Complied by Johnny Watterson.

Cullen to have last word

There will be the usual glut of rugby books hitting the shelves in the run-up to Christmas. Two of them may be of particular interest for various reasons.

Life On The Run, a biography of New Zealand full back Christian Cullen, which is not yet available in Ireland, traces the career of one of the best players in the world and how he ended up playing with Munster.

One of the reasons he was left out of the All Black World Cup squad was because coach John Mitchell accused him of having a genetic disposition towards the X factor. By that Mitchell meant Cullen did not fit into his idea of a team framework because he was too much of an individual and given to spontaneity, the very thing New Zealand lacked against Australia on Saturday.

The other book, Walking Proud, is by Louis Luyt, the former Don of South African rugby. Luyt is first and foremost a businessman and as he flew around in his own Lear jet we've got to assume he was pretty successful at it.

Much of the book is about Luyt's dealings in South African rugby; it is also a "poor boy makes good" story.

The revelations about political intrigue in South African rugby during a time of upheaval in the country are likely to be fascinating. The book contains descriptions of Luyt's trips abroad to meet members of the ANC when it was a banned organisation as well as details of how much players were paid for rebel tours.

Woodward shows he's human

Who says Clive Woodward is a cold and ruthless coach? When he sent on that 100-kilo, round but frighteningly strong-looking man into yesterday's World Cup semi-final against France on 76 minutes, he was of course thinking of the team.

The curious figure was Dorian West, who at 36 became the oldest player to appear in a World Cup semi-final.

Well leaking at the back

Sunday's Well are streaking away with the title of least effective defence in all three All-Ireland League divisions. From four matches, the league tables show the Cork side have conceded 137 points, or just over 34 points a match.

This compares with bottom-placed division one side Galwegians, who have let in 109 points, and third-from-bottom division three team Ballina, who have a record of 114 points against.

In terms of scoring points, there is no team quite like division two's UL Bohemians. Lying sixth in the table, Bohemians have scored 130 points in four games.

Ad breaks to diet for

During the World Cup semi-final between Australia and New Zealand RTÉ ran a series of advertisements at the half-time break that must have caused many watching punters a cold shiver.

First Brian O'Driscoll was selling Powerade. Then McDonald's promoted their burgers. The run was completed with a Heineken ad.

Your average Friday night really. Too much beer and a bit of late-night fast food followed by some strangely coloured fizzy drink to cure the hangover before an early-morning rugby match.

Ulster famine in focus

In the Australian campaign over the last four weeks, it was noted by a few players in Ulster how David Humphreys was the only Red Hand man on the Ireland side.

The issue received a good airing on the Ulster website, where it was noted by a number of observers that Ulster cannot produce top-class players as long as they can't get onto the team.

The centre pairing against Glasgow on Friday were New Zealand (Paul Steinmetz) and Australian (Ryan Constable) players.

In the pack they had Matt Sexton, Rod Moore and Matt Mustchin and at outhalf Adam Larkin, all imports. Still, they are in the Celtic Cup final.

Weighty developments

Former international Donal Spring observed, with some degree of amazement, how big modern-day rugby players are becoming.

Looking at the centres in yesterday's match between France and England, he noted that Wl Greenwood at 15 stone two pounds, Tony Marsh at 15 stone four pounds and Yannick Jauzion at 14 stones 13 pounds were all as heavy as he was when he was playing. The difference was that he was a second row.

In yesterday's game, Spring would have been two or three stone shy of the second-row players, with England's Martin Johnson tipping the scales at 18 stone eight pounds.

Friends in small places

Some of the world's smallest rugby unions have gone Down Under to see the climax to the 2003 RWC. The heads of the Swaziland, Barbados and Moldova RFUs have visited in Sydney for the final matches.

Lend me your ears

"Sports Ears" have been giving rugby fans an extra dimension at the World Cup. More than a just a pocket-sized radio, they enable supporters at the match to hear the referee and touch judges, as well as tune in to commentary or receive a combination of both.

Matchcom has produced a Sports Ears limited souvenir edition for the tournament, but their origins come from rugby league.

In 1996, Australian audio engineer Murray Tregonning was asked by the Super League to create an on-field communication system for match officials. The Matchcom Referee Talkback System he developed not only linked all the on-field referees, it aided the introduction of the video referee or third match official. The system is used today by the Australian, Scottish and New Zealand Rugby Unions and has been adopted by the International Rugby Board for this year's World Cup.