Mixed bag for Geraghtys: It was a mixed weekend for two underage internationals with the surname Geraghty, both of whom play their rugby with London Irish. Kieran Geraghty came on as a replacement for Ireland in the under-21 international at Donnybrook, a match the home side lost 28-6.
Shane Geraghty was fullback on England's team that thumped Ireland in the under-19 international 47-6 at Stradbrook. We're not sure if they're related but it does seem unlikely. Indeed, London Irish contributed far more players to the two underage England teams (four) than they did their Irish counterparts (one).
Brawn gets better of Brains
Remember the old adage about brains beating brawn, well Wales offered conclusive proof that the two are mutually exclusive. You see in the opening two matches of the Six Nations Championship, Wales had Brains but no Brawn but in Saturday's victory over France at the Stade de France the boys from the Principality had Brawn but no Brains.
The answer to the conundrum is quite simply. Brains, a brewery and alcoholic drink, sponsors the Welsh rugby team. French law bans the advertising of any alcoholic product on its sports fields or in its stadia - Scotland have had to remove Famous Grouse whiskey from their jerseys in the past - so the clever marketing people in the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) came up with the idea of putting Brawn in place of Brains on the Welsh jersey.
This once again offers irrefutable proof that Mike Ruddock's men have had brains and brawn in this season's Six Nations Championship, just not at the same time.
More heartbreak for DLSP
Poor old DLSP suffered heartbreak for the third season in succession when they lost yet another Leddin Finance Leinster Senior Cup Final, this time to St Mary's College (26-7). Having been beaten by Carlow in the last two and Clontarf in the 1999 final it was hoped that the Kilternan club would finally be able to bring home the silverware. They were well beaten on the day and will find little consolation in captain Peter Lennon's try.
Wales edging closer
Wales have edged closer to regaining a place in the top six of the IRB rankings after beating France in Paris on Saturday but would have had to prevailed by 15 points to move back into the top six. Scotland managed to creep up one place from 10th following their victory over Italy at Murrayfield.
Fiji are testy
It seems that Fiji are unwilling to be lumped in with their Pacific Island neighbours when it comes to touring schedules for Test matches next season.
The Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga had been allotted five Tests in 2006 - against New Zealand, Italy, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, but Fiji could withdraw their support. According to Teivovo, its "sources within the Fijian Rugby Union (FRU) Board are adamant that Fiji will not participate in any of them".
At the time of the announcement of the Tests - in June against the All Blacks and Italy and in November against the other three - the Hon Tuivanuavou Vaea, PIRA's chairman, said that the three unions of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga had agreed at a meeting in Wellington earlier in February to commit to the five Tests.
But Fiji's coach Wayne Pivac has again said what he said last year that such a Test schedule would be detrimental to Fiji's build-up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Fiji would then be left with only two countries for Test opposition - Samoa and Tonga. In addition to the paucity of match practice, this would make it hard for Fiji to get a team sponsor to replace Vodafone who gave up their sponsorship at the end of 2004 precisely because there was so little exposure.
PIRA CEO Sakopo Lolohea, who is also the Tonga RFU boss, said he was scheduled to discuss PIRA's matches further with IRB CEO Mike Miller in Dublin in April. PIRA added that they had signed up an advisory board made up of Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi, New Zealand businessman Craig Norgate and NZRFU's ex-supremo David Rutherford.
SA's big loss
Springbok coach Jake White might care to look a little closer to home rather than trash-talking Ireland's Six Nations Championship chances - in fairness his opinions were solicited - if the recent fiscal results are an indicator of the delicate state of South African rugby finances.
SA Rugby has posted an embarrassing 12.8 million rand (US$2.2 million) loss for 2004. As if this wasn't bad enough, president Brian van Rooyen has hired the accounting firm KPMG to complete a "forensic audit."
Recently it had been suggested that the big loss was partly because of payouts totalling 5.5 million rand (US$922,000) in severance packages to officials like former SA Rugby Managing Director Rian Oberholzer and former coach Rudolf Straeuli.
This coincided with a hunt at the Cape Town headquarters to try to catch staff members believed to be responsible for leaking information to the media.
Congratulations to Carrigy
Congratulations to UCD and St Michael's College old boy David Carrigy whom the IRB has moved to the Council and Member Services Department from the Development Department to take up the role of Operations Manager, Council and Member Services. He will manage the IRB trust investment programme and approvals processes regarding rugby equipment and playing surfaces.
