A round-up of this week's other rugby news in brief ...
Tries, points and appearances
BRIAN O’DRISCOLL, Ronan O’Gara and John Hayes all made strides yesterday with their respective tries, point scoring and appearance records, but combine the old Five Nations championships and O’Driscoll still remains five tries behind Scotland’s Ian Smith who scored 24 touchdowns between 1924 and 1933. Shane Williams remains a serious rival, injury ruling him out over the weekend.
O’Gara’s penalty and four conversions – Rob Kearney converted the other try when the outhalf was sin-binned – brings his 10-season Six Nations total to 469 points. He is now just 10 points shy of Jonny Wilkinson.
The record for appearances is still held by Mike Gibson, 56, and that’s not including Italian games, but John Hayes moved alongside Fabien Pelous yesterday, remarkably, with a 46th consecutive Six Nations match.
SIX NATIONS RECORD: TRIES
Brian O’Driscoll (Ire)...........................19
Ben Cohen (Eng)...................................16
Shane Williams (Wales)....................16
Will Greenwood (Eng).........................15
Jason Robinson (Eng)........................14
SIX NATIONS RECORD: POINTS
Jonny Wilkinson (Eng)....................479
Ronan O’Gara (Ire)............................469
Neil Jenkins (Wales)........................390
Stephen Jones (Wales)...................341
SIX NATIONS RECORD: APPEARANCES
Fabien Pelous (France).....................46
John Hayes (Ire)..................................46
Jason Leonard (Eng).........................45
Chris Paterson (Scot)........................45
Scott Murray (Scot)............................43
Playing for a good cause
IRISH RUGBY is due to come out in force to support one of its true heroes. On Saturday April 5th, 2008, a simple tackle in a club rugby game in London left Stuart Mangan, a graduate of Rockwell College and UCC, aged just 24, with a devastating spinal injury. This inaugural rugby tournament has been organised to reflect some of Stuarts life – his legal studies and (law degree in UCC), his Masters in European Business and his love of rugby. Six participating teams from his sporting past will participate in Donnybrook this Friday, February 20th, 2009, in what promises to be a great sporting occasion.
Physically, Stuart is now dependant for his every basic need, in sharp contrast to how he lived his life before the accident. A talented sportsman with an exciting career ahead in banking, Stuart loved to travel and speaks five languages.
In coming to terms with his horrific injury, Stuart is determined to deal positively with his drastically altered circumstances. For more information, see: stuartmangan.org
Dress for success
Viewers of the Superbowl will understand this concept. Moments after the game ends players can be found donning gear proclaiming them 2009 champions.
Now, further enhancing the exclusivity long associated with the Leinster Schools Cup, Jack Wills, the British University Outfitters, will present the winning Senior and Junior Cup squads with commemorative hoodies after the respective finals. There will also be a Senior Cup All-Star XV announced after the competition.
What they are saying . .
"WE DON'T over elaborate from week to week. Under Eddie we used to make big changes as to how we were playing. Under Declan . . . we play to our strengths as much as possible." – Paul O'Connell speaking to former English lock Paul Ackford.
"Myself and Claw [Peter Clohessy] saw what was happening and we were wading in when Hayes hit Marconnet such a slap. It was like he got a belt of a sledgehammer. You could see from his face that he was gone. We knew it was all over." – Mick Galway reflecting on a rare occasion in 2002 when John Hayes lost his temper on the field.
"Look at soccer. If you get tackled, you pretend you are half dead. If you get punched in the face in rugby, you try to pretend nothing happened." – Paul O'Connell, again. Rob Kearney can surely relate after being high-tackled by Andrea Masi at 46 seconds.
O'Sullivan to face Kidney's side
EDDIE O’SULLIVAN, US coach in waiting, will be keenly aware of the May 30th date when Ireland travel to America, to a venue yet to be confirmed, to face their former coach. It is generally considered a development tour, as the Lions will be in South Africa, and it also includes a Test match against Canada on May 23rd.
O’Sullivan’s agent John Baker was still waiting on confirmation of the appointment from US Eagles chief executive Nigel Melville yesterday, but he did confirm terms had been agreed for a two and a half year contract to take O’Sullivan up to the 2011 World Cup, presuming they qualify.
The head coach role would require O’Sullivan to live in the US with San Diego the likely base, although the Eagles do spread their training camps.
“Eddie would definitely take the job,” said Baker yesterday from Rome en route to the match. “I had a discussion with Nigel Melville when we agreed terms, but it is subject to ratification by their board of directors.”
So, that sets matters up nicely for a showdown with Ireland and his former assistant Declan Kidney.
