Brennan in line for a recall

Trevor Brennan was back in training with his Leinster team-mates yesterday and possibly in line for a recall to the team which will play Munster next weekend in Limerick.

His omission from the Leinster side which lost to Ulster on Friday had been attributed to him not being "focused", according to coach Mike Ruddock, though it is now clear that the latter's decision was primarily a disciplinary measure.

According to a report in yesterday's Sunday Tribune, this followed a pre-season trial match against Rotherham during which Brennan had been involved in an incident which sparked a mass brawl and the abandonment of the game after just a few minutes.

The `referee' for the said 20minute practice game, former Leinster scrum-half Alain Rolland, confirmed that "a couple of incidents took place" which obliged him to call a halt to proceedings, although yesterday Ruddock remained tight-lipped about the affair, merely stating: "I don't want to comment other than to say that Trevor trained with us this morning and I was very happy with his performance in training and he looks to be more focused than he had been in previous weeks."

During Leinster's pre-season trip to Loughborough College, the English RFU had refused to provide referees for proposed pre-season friendlies against Leeds and Wakefield. Leinster arranged a closed session with Rotherham which Rolland, in his capacity as a referee, attended.

"There were sequences of three scrums for each side at various areas of the pitch and the same again with line-outs, which took about an hour. During all this time there had been no off-the-ball incidents at all," said Rolland yesterday.

"They then decided to have a run-out for 20 minutes. Rotherham kicked off, Leinster broke upfield, won ruck ball and moved it wide to score," added Rolland.

Apparently Brennan retaliated in response to a late tackle from the Rotherham player Neil Spence, although neither Ruddock nor Glennon would confirm reports that Brennan (who has been told not to talk to the media) kicked Spence, while Rolland didn't see the incident.

"I was following the ball and I didn't see the start of the incident but a fracas had broken out, involving about four or five players with others trying to break it up," Rolland confirmed. "I told both sets of players and the two coaches that if there was any more retaliation or off-the-ball incidents I would call it off, and I left the coaches to speak to the players for two minutes."

"Rotherham then kicked off again, the ball didn't go ten and as they were coming back for the scrum a Rotherham player accidentally or on purpose bumped into a Leinster player, who shoved him back. There were a few punches thrown so I said `that's it, take an early shower'."

"It was disappointing," said Rolland, who added that both coaches agreed with his decision.

The fall-out from that episode and the disruption it caused, on top of Leinster's lack of a proper preseason match, must have contributed to their limp opening display against Ulster. Nor would Brennan's absence have helped either. Not every coach would have taken the same action as Ruddock did, though the self-termed "sole selector" is to be commended for his decision. Aside from ensuring the same benchmark for all his players, he is probably doing Brennan a favour in the long-term as well.

On occasions, great bit of stuff though he is, there is no doubt that Brennan struggles to contain his innate aggressiveness. This has led to him being a marked man and this latest episode will merely accentuate that process.

All of which perhaps makes it doubtful that he will be picked for next weekend's game which was originally fixed for 2.30 on Saturday. The IRFU requested that the it be changed, to avoid a clash with the televised All-Ireland hurling semi-final replay between Clare and Offaly. A number of alternative times over the weekend have been put forward, and the Munster Branch believe it will start at 1.30.

Leinster will finalise their team on Wednesay evening, pending fitness reports on Pat Ward, Martin Ridge, Barry Gibney and Derek Hegarty.