Just like home: Munster public relations officer Pat Geraghty put a call in last week to the Irish team, who are warm weather training off the west coast of Africa in Lanzarote.
Expecting to hang up feeling well peeved to be stuck in Ireland, the news was that it was wet and cloudy in the Spanish resort.
A quick look at the weather on the island put temperatures at 22 degree centigrade highs and 17 degree lows. The 22 degree mark is Lanzarote's annual average so don't expect the boys to come back with winter tans when they line out for their Celtic League quarter-final in January.
Free drink
In the last drink-related story of the year, Northampton Saints are definitely taking a different tack to Leinster. The chairman of the English club, Keith Barwell, this week pledged to buy a drink for every Saints supporter who arrived to cheer his team in their sixth-round English Cup clash away to Orrell over the weekend.
Barwell said he would be at The Station pub, just metres away from Orrell's Edgehall Road ground, from 12.0 onwards to personally buy a drink for every supporter who joined him ahead of the game that kicked off at 1.30.
He said on the club's website: "First and foremost, I must thank all the support Saints have had in the last few months. Around 1,000 Saints supporters travelled to Cardiff and really made the difference. However, I must ask them for one last push in 2002. I will be in the pub by noon and I will personally buy a drink for every supporter that cares to join me."
Presumably that turned out to be vodka and Red Bull for the boys and alchopops for the girls.
Player of the Year
The winner of the IRB Player Of The Year 2002 award will be announced at a ceremony in January with a date to be soon confirmed. The names of the five nominees for the award are Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Fabien Galthie (France), Richard McCaw (New Zealand), Joe van Niekerk (South Africa) and Jason Robinson (England). Former Blackrock, Ireland and Lions flanker Fergus Slattery is on the international judging panel for the award but it is expected that O'Driscoll, who has had an incredible year, will probably get more than one green vote.
Keeping with rating all things rugby, it was decided at an IRB meeting in November that official world rankings, embracing all 94 rugby playing countries worldwide, will be launched this month and should become operational in January.
Challenge down-under
Following the success of the Irish "Lions" Rugby Challenge in Australia two years ago, an Irish "World Cup" 2003 Rugby Challenge to raise money to help injured players is being organised for October next. It will take the form of a 100 km sponsored walk in Adelaide, Surfers Paradise and Melbourne to coincide with Ireland's initial matches in the 2003 World Cup tournament.
All proceeds go to the IRFU Charitable Trust for Injured Players and enquiries should be made to Mick Quinn (tel: 01 - 4963515 or Eleanor Connolly (tel: 01 - 2834277). Participants are required to raise a minimum of €5,750 and the package includes flights to and from Australia; four star accommodation; guaranteed entry to Ireland v Argentina and Ireland v Australia, as well as the quarter-final souvenir track suit, T-shirt and bag and a visit to the Melbourne Cup.
In 2001, the "Irish Lions Rugby Challenge" raised €215,000 for the IRFU Charitable Trust when 84 walkers participated.
Best shirt sellers
The two best selling shirts on www.irfustore.com are the Munster home shirt and the Ireland home shirt. Most of the online buys, according to the sales team, centre around the home matches of both sides with a surge in the run-in to Christmas.
Does this mean that Munster fans are more willing to shell out than their Leinster or Ulster counterparts or just that they are more computer friendly?
Given that an Irish shirt is €67.70 and the Munster one is €76.70, it also suggests that Munster fans are not as tight as their provincial brothers.
Christmas bets
The Paddy Power Christmas Stocking has all the elements any gambling addict could ask for at Christmas-odds. Stacks of them. At 9/2 you can bet on Ireland to draw a Six Nations match while Ireland winning the Six Nations is 8/1 (Beating England and France . . . hmm). Ireland to win a Six Nations match to nil is 33/1 while Italy to lose a Six Nations match to nil is considerably shorter at 3/1.
No try in the World Cup final next autumn is priced at 16/1 while Ireland to fail to score a try in any Six Nations match in 2003 is 7/4. Finally, you can get Munster to play any rugby match in either Páirc Uí Chaoimh or the Gaelic Grounds in 2003 at 25/1.
Quotes of the year
"I was sitting at home on Monday when the phone rang, and it was the Scotland team manager. I thought to myself 'what the hell does he want?' "
- Veteran Scotland prop George Graham on learning of his recall to the national squad from manager Dougie Morgan.
"Azam called Epi a black bastard and spat in his face. Epi is not a violent man. He was just reacting, and he was in tears in the dressing-room afterwards."
- Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Rob Andrew reacts to alleged racist taunts by Gloucester hooker Olivier Azam on Newcastle's Tongan Epi Taione in an English Premiership match. Andrew was forced into an official apology after Gloucester fans threatened legal action, and Azam was cleared of all wrongdoing by the RFU.
"F**k you, Laurie! When I come to breakfast first, I end up sitting on my own, but if I come to breakfast later, I'm expected to sit with the white guys. Why do we always have to make concessions?"
- Former Springbok wing Chester Williams lifting the lid on what passes for conversation in the South African squad. Recalling what he said to then coach Laurie Mains over a supposed racial divide within the team, Williams also accused Bok wing James Small of calling him a 'f*****g kaffir'.
"I'd rather that the controversial incident hadn't happened. I'd much rather people looked back on my career as a whole rather than concentrating on that one occasion. I've had plenty of letters from Munster fans who believe they were cheated out of the Heineken Cup, but it seems to me that some people are being very, very naive about the things that go on in the middle of a rugby match."
- Leicester and England flanker Neil Back sort of regretting knocking the ball from Peter Stringer's hands at a Munster put-in during the closing stages of last year's European Cup final.
