, we just wondered what could it all mean?
Rule changes on the cards
What are Munster going to do if the proposed rule changes are to become the laws of the game? It could soon (after the 2007 World Cup) be permissible for defending players to collapse a rolling maul, which in the past was virtually impossible to do by legal means.
So the lineout in the corner, the take by Paul O'Connell and the mighty heave of the Munster pack may no longer be a viable option.
In tandem, if Ronan O'Gara receives a pass back into his own 22, his kick directly into touch will result in a lineout from where the ball was kicked. Those and a variety of other changes are proposed in order to get coaches to "think outside the box".
Over to you, coach Kidney.
Stevens is on song
Renaissance man Matt Stevens revealed the sensitive side to tighthead props in an interview before England's game against France yesterday.
The 23-year-old from South Africa must be the only professional rugby player to also have an Olympic gold medal. The sweet-voiced 6ft 2in, 18st Stevens won the medal at the 2000 Viennese Choir Olympics.
Argentinian and Toulouse prop Omar Hassan is also an accomplished opera singer while behind the beaten face and cauliflower ears of former English hooker Gareth Chilcott there also lies a serious culture vulture. Such is the Chilcott expertise in opera that the classical UK music magazine Gramophone will carry a showpiece interview with him in next month's edition. Never judge a book by its cover then?
Humphreys overlooked
It looks as though Leicester just can't wait for Paul Burke to arrive over from Munster. With their Six Nations contingent missing for last Friday's Premiership match against Leeds, you might have thought coach Pat Howard would give Ian Humphreys or Ross Broadfoot a run-out at 10. Perish the thought. With the regular Leicester halfback pairing of Andy Goode and Harry Ellis missing, Howard simply shifted Austin Healey from scrumhalf to outhalf, with Scott Bemand getting a rare start at nine.
With Broadfoot on the bench and Humphreys nowhere in sight, that can't be good for the confidence of a young player even though he is still on a learning curve. Better news is Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings both started.
Sit-down protest in press box
"Come the day and come the hour" that the Combined Army Number One and Garda bands strike up Ireland's Call, most of the local sports writers in Lansdowne road actually sit down.
It appears Phil Coulter's ditty, which the national hockey team have appropriated too, is a recipe for embarrassment in the press box. As the music strikes up and the locals sit down the guest hacks remain standing, unwilling to spark off a diplomatic incident as the "third national anthem" is played and looking somewhat bemused at their colleagues' apparent bad manners. It appears everyone is anything but "shoulder to shoulder, together standing tall".
Flannery in his element
So who noticed the massive hit Scotland's Jason White had on Irish hooker Jerry Flannery in Lansdowne Road on Saturday?
As the almost two-metre tall Scottish blindside flanker lined up Flannery 12 minutes into the second half and then melted him from 20 paces, approximately 40,000 people in the stadium groaned.
But who also noticed the smile and nod from the Shannon hooker to White as they prepared to butt heads again in a scrum less than a minute after?
The physical action has always been a curious sort of pleasure.
