RUGBY NEWSBOTH STADE Français and Gloucester are believed to have made lucrative offers to the Lions, Ireland and Munster lock Donncha O'Callaghan as his negotiations with the IRFU over a new contract - the current one expires at the end of this season - have dragged on for several months.

French sources have confirmed that Max Guazzini, the Stade Français owner, and coach Fabien Galthie are "looking for a top-class secondrow for next year" and have directly approached O'Callaghan's agent with a significantly more lucrative deal than the two-year contract that has been put on the table by the Union.

Similarly, Dean Ryan and Gloucester have reputedly made a substantial offer to O'Callaghan about joining the Cherry & Whites, whom Munster play in this season's quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup, from next season.

It's a surprise to begin with that O'Callaghan's contractual uncertainty has been allowed to drag on and that estimates of his market value appear higher in England and France than in Ireland, though he is not alone in this amid a general discontent among several Irish frontliners, loth as they are to have public auctions.

It's known that the Irish Rugby Union Players' Association are extremely unhappy with the contracting process used by the IRFU and see it as being out of touch with professional sport.

The provinces are also unhappy with the way the process works, believing that to a large degree their hands are tied.

This follows on from the mass exodus in Ulster, where there is no carrot of a Charlie McCreevy tax rebate. The Ireland wing Tommy Bowe, for example, has been lured to the Ospreys by a very attractive financial deal.

Munster's Marcus Horan is believed to be in a similar position to O'Callaghan.

Shane Horgan is another whose current deal expires at the end of this season, and he has been approached by one or two English clubs with offers superior to the two-year deal being proposed by the IRFU.

A Leinster source maintains, however, they and the IRFU are close to finalising a deal with Horgan in the next week or two.

O'Callaghan is in line to win his 42nd cap for Ireland against Wales this Saturday. Following on from the impression he made on the Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005, when cementing a place on the test team alongside Paul O'Connell, O'Callaghan's market value would only have increased in the last couple of months given a string of excellent performances for Munster and Ireland.

A team-mate of Brian O'Driscoll's on both the Ireland schools team and the Ireland team that won the Under-19 World Cup under Declan Kidney, O'Callaghan has made 114 competitive appearances for Munster, including 51 in the Heineken Cup.

Relatively well covered though they are in the secondrow, Munster would be distressed to lose him.

Horgan's chances of winning a 61st cap this Saturday against Wales have not been helped by his demotion to the bench for Leinster last Friday against Connacht, though he made a significant impact with a match-winning second-half try.

He has scored 20 tries for Ireland and 50 in 133 appearances for Leinster, 23 of those from 63 appearances in the Heineken Cup.

Nor are the vultures circling just over the frontliners for, ironically, in light of Munster's battery of test locks - Paul O'Connell, Mick O'Driscoll and the aforementioned O'Callaghan - the next in line, Donnacha Ryan, is also attracting interest from England, France and Connacht.

Toulouse, who will have a void to fill at secondrow next season given the impending retirement of Fabien Pelous, might also yet enter the market for either O'Callaghan or Ryan.

The hope, and to a lesser extent the expectation, within Munster and Leinster remains that the likes of O'Callaghan and Horgan will remain in Ireland with their provinces next season, but as the players concerned operate under international contracts, the provinces remain largely frustrated bystanders.

Whatever else, there will be changes in coaching personnel at Munster, Leinster and quite possibly Ulster in time for next season, with all three in line for new forwards coaches.

The Australian Alan Gaffney is set to link up with Michael Cheika at Leinster, though a Leinster source confirmed that recent discussions with Leicester's Neil Back about replacing Mike Brewer - who is keen to pursue a role elsewhere as a head coach - were but part of a wide range of exploratory discussions with several potential candidates.