A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Strange call Final insult

A LOT of people associated primarily with club rugby in Ireland were scratching their heads at the IRFU decision to schedule the AIL final between Cork Constitution and Old Belvedere last Sunday.

The grass-less Donnybrook surface was bad enough, but the timing seemed like yet another slap in the face for the club game.

One can only wonder what new sponsors Ulster Bank thought of the coverage being dwarfed by the Leinster Toulouse semi-final, amongst other events in a bumper weekend for sport (GAA league finals and the Premier League).

The Saturday just past was one of the quietest of the year for Irish sport and seemed an ideal date for this fixture to be played.

It was also very interesting to see three Cork Con players in Friday’s Munster squad to face Connacht. Winger Simon Zebo started, while prop Stephen Archer and lock Ian Nagle provided cover on the bench. That seemed the only logical barrier to denying the club final a Saturday all on its own in the calendar.

Next season club teams will only be permitted to field two registered professionals in their match-day squads.

FITZPATRICK HAS THE WRY LAST WORD

THE Irish Rugby Union Players Association (Irupa) awards took place last week in the Burlington hotel with Leinster dominating every category, besides the young player of the year going to Ulster’s dynamic centre Nevin Spence.

The Master of Ceremonies for the night was one Martin Bayfield.

When the 6ft 10in former English and Lions (1993) lock was not slagging off Andrew Trimble’s “scruffy” attire or Seán O’Brien’s prize of silver cutlery (“Sure, I couldn’t find a fork anywhere this morning,” O’Brien said jokingly, to which the MC replied he had no idea what the Leinster backrower just said due to his accent), Bayfield spoke of his beloved Northampton, a burgeoning acting career as “rugby player two” in a naked shower scene or his role as a young Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films.

He also told us of a regrettable conversation in the immediate aftermath of a dust-up between Lions hooker Brian Moore and All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick during the 1993 Second Test in Wellington.

With the Lions rampant, eventually winning 20-7 to tie the series, Moore landed what Bayfield described as the punch of a lifetime to put Fitzpatrick’s nose closer to his ear.

“And I shagged your mother!” Moore informed Fitzpatrick.

The All Black captain rose to his feet, readjusting his nose to its rightful place, before responding: “Well, Brian, you are 32 and my mother is 76 so I would say that is a result for Mum.”

Sevens up IRFU warm to idea

THE provincial club Sevens championship got underway in Ulster and Munster this weekend with Queens and UL Bohemians progressing to the All-Ireland semi-finals in St Mary’s College RFC on May 21st (same day as another game in Cardiff).

They will be joined by the Leinster and Connacht champions once they progress from tournaments in Terenure College and Corinthians RFC this weekend.

There is a two-year period of purgatory before the IRFU will give a green light to a Sevens team for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, but comments by domestic game manager Scott Walker appear to indicate a positive shift in union policy.

“The advent of Rugby Sevens as an Olympic sport will see a surge in interest and popularity for the game as a whole.

“The IRFU Club Sevens programme aims to introduce the skills of the seven-a-side game at grassroots level with the emphasis on the development of Irish players.”

LIPPY LEAMY GIVES IN TO TEMPTATION

REFEREE David Wilkinson was admonishing a bemused Denis Leamy for some old-school rucking of a blatantly offside Connacht forward on Friday night. Paul O’Connell intervened to explain the same thing had just happened to Alan Quinlan yet no Munster penalty followed.

“Do you want another five or 10 metres?” Wilkinson asked O’Connell, but, before the Munster captain could reply, Leamy accepted the kind offer, saying, “yeah”, leaving the referee with little option but to march the penalty on five or 10 metres.

The glance O’Connell gave Leamy was priceless.