Planet rugby

Compiled by JOHN O'SULLIVAN

Whitten's good account of himself

DON'T BELIEVE the hype that professional rugby players are all about the gym and training paddock these days.

Ulster inside centre Ian Whitten graduated from Queen’s University on Friday of last week. The bright young player earned himself a 2:1 in accountancy.

However, the absent-minded academic forgot to tell anyone in Ulster rugby that the graduation ceremony was taking place so the captain’s run prior to Ulster’s Heineken Cup match against Stade Francais had to be rescheduled.

David Pollack, the Ulster flanker, is also a QUB student, studying medicine. He finished his anatomy module on Friday too.

Perfect 10s

IT WAS a good weekend for those wearing the number 10 jersey in all four Irish provinces.

Munster’s Ronan O’Gara kicked magnificently in contributing all his team’s points on Friday night.

Shaun Berne of Leinster offered a great performance in his team’s win over Scarlets.

Ian Humphreys ran the Ulster attack superbly against Stade Francais while Ian Keatley contributed 16 points for Connacht.

Artemiev continues scoring exploits

HAVING SUNG the praises of former Blackrock College schoolboy and UCD wing Vasily Artemiev in last week’s column it’s only fair to note he continued his try scoring exploits in the second leg of the Sevens World Series in George, South Africa, at the weekend.

Artemiev helped himself to a further three tries during the tournament and now lies joint third in the overall standings with 11 tries from the two events to date.

The IRFU may be interested to note that Russia, back on the sevens circuit this season in a regular capacity, managed a 14-14 draw with Australia in the group stages before going on to reach the Bowl final (third tier) where they lost 14-5 to Wales.

Davies makes inexplicable gesture

THIS COLUMN can’t understand why Scarlets coach Nigel Davies gave his centre Seán Lamont an encouraging pat on the leg as he headed for the sin-bin.

The Scottish international deserved a kick up the backside for an no-arm shoulder charge on Leinster’s Isa Nacewa – he was correctly given a yellow card – that forced his team to play with 14 players at a time when the home side were forcing their way back into the match. Leinster killed off the game in his absence.

IF THE lawmakers at the IRB ever wanted confirmation that something badly needs to be done to address the currently emphasis on the mind-numbing addiction to kick-punting they need look no further than Heineken Cup clash between the Cardiff Blues and Toulouse.

Both these teams have a wealth of exciting runners – Halfpenny, Robert, Clerc, Michalak – but instead chose to the turn this game into a snooze-fest. It really was quite dreadful as a spectacle.

McIlroy returns compliment to Cave

IT WAS an interesting summer for Darren Cave, who was featured in this weekend’s Ulster match program.

The outside centre graduated from Sullivan Upper (where former Irish international Willie Anderson is head of PE) before taking on a professional rugby career.

The other famous past pupil from the Belfast school is golfer Rory McIlroy.

The two sportsmen were friends in school and still are now and Cave travelled out to Las Vegas this summer to meet up with his old chum.

McIlroy was in Ravenhill on Saturday to support his mate and Ulster, having returned home to Holywood, just outside Belfast, for a Christmas break away from the PGA tour.

Evans lets the side down

NOW THOSE in glasshouses shouldn’t really be chucking around any hard objects but in watching Sky Sports’ coverage of Leinster’s victory over the Scarlets it was impossible not to notice the number of names that were muddled by co-commentator and former Welsh wing Ieuan Evans and the man-in-the-van for the day Will Greenwood.

Greenwood singled out Scarlets wing Andy Fenby for criticism but insisted on calling him Denby – maybe he thought the wing’s tackling was as brittle as china.

He also pointed to a great run and angle from Kevin McLaughlin (it was fellow backrower Sean O’Brien) and this with the benefit of several replays while Evans referred to Leinster outhalf Shane Berne, rather than the name his parents gave him Shaun.

In fairness, credit where it is due, Mark Robson’s commentary on the game was both entertaining and informative.