ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE FINAL:Old Belvedere's New Zealand coach has more than one cause close to his heart this week, as he tells GERRY THORNLEY

RUGBY HAS always seemed to consume Phil Werahiko, but even by his standards this week is fairly full on. The one-time DLSP and Clontarf coach takes his Old Belvedere side to their first Ulster Bank League final, against the holders Cork Constitution at Donnybrook on Sunday, while on Friday he is organising a charity match between New Zealand and Ireland selections.

Proceeds from the match, which kicks off at 7pm in Old Belvedere’s Anglesea Road, will go to the Irish Red Cross’ New Zealand Earthquake and Japan Tsunami appeals to help those affected by the recent tragedies in the countries.

Andy Wood and Greg Feek will coach the New Zealand team, while the Irish line-up will be coached by Bernard Jackman and John Fogarty. The teams will mostly consist of players from the Ulster Bank League and former professional players. The main sponsors of the night are Toyota, with the organisers hoping for guest appearances on the night, if not in the match, given events the next day, from Isa Nacewa and Isaac Boss amongst others.

The New Zealand squad were hoping to meet up today for haka practice, and there’ll be raffles for autographed All Blacks, Irish, Leinster and Crusaders jerseys as well as a social night and a New Zealand-style barbecue.

Werahiko arrived in Ireland at the zenith of the Kiwi invasion when Murray Kidd invited him to join Waterpark in 1992. “I suppose it was a learning experience; I started at the bottom and worked my way up,” he chuckles.

Save for a season with Rotherham five years ago, he’s been here ever since, and success has tended to follow him. After one season with Waterpark, he was player-coach with Enniscorthy for three seasons, during which time they won promotion and reached the Towns Cup final, and in six seasons with DLSP he helped guide them from the AIL third division to the first.

In six seasons with Clontarf as a coach, they reached five AIL semi-finals (and two finals) and in his three seasons with Old Belvedere they won Division IB and reached the AIL semi-finals last season and now, after finishing second in Division 1A, comes their first final.

The circumstances of Belvedere’s dramatic last-ditch 22-20 win over Clontarf, courtesy of Eddie Devitt’s injury-time try, must have left him feeling a tad sympathetic for his former club.

“If there’s a club that deserves to win the All-Ireland, it certainly is Clontarf,” he admits. “They’ve been knocking on the door for so long.”

Werahiko is assisted by player-coach Andy Dunne and the ex-Waratahs player Matt Kennedy, who has coached with Bristol and Neath. Dunne has been a key contributor, as has the prolific ex-Connacht and Munster winger-cum-fullback Daniel Riordan (their leading try scorer with eight thus far).

Powerful Kiwi number eight Leo Auva’a, whom Werahiko brought to the club, has come into his own this season and has been training with Leinster for the past six weeks, perhaps with a view to helping out the province during the World Cup.

“It’s taken him a little bit of time to get familiar with the Irish game,” says Werahiko. “We’re a bit loose down in the Southern Hemisphere so he had to learn to tighten up his game a bit and become more involved in the game as opposed to roaming freely.”

All part of a general learning curve. “The season in 1B gave us time to build some confidence and develop as a team, and then coming up we kept pretty much 90 per cent of the team together and were lucky to get Simon Keogh out of professional rugby. Chris Keane was a big loss (as player-coach to Skerries) but he’s now available for us as a dual status player.”

Old Belvedere are bidding to become only the second Leinster club in 21 years of the AIL to win the title by emulating the success of St Mary’s in 2000. But they are up against the four-time winners Cork Con, who have finished first in the regular season for five years in a row and beat Belvedere twice this season, by 12-9 in January and by 23-12 in Temple Hill.

So Werahiko and Old Belvedere are happy to embrace the role of underdogs on Sunday? “Well, being favourites didn’t work for us in the semi-final,” he laughs. “I suppose this time around we’ve got more to gain than to lose.”

• Charity Match in aid of the Christchurch and Japan Eartthquake Appeal: New Zealand Selection v Ireland Selection, Anglesea Road, Friday (kick-off 7pm). Admission: €10 for adults and €5 for children under 13. Social event admission: €10.

RUGBY FIXTURES

FRIDAYAmlin Challenge Cup semi-final: Stade Français v Clermont Auvergne, Stade Charlety, 7.45pm.

SATURDAYHeineken Cup semi-final: Leinster v Toulouse, Aviva Stadium, 3.30.

Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final: Munster v Harlequins, Thomond Park, 1pm.

SUNDAYUlster Bank League final: Constitution v Old Belvedere, Donnybrook, 2.35.

Heineken Cup semi-final: Northampton Saints v Perpignan, stadium:mk, 3pm.