Planet Rugby

...compiled by Gerry Thornley

Limerick crowd go to ground

What's happening to the Limerick rugby fraternity? Have they contracted a sort of D4-ish choosiness in deciding which Munster matches they will deign to honour with their presence?

Time was, when their clubs were dominating the AIL and their province started cutting a swathe through Europe, they were widely deemed the best supporters in Europe, never mind Ireland. But in terms of hard-core support and backing their teams through thick and thin, they've been usurped by Ulster's supporters and now, praise be the Lord, by what we once regarded as the fickle Cork public.

What other conclusion can we draw from the capacity crowd that turned out for Christian Cullen's Munster debut against the then low-flying Ospreys last season in Musgrave Park, compared to the 4,000 at Thomond Park for his next home game a fortnight later against the title-chasing Gwent Dragons?

Further proof of this shift was the remarkable 5,000 attendance for the recent Munster-Connacht game in Cork at 8.05 p.m. on the Saturday night before the All-Ireland hurling final.

O'Callaghan wants to go PRO

Even Munster's two recent Breakfast Briefings drew a comparatively lively crowd of 120 in Cork's Jurys Hotel as against a subdued morning with 90 paying supporters in Limerick's Strand Hotel. Needless to say, Donncha O'Callaghan stole the show.

When the attendant Munster players in Jurys were asked what plans they'd made for when their playing careers ended, it was pointed out that eight of the squad had earned diplomas this year. Ronan O'Gara said he didn't like looking that far ahead, Frankie Sheahan intended following his father into business, and Jim Williams expressed the hope his wife would bring home the hard-earned and let him look after the kids, at which point Sheahan passed the microphone to O'Callaghan and suggested: "I suppose it's the circus for you Donncha?" "No, not at all," said O'Callaghan, "I see a bit of a void in Munster as a PRO, and I think that's the job I'd like to do."

As for the incumbent PRO, Pat Geraghty, he turns 50 tomorrow and, as a true bon viveur and man about town, we in Planet Rugby and elsewhere would extend our best to one of Ardlough's finest. He doesn't look, and certainly doesn't behave, anything like his age. Indeed, it's his immaturity that keeps him young.

Fitzpatrick on a roll in Castres

Justin Fitzpatrick, gone but not forgotten? The one-time Ulster loosehead and sometime Irish prop is at the start of his second year with Castres (he has an option of a third year) and reckons his time in the trench warfare that is French front-row play has made him a more rounded player than before.

Castres, buoyed by the summer recruitment of prolific ex-Wellington winger Brad Fleming, the former Toulouse outhalf Yann Delaigue and Wasps pair Mark Denney and Paul Volley, went unbeaten until losing 19-12 to Bourgoin on Saturday in round seven of the French championship. Munster's back-to-back opponents in the Heineken European Cup pool stages still lie fourth in the 16-team table.

Castres drew at Agen, the surprise, unbeaten pacesetters, on the opening weekend and have beaten second-placed Perpignan, while Fitzpatrick has overcome the back ligament injury sustained at the end of last season to play in the last three games.

"It's been a fantastic, life-enhancing experience. It's a lovely rural part of France, the club are very good to you and the rugby is very different. It is very confrontational, especially at scrum time. I'm really enjoying that. I've learned a lot. It's not a gentleman's club," Fitzpatrick says with a laugh.

"It's not refereed anywhere near as strictly, there's a lot more latitude in interpretation. It's the hardest scrummaging league in the world - I don't think there's any doubt about that."

Fitzpatrick's wife, Katherine, speaks fluent French and daughter Ella is learning both languages, so Fitzpatrick is open-minded about extending their stay. Having just turned 30, relatively young for a prop, he feels he still has something to offer Ireland. And the meetings with Munster will put him back in the frame.

Leinster well worth a flutter

Planet Rugby having tipped and backed the winners of the last two Heineken Cups - Toulouse at 12/1 and Wasps at 8/1 - Leinster's promising early-season form prompted an early-season wager on Declan Kidney's men at 10/1 with Paddy Powers over the weekend. The 16/1 quote for Biarritz, last season's semi-finalists, who've since recruited Imanol Harinordoquy and Damien Traille from Pau, also compelled us to check out the French formguide in general.

Biarritz sustained their third successive defeat at the weekend when an 87th-minute penalty by Cedric Heymans gave Toulouse a fortunate 26-25 home win despite Jimmy Marlu's hat-trick of tries.

Agen remained the only unbeaten side after a gritty 18-8 win away to Bayonne, while Leinster's opponents in the pool stages, Bourgoin, lie seventh.

The reigning French champions, Stade Français, who are in Ulster's pool, managed only five David Skrela penalties in losing a repeat of last year's final at Perpignan by 20-15, for whom Manny Edmonds and Dan Luger were the try scorers.

French Championship, round seven results: Auch 26 Brive 29; Pau 33 Beziers 15; Bayonne 8 Agen 18; Narbonne 16 Clermont-Auvergne 15; Grenoble 37 Montpellier 24; Perpignan 20 Stade Français 15; Toulouse 26 Biarritz 25; Bourgoin 19 Castres 12.

Standings: 1 Agen (26 points); 2 Perpignan (24), 3 Brive (23); 4 Castres (23); 5 Toulouse (22); 6 Biarritz (21); 7 Bourgoin (21); 8 Stade Français (19).