By Johnny Watterson
Bowe strikes
TOMMY Bowe’s 36th-minute try against Leicester for Ospreys yesterday means the Irish winger has scored in every round of the pool stages in this year’s Heineken Cup. The only other player to have done that was former Leinster player Felipe Contepomi. Bowe will have celebrated Ospreys’ progress to the quarter-finals but is probably disappointed Ulster didn’t make it. Still, their 28-10 win over Bath was, according to Sky Sports, the province’s first competition win on English soil.
Boss set to join Leinster next season
ISAAC Boss is set to join Leinster next season, writes Gerry Thornley. The 29-year-old Kiwi-born scrumhalf, who has won 12 caps for Ireland, has played over 100 times for Ulster in five seasons with the province. Leinster believe they need additional options at scrumhalf, all the more so after Eoin Reddan played the full 80 minutes on Saturday against London Irish at Twickenham despite not training with an injury which had kept him doubtful all week. Edinburgh and Scottish scrumhalf Mike Blair is being lined up by Ulster to replace Boss.
'Extra-man' row takes new twist
THE extra-man dispute between the Ospreys and Leicester that blew up on Saturday when the Welsh side had 16 players on the field for 50 seconds during a crucial part of their Heineken Cup match took a new twist last night – when the Tigers themselves were also accused of having one player too many on the pitch.
The claim was made by the Ospreys, who were last night considering whether to make their own counter-complaint to the tournament organisers, European Rugby Cup Ltd.
The Welsh region will hold off making an official protest after receiving advice they would merely be fined for the incident, and will launch their complaint only if they are threatened with expulsion from the tournament.
Leicester made an official protest to ERC within an hour of the end of the match, leaving the organisers to face their second inquiry into alleged cheating in the last nine months after the controversial Bloodgate affair.
Poetic tribute for poetic try
As the anniversary of the “Great Try” of January 27th, 1973, looms, Peter Makem, a native of Derrynoose, Co Armagh, and a former manager of the Armagh senior football team, has written a poem in commemoration of the event at the Arms Park between the Barbarians and the All Blacks. Four Irishmen lined out, Fergus Slattery, Ray McLoughlin, Willie John McBride and Mike Gibson.
THE TRY
It was Bennett who chose the moment,
Bennett who set the spell
That there, out of mine and valley,
Out of dream and song and dream,
There, in the deep of the Arms Park
Against the Kiwi masters,
And the glow of Slattery and Willie John,
Carmichael, Duckham and McLoughlin,
Of Gibson, Wilkinson and Bevan,
The curtain of epiphany arise.
And JPR take up the step
As the jig time move into reel,
And Pullin flow, and flare of Dawes,
David dancing into line
Into the ever speeding dance
Quinnell arrive, and great rhyme,
Great rhythm of hand and feet,
And then – that all could slow and fade,
Something fall to break the spell –
Edwards appears from his abode,
Edwards take the final pass
Like a falcon scooping its prey,
Race off beyond mortal touch,
And dive into Valhalla
Northampton's big Irish fan base
CUTE hoors those rugby fans. The old ticket scam was in operation again over the last few weeks and some people got in before the gates were shut. Irish fans recently applied for membership of English club Northampton, which came at a price of £6.50 membership fee and £1.50 postage for the card, or €10 all in all. Hey Presto, that entitled the “club members” to buy two tickets for the Heineken Cup match at Thomond Park on Friday night. The club, probably bemused by the number of Irish fans they were suddenly acquiring, closed the Northampton RFC membership to UK addresses only. Since they have now being drawn to play Munster again, they remain for some a handy ticket source for the quarter-final.
Lock Paul O’Connell was overheard making an important distinction during Munster’s match with Northampton in Thomond Park on Friday night. In the second half, he complained that the referee, Romain Poite, was not engaging in communication but in dictation. His point seemed to be that the French referee was doing all of the talking but very little of the listening.
Injuries prompt call for analysis
A recent survey carried out by Premier Rugby and the RFU into injuries has prompted those organisations to press for a global analysis of the game.
The thrust of their thinking is that regulations may have an impact on the sort of injuries players are picking up. Injuries increased by 20 per cent in the 2008-09 season, going against a general trend since 2003.
To illustrate how they were thinking, the issue of a “clear out” at breakdown in the second Test between the Lions and South Africa last June was used. Bakkies Botha, the Springbok lock, hit a ruck with such velocity that Adam Jones, the Welsh prop, suffered enough shoulder damage to keep him out of the game for six months.
