An interested bystander this past week and for another week is Declan Kidney. The Munster coach was allowed to attend the Lions' training sessions in Brisbane and also compared notes with the Queensland coach Mark McBain. He will also meet up with the ACT Brumbies coach and Rod Macqueen's Wallaby successor-in-waiting Eddie Jones when visiting Canberra later this week after linking up with the Irish under-21s in between. "It's an exploratory visit," he explained. "After four years coaching Munster I wanted to get a different perspective." He'll also meet up with John Langford but said that the rumoured courting of 32year-old World Cup winning back-rower Jim Williams was not his reason for travelling over.

That said The Australian newspaper has augmented reports in this paper a few weeks ago that Williams has been lined up by the Irish provincial champions, while the player was quoted in The Courier-Mail as saying he was "definitely looking at Munster" adding that "I want to make up my mind in the next six weeks but at the moment it's all talk and no definites."

As for next season's European Cup draw, the pitting together of Munster and Harlequins has prompted some slagging between Kidney and Keith Wood, who admitted: "Ever since we beat Newcastle in the semi-final of the Shield, like a sibyl in Roman literature, I had a vision of the future; I just knew that we would win the Shield and then be drawn against Munster."

It will be Wood's second visit there with Harlequins, having lost the first, and though he is expecting another torrid time on and off the pitch, maintained: "I'll enjoy every minute. Whether you're playing with Munster or against them, Thomond Park is a great place to play."