By Gavin Cummiskey

Some quotes from 2009

“Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”

– Eh, okay. Brian O’Driscoll the day before Ireland hosted England. Perhaps one he prepared earlier?

“Playing with Rog is like playing with your sister – you have to mind him.”

– Donncha O’Callaghan – tongue in cheek as ever.

“I allowed my passion for the club to compromise my judgment.”

– Dean Richards.

“I’d be a believer that you don’t ever own a jersey, you don’t ever nail down a jersey. You have it for one afternoon, and that’s your chance. You leave your DNA in it.”

– Declan Kidney, Cardiff, March 2009.

“Crack under pressure? I’ve won two European Cup finals under pressure, no one of these Welsh fellas have played in a European Cup final. What are they basing this on? They’ve won Grand Slams maybe. They talked the talk this week but they didn’t walk the walk. I’m particularly happy in that regard.”

– Ronan O’Gara after plenty of attention came his way in Cardiff, March 2009. He also showed the humility to swap his jersey with Stephen Jones.

“If I could have pulled myself together, I fxxxxg would have. I am not a weak-willed person. It’s not that I don’t have fortitude. It’s that there are issues I need help with. I know each time I speak about it, it is going to make me raw and open me up.”

– Just after rugby got used to Gareth Thomas’ revelations about being an openly gay current player, former England hooker and BBC commentator Brian Moore’s autobiography “Beware of the Dog” delves into his childhood when he was sexually abused by a friend of his adopted parents.

Williams back

The reverberations of Bloodgate appear to be consigned to recent history and it was noted the man at the centre of the whole debacle, Harlequins three quarter Tom Williams, is back on the rugby field after serving his ban that was eventually reduced to four months on appeal, mainly due to the 26-year-old revealing the truth about the blood capsule he swallowed to fake an injury against Leinster in last year’s Heineken Cup quarter-final. He featured on the wing in last Friday’s televised defeat to the Sale Sharks.

Postponement to cause problems

The postponement of the Connacht versus Leinster Magners League tie in Galway on Saturday will throw up a few problems on the fixture list.

After getting a green light from the over-eager hosts at noon, the game was cancelled at 2pm once referee Peter Fitzgibbon, Connacht coach Michael Bradley and Leinster counterpart Michael Cheika came across a few rock hard patches on their stroll across the Sportground surface.

A refixed date is expected to be announced this week but this is unlikely to be before the Six Nations begins in February.

Awards and honourable mentions

The Irish Times rugby writers have decided to give their opinion on certain goings on in 2009.

The Planet Rugby Awards.

Player of the Year: Brian O’Driscoll (Honourable mentions: Jamie Heaslip, Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney).

Breakthrough Irish player: Jonathan Sexton (Honourable mentions: Seán O’Brien, and Rob Kearney for his breakthrough on a global scale).

Foreign player of the year: Rocky Elsom (Honourable mention: Heinrich Brussow).

Team of the year: Ireland (Honourable mentions: Leinster, Shannon’s late run to the AIL title and the Blackrock College SCT).

Coach of the year: Declan Kidney (Honourable mentions: Michael Cheika and Geoff Moylan – guides Shannon to a surprise AIL and is then let go in summer!).

Try of the year: Jamie Heaslip’s dance step through the French defence at Croke Park (Honourable mention: Luke Fitzgerald’s touchdown against Munster in Heineken Cup semi-final).

Stand-out team/player performance of the year: An ominously refreshed France beating the Springboks in November/Brian O’Driscoll against England.