Irish women beatenThe Ireland women's rugby team succumbed 51-10 at Twickenham to their England counterparts but that bare statistic masks an Irish display that was full of character.
England are ranked number two in the world so it hardly comes as a surprise that they won. Two years ago Ireland were beaten 79-0 by the same opposition so this does constitute an improvement.
The delight at being able to play at Twickenham was obviously tempered by the fact that, for most of the match, spectators numbered in their hundreds rather than thousands. Ireland scored two tries, through Rachael Boyd and the excellent Joy Neville, a sister of Connacht flanker Paul.
Woodward 'nose' best
Traditional sporting dressing-room smells are now a thing of the past. Gone are the days of the wintergreen and sweat aromas, or at least that seems to be the case with the England changing quarters at Twickenham. Coach Clive Woodward is set to use aromatherapy to invigorate the English players before internationals. The team's fitness adviser, Dave Reddin, has been in discussion with aromatherapists and perfume experts with a view to providing a distinctive scent.
"We have looked at whether certain smells in the dressing-room affect people's moods and we know they already do. I'm not an expert in the field but citrus smells, peppermint and black pepper are very uplifting fragrances. Things like lavender are much more calming so maybe we'd put that in the away dressing-room."
You can picture the first scrum at Twickenham last Saturday. "Reggie, is that lavender I smell?" "Sure is, Phil, and do I detect a hint of peppermint?"
Still, Clive probably "nose" best.
Behaving badly
Carlos Spencer demonstrated the sort of sang-froid that gives coaches nightmares. Playing in a recent Super 12 match for Auckland against their bitter rivals the Canterbury Crusaders, and with his team two points up in injury time, Spencer decided to have a little fun.
From behind his own posts he elected to run the ball, a decision that, fortunately, worked out as Auckland swept downfield, before the All Black popped up to run a superb line and canter towards the Canterbury posts unopposed. All he had to do was dot down under the posts and then kick the easy conversion to deny their rivals a bonus point.
Spencer instead ran all the way along the in-goal area right over to the far corner before putting the ball down for a try. Canterbury were at home and given that Spencer has replaced the Canterbury supporters' favourite son, Andrew Mehrtens - he played that night - as first-choice outhalf for the All Blacks, he tends to get plenty of abuse.
As he touched down he flipped the crowd the bird and then walked back along the touchline, put the ball down for the conversion and proceeded to post the extra points, thereby denying Canterbury the bonus point.
You certainly can't say there is anything mundane about Carlos Spencer.
Sevens circuit return
The IRFU have been politely prevailed upon by the International Board (IRB) to enter a team for the 2005 World Cup Sevens. The union are trying to comply with the invitation despite the fact the brief period in which Ireland competed on the sevens circuit has passed.
Financial constraints and the lack of player numbers with the introduction of the Celtic League to complement the Heineken European Cup and AIB All-Ireland leagues meant sevens became a casualty of the IRFU operations. That could all change, although it's still not going to be easy.
To play in the World Cup Sevens, Ireland must play in two tournaments on the European circuit in May, around the time of the AIB League semi-finals and final. In these tournaments they have to compile enough points to qualify for the World Cup European Pre-Qualifying tournament.
Given the demands on players, it's not apparent who will be available to play. Still, the IRFU have appointed a new Ireland sevens coach, sensibly opting for the recently retired Ulster and former Australian sevens captain Ryan Constable. Many of the major powers use the sevens format to blood and develop young players and the IRFU would be keen to follow that example if they could just find the players.
Under-21 World Cup
Although it has yet to be posted on the IRB website, Planet Rugby can exclusively reveal that this year's IRB Under-21 World Cup will take place in Scotland in June. It follows on from last year's event staged ithe Oxfordshire area just outside London - New Zealand beat Australia 21-10 in the final. All of the top nations play in the tournament, as evidenced by Argentina beating South Africa in the third/fourth-place play-off. France, Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Canada and France completed the line-up.
Under-21s need support
Speaking of matters under-21, there was a fantastic atmosphere at Kingsholm last Friday night when England hosted Ireland at that level. Over 7,500 turned up to support England - there was a small knot of Irish supporters at the game - as the home side squeezed home with a converted try in injury time to win 27-19.
Ireland had drawn away to France and beaten the reigning Grand Slam champions, Wales, at the Sportsground. Unfortunately, the Irish team, with several future senior internationals, doesn't get the support it deserves. Last week there were fewer than 350 at the Sportsground in Galway and the team is shunted all round the country. Perhaps the IRFU would do better to invite applications from community clubs like Mullingar to host these matches, with a guarantee to drum up local support.
If people in that area support it then that venue could become a home for the national under-21 team. Far better that than having meagre crowds pitch up with little or no inkling for the players that they are competing at a home venue.
It can be anticipated the people of Limerick will come out in force to cheer on the under-21s when they take on Italy at Thomond Park on Friday week but more fickle support is likely for the team's final outing at Stradbrook against Scotland.
These games should be marketed more aggressively.
League team of the year
Given the furore surrounding the club game at present it's nice to be able to bring some good news. Once again The Irish Times and AIB will link up to sponsor The Irish Times/AIB Division One team of the season for a fourth successive year, albeit with a slightly different format.
This year's team will be chosen with the help of all 16 AIB Division One coaches, who will be asked to nominate three of their own players and the best three opposition players they have encountered, irrespective of position on the team. In other words, they could nominate three props if they so wished.
It is from these players, along with those chosen by Irish Times rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley, John O'Sullivan, Johnny Watterson and Gavin Cummiskey that the team will be picked and announced.
The team will receive their commemorative awards at a lunch in May.
