Compiled by JOHNNY WATTERSON
Falling to earth
WE HAVE been reliably informed by Sinéad Kissane of TV3 that the music the Irish team baggage manager ‘Rala’ was blasting out at yesterday’s training session was the David Bowie classic Space Oddity. Music choice, is as everyone knows, vitally important and occasionally character defining. Bowie was met with general acclaim by the music heads of the television, radio and print media pack. The Irish team has been known to bust a few tracks of Take That.
While Irish number eight Jamie Heaslip indicated last week that he is as musically hip as they come after attending a Plan B concert, we think Bowie’s lyrics might be the most appropriate for a team about to play in Cardiff this weekend. As Major Tom might say to Declan Kidney’s side: “Take you protein pills and put your helmet on.”
Quotes of the day
“Ah sure a little bit of fresh air didn’t do anybody any harm”
– Declan Kidney spins his home-spun wisdom on the media yesterday when asking about the roof being open for Ireland’s match against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
“The closer it (the ball) is to their line the tougher it is for them to score”
– Declan Kidney again pointing out the obvious to in his own inimitable way.
“I’m an eternal optimist”
– Brian O’Driscoll reacting to a whiff of media negativity that has been circulating since the last match against Scotland.
Scots disagree Up for the Cup
WE LIKE to think of our rivalry with England as the longest standing but Scotland would disagree and claim the longest official animus is the match for the Calcutta Cup (left, being held in 2006 by Scotland’s Chris Paterson) which take place this weekend.
On Christmas Day 1872, a game of rugby, between 20 players representing England on one side and 20 representing Scotland, Ireland and Wales on the other, was played in Calcutta, India.
These rugby gents wished to form a club, which led to the creation of the Calcutta Football Club in January 1873.
The trophy is currently held by England, who claimed it by defeating the holders Scotland 26–12 at Twickenham in the 2009 Six Nations Championship and retained it the following year with a 15-15 draw at Murrayfield.
Currently England has a win record of 54 per cent, Scotland 33 per cent and there have been 15 drawn matches, or, 13 per cent.
One man who could have been playing for either team on Saturday is England secondrow Tom Palmer.
The 31-year-old Stade Francais lock, born in London but a former pupil at Boroughmuir High School, played for Scotland Under-19s and Under-21s before declaring his senior international allegiance to England.
That decision made a decade ago looks a good one now, with Palmer a firm fixture in the second row as England chase their first Grand Slam since 2003.
The IRFU’s official press release on the Ireland team to play Wales listed the match as taking place on Sunday. Hope the team turns up on the right day.
Taking the piss
THE IRFU invests much of its own money each year in supplementing the drugs testing carried out by the Irish Sports Council. And so it was that yesterday morning’s training in a sun-splashed RDS was delayed by an hour as several players were nominated to provide a sample in their Killiney hotel. It’s a task that has become relatively normal.
The rest of the weary team were asked to wait on the bus while the players obliged the testers inside. Clever thinking, though, to do it before the training session rather than after, when the players can be dehydrated and it can take over an hour to ‘donate’ the required amount of specimen to the sampler.
Trains are back on tracks
FANS ATTENDING the clash on Saturday in the Millenium Stadium have had a lucky escape in terms of their travel plans being badly disrupted, turning a pleasure weekend into what could have become a nightmare trip.
Industrial action by train drivers which threatened to disrupt the Six Nations match between Wales and Ireland was called off late yesterday afternoon. Rugby clubs in Wales had complained that up to 30,000 people would have been affected including many thousands of Irish fans coming into Cardiff from Ireland and the UK and up until after 4.00pm yesterday the strike was still going ahead.
But talks between the drivers union Aslef and Arriva Trains Wales made “good progress” and the action planned for Saturday and Sunday has been called off.
Churchill Does not get nod
IRELAND WILL not be participating in this summer’s Churchill Cup, where so many Irish internationals have cut their teeth at the top level. Last summer Ireland acceded to provincial requests for a decent pre-season and didn’t take part in the tournament, while this year preparation for the rugby World Cup in New Zealand has also taken Ireland out of contention.
It seems a pity for the fringe Irish players, who would have relished a chance to impress as Leinster and Ireland winger/centre Fergus McFadden (right) did in winning the MVP award in the 2009 competition.
This year’s tournament is conveniently being hosted by England in early June with England Saxons, Tonga, USA, Canada, Russia and Italy participating.
The Irish team’s August meetings with Scotland, England and France prior to their September 11th World Cup kick-off against Eddie O’Sullivan’s USA in Yarrow Stadium should mean they won’t be, as they appeared to be at the France RWC in 2007, ‘over cooked’ going into their first pool match.
