Compiled by Gavin Cummiskey

Reporters and the missing link

ONE OF the essential purchases walking down Jones’ Road for an international is a ref-link. This clever piece of gadgetry costs €10 and keeps punters/reporters informed of goings on at the coalface of a game.

It also supplies plenty of snippets for a column like this one – sometimes hilarious, like Jerry Flannery famously being picked up highlighting the girth of English hooker Steve Thompson a few seasons back (unprintable, I’m afraid) or how many Irish players address the referee as ‘sir’ or the lost-in-translation explanations referees try to provide to a talkative Argentinian front row.

So, when it became apparent that the ref-link was malfunctioning on Saturday, and this reporter was denied the Welsh tones of Nigel Owens, a quick half-time straw-poll revealed most members of the press box were suffering a similar fate. It meant a return to pre-technology rugby coverage but prompted the question – how do you get a refund when the sellers have disappeared?

O'Driscoll keeps trying

WITH SHANE Williams now a serious threat in his slipstream on 16 tries, Irish captain Brian O’Driscoll brought his Six Nations try tally up to 18 in 41 appearances against France, pushing him two tries clear of Williams and former England winger Ben Cohen.

SIX NATIONS TOP TRY SCORERS

Brian O'Driscoll 18
Ben Cohen 16
Shane Williams16
Will Greenwood 15
Jason Robinson14

RONAN O’GARA continues to reel in Jonny Wilkinson’s record points haul of 479. His 15 points on Saturday leave him just 21 points adrift of Wilkinson and the Englishman could potentially not make it back into a white jersey due to a catalogue of recurring injuries.

SIX NATIONS TOP POINTS SCORERS

Jonny Wilkinson 479
Ronan O'Gara 458
Neil Jenkins 390
Stephen Jones 320
Chris Paterson 316

Corporate box looks bare

* IN YET another sign of the times we live in, the empty corporate boxes at the Canal End of Croke Park told their own story on Saturday. The way the current arrangement works is the owners of the GAA boxes can take up their allocation or free them up for the IRFU to sell as they rent the stadium ahead of Lansdowne Road’s completion in August 2010.

* NOT MANY men can claim a 15-year international career but baggage master Patrick “Rala” O’Reilly has been an ever present with the Ireland squad. We await what should be a hugely insightful autobiography.

Late starter

" As a child I definitely didn't think that any of this would happen, definitely not. I suppose I came into rugby late as I didn't play the game as a young fella. I didn't think a rugby career like this would ever have happened."

– John Hayes, 90 caps not out, in a rare interview published in Saturday's match programme. Not only is it strange to see Hayes quotes but to try and imagine him as a child.

No Ireland Test for Hong Kong

A PROPOSED Test match between world champions South Africa and Ireland in Hong Kong later this year has been postponed due to the economic climate.

At the end of last month Ireland team manager Paul McNaughton confirmed the Test match against the Springboks had been agreed for November 7th and that it was “90 per cent certain” to be played in Hong Kong.

But the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union have confirmed no top-level international will be staged this year. “It is not going to happen in Hong Kong this year due to the hard economic climate,” executive director Allan Payne said.

“We are flattered South Africa and Ireland want to play here, but we said it is best we hold off this year. We took a lot of things into account, like the TV markets, ticket sales, visiting fans from overseas, sponsorship and the sale of corporate boxes.”

BBC tackles breaks in play

THE BBC deserve praise for their match coverage over the weekend (in contrast to ITV who had a nightmare earlier in the week when they missed Everton teenager James Gosling's extra-time winning goal to knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup).

Always seeking the innovative approach, the Beeb would flick to montages of a significant player at every prolonged break in play.

The first featured Rob Kearney's early leaps into the air when he gathered three successive high balls, in traffic, to put paid to one French tactic. Next it was a Brian O'Driscoll tackle collage, including a fantastic recovery hit on scrumhalf Sebastien Tillous-Borde after being initially handed off.