Today's other stories in brief
Jersey worth having
A Munster Rugby Jersey, signed by the winning Heineken European Cup Team (2005-2006) and the current panel of players (2006-2007) is being raffled by UL Bohemian RFC to raise funds for the Willie Doran Benefit Fund. Well known in Limerick and national rugby circles, Willie has been involved with UL Bohemian RFC for many years at underage, youth and senior levels and was youth officer with the Munster Branch of the IRFU for over a decade.
Unfortunately in recent years Willie has suffered from chronic rheumatoid arthritis and is now wheelchair bound. All funds raised will be used to assist with Willie's care.
Earlier this month over €20,000 was raised in a fundraising match played between UL Bohemian and Limerick Leprechauns. The jersey will be presented mounted and framed to the winning ticket holder.
Tickets for the raffle are €10 and can be bought from the committee at 061 363910. The draw takes place on Sunday, May 6th.
To help boost sales, Kieran Keating, a member of the fundraising committee, has set up a buy-it-now listing on e-Bay where tickets can be purchased securely. Log on to http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160110996501.
Union make meal of it
Dining out on achievements from the recent or distant past is an essential element of rugby, and not just in Ireland. But there ought to be some limits. Last Friday, a recently arranged dinner to celebrate Ireland's under-20 Grand Slam was organised by the IRFU, who ordered all players to attend these celebrations. This duly depleted the Leinster A/academy for the Bristol 10s and the knock-on effect resulted in Blackrock being denied half-a-dozen players for a game away to the Biarritz under-21s, which they had arranged as far back as October.
Furthermore, Blackrock have had to pull out of a proposed friendly for their under-21 seconds against Bayonne, with the ensuing financial loss of cancelled flights and accommodation. One Blackrock player who expressed a preference for playing against Biarritz was told categorically to attend the celebratory dinner, even though the union have already held a lunch for that purpose.
Given the choice, the players would much prefer to have played in the Bristol 10s or in Biarritz, but eat drink and be merry rather than play rugby seems to be the new union motto.
D'Arcy has last laugh
On the same theme, the BT IRUPA annual banquet - held for the fifth time in the O'Reilly Hall last Wednesday - takes some beating. The highlight was again Risteard Cooper's hilarious take on leading Irish rugby personalities as well as Steve Staunton, while an autographed Irish jersey raised €8,000 alone as part of the €25,000 that was raised for IRUPA injured players' fund.
Master of ceremonies again was Craig "I prefer to work in the UK" Doyle, fresh from his much-publicised performance at the TV Now Awards, who tried but failed to get the better of the Players' Player of the Year, Gordon D'Arcy, and was duly put in his box.
"It's good to see your jokes are working this week," said D'Arcy.
Fringe to get look in
Any fringe player not included in either Eddie O'Sullivan's 30-man squad for the two-Test tour to Argentina or the 28-man squad for the Churchill Cup in England, which will see Ireland A play Canada and the New Zealand Maoris in Exeter, is liable to be a little miffed, as the Ireland coach intends resting all 15 players who started the Six Nations win over England.
With Jeremy Staunton injured, David Humphreys retired and his brother Ian not especially impressive in a rare outing for Leicester in their defeat to Bath last Tuesday, O'Sullivan has limited options at outhalf.
In the absence of any established inside centre, it's likely the Munster-bound Kieran Lewis will partner Barry Murphy in midfield for the Argentina tour.
Munster's recent rugby league convert Brian Carney is also a likely back-line inclusion.
The return of Gavin Duffy, a favourite of O'Sullivan's, to Connacht from Harlequins may lead to his selection as well, with Luke Fitzgerald's lack of game time seeing him rerouted to the Churchill Cup along with the likes of Danny Riordan and Frank Murphy.
Six players involved in the Heineken European Cup final are likely to join up with the squad in Buenos Aires a couple days after the main party arrive there.
The squad of 30 might read something like: Backs - G Murphy (Leicester), G Duffy (Connacht), T Bowe (Ulster), B Carney (Munster), R Kearney (Leinster), B Murphy (Munster), K Lewis (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster), P Wallace (Ulster), I Humphreys (Ulster), E Reddan (Wasps), I Boss (Ulster), C O'Loughlin (Connacht). Forwards - S Best (Ulster), B Young (Ulster), P Bracken (Wasps), T Buckley (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), F Sheahan (Munster), B Jackman (Leinster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), T Hogan (Leinster), L Cullen (Leicester), N Best (Ulster), J Heaslip (Leinster), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), S Jennings (Leicester).
Monkstown in the black
As many clubs in Ireland approach financial meltdown and are in debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of euro, we are pleased to announce that Monkstown FC are not one of those clubs. Having last week erroneously suggested Monkstown, who declined to merge with Lansdowne, were in financial difficulty, we welcomed an email from a committee member of the Leinster League club reassuring us this was not so.
Planet Rugby now respectfully suggests Monkstown FC should organise a road show around Ireland so that those troubled clubs of all parishes can avail of the expertise and prudence that allow Monkstown to survive free of debt in what many other clubs have called a difficult financial climate.
