A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Tale of two halves

Now this is a tale of two halves. A rather slow effort in moving with the times from 1995 to 2000 saw Ireland struggle in the lower region of the championship. In 1996, '97 and '98 the team went on to achieve the dubious accolade of coming last in the championship for three years in succession.

Eddie O'Sullivan, who was appointed as Ireland coach in November 2001, took over a team that had finished second in the championship the previous season. The side dropped to third in the 2002 season before nailing down successive second places in 2003 and 2004. Last season after a good start fortunes dipped again and we await the rejuvenated Irish side strutting their stuff at the level Leinster and Munster have in this season's Heineken European Cup.

Ireland find rhythm

It seems the Ireland squad have a couple of budding drummers, according to instructor Colm O'Donovan who put the squad through their paces at a samba afternoon. The 28-year-old former Coláiste Eoin pupil is a classically trained, full-time percussionist and runs samba team-building for the company Creative Events. They employ him to run these days but it was through a mutual friend that he arranged to spend the afternoon with the Ireland squad.

"It was a bit surreal in the sense that having worked as a session musician (he played on Damien Rice's album O), I wouldn't be star struck even if I had been playing with Bono. But I'm a big fan of the Ireland rugby team and it was great crack to be able to have a bit of crack with them. We started off with clapping exercises and then divided them into five groups with separate instruments with the eventual idea that they would become a five section samba band."

It's fair to say Geordan Murphy would make a drummer (could possibly play on girlfriend Lucie Silvas' next album) as would Donncha O'Callaghan.

"John Hayes led the way on the go-go bells while Peter Stringer was another to take a starring role in his group. They all appeared to enjoy themselves."

It should be pointed out Mike McGurn broke two drumsticks, Ireland's fitness trainer obviously closer to Animal in the Muppets than Cosy Powell in his technical style.

Where are they now?

Dion O'Cuinneagain first gained international recognition for South Africa as a sevens player. He started out in the abbreviated version of union in 1993 and two years later he captained the side until he stepped down in 1997. He attended Rondebosch Boys' High, where he also made his mark as a cricketer and athlete, earning junior provincial colours. After matriculating, he enrolled at Stellenbosch University before moving to England and then getting involved in the Ireland set-up. "I suffered a bad hip injury in 1997 and, when I recovered, there was no place for me in the WP (Western Province) set-up . . . I transferred to the UK and my career blossomed. I made my Ireland debut against the Springboks in Bloemfontein in 1998."

He would play 19 times for Ireland, seven as captain, before his career was brought to a premature end by injury. "I suffered an arm injury in 1999 and then decided it was time to stop playing." O'Cuinneagain returned to South Africa and completed his medical studies at Stellenbosch. The 33-year-old has managed the South African sevens team and also acted as team doctor. His father Connell was born in Dublin.

Missing the match

Ireland's A players selected for next Friday's match against France at Limoges will be oblivious to how their senior counterparts are faring in the Six Nations game in Paris on the Saturday. During the latter game the Irish will be commuting from Bordeaux to Paris and then flying back to Dublin where they'll arrive in the early evening. In mitigation it is standard practice for the A and under-21 sides to travel home on the Saturday. The under-21 team play in Strasbourg on Friday night.

Old ones are the best

"Remember that rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Jonah."

- Fax to the All Blacks before the 1995 World Cup semi-final.

"If you can't take a punch, you should play table tennis."

- Former French skipper and coach and current Italian coach Pierre Berbizier telling it like it was about the occasional outbreak of fisticuffs.