RUGBY:LEINSTER TIGHTHEAD prop Stan Wright was cleared to play in the Magners League final against Welsh side Ospreys on Saturday week after an IRFU Disciplinary Hearing in Belfast yesterday.
Munster number eight Nick Williams, who was cited for an alleged stamp on Leinster outhalf Johnathan Sexton was also cleared.
Wright was cited under law 10.4(A) for an alleged punch on Munster’s Alan Quinlan in last Saturday’s Magners League semi-final but the IRFU panel consisting of Hugh Logan (chair), Stephen Hilditch and Neil Jackson, found that while acts of foul play were committed by the players and the citings were justified the incidents did not warrant red cards and no sanctions were imposed on either of the players.
That leaves Wright available for selection for Michael Cheika in the coach’s final competitive game in charge of Leinster before moving on to Stade Francais next season.
Wright will also face Irish winger and this year’s Players’ player of the Year in Ireland, Tommy Bowe, who was momentarily side-tracked from the Magners League final as he picked up yet another individual award in Cardiff.
The 26-year-old former Ulster player was named Players’ Player of the Year by the Welsh Rugby Players’ Association. He earned the award just a week after winning the Irish equivalent in Dublin and two months after being voted the Six Nations Championship Players of the Year.
It has been a year where the Monaghan man has hardly put a foot wrong from being a standout performer on the Lions tour of South Africa in which he played all three Tests against the Springboks to now, where he is still a regular match winner for Ospreys with seven Magners League tries this season.
With a total of 38 tries in league competition for the Ospreys and Ulster Bowe is seven clear of Leinster’s Shane Horgan, another Leinster player he will probably face in the final. Bowe beat Dragons wing Aled Brew and Blues duo Bradley Davies and Xavier Rush to the top honour. His Osprey team-mate, Shane Williams, was awarded try of the season. The Welsh winger earned the trophy for his contribution to Wales’ last-gasp triumph over Scotland in the Six Nations.
Elsewhere, the All Blacks are feeling the pinch of injury as much as Ireland for the forthcoming summer tour. The latest player to fall out of contention is All Black midfielder Ma’a Nonu, who is deemed extremely unlikely to be fit for New Zealand’s three June Tests after suffering a knee injury in the Hurricanes final Super 14 match.
Nonu ruptured a posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and although he will not require surgery, he is not expected to return to full training for six weeks, which rules him out for Ireland’s visit on June 12th in New Plymouth. The All Blacks also play Wales twice in what is their equivalent of the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn series of matches played in November.
Nonu, who was a key figure for New Zealand last year and started in all but two of their 14 Tests, adds to the All Black headaches as secondrow Ali Williams and winger Sitiveni Siviatu are out for the year. Luke McAlister, who started at inside centre when Nonu was rested, has been dogged with injury during the season and is not guaranteed to be fit by June.
Fullback Mils Muliania is making a slow comeback at club level after breaking his thumb while last year’s tourists Corey Flynn, Tom Donnelly, Jason Eaton and Mike Delaney as well as first-choice hooker Andrew Hoare are also sidelined for now, with Hoare recovering from a dislocated shoulder.
