Push as good as a wink

Planet Rugby: The announcement this week that the Ulster and Ireland flanker Neil Best was leaving Belfast to play in Northampton next season prompted the new Ulster coach Matt Williams to make the following announcement.

"Obviously we are disappointed to have lost these Ulstermen but they had all informed me months ago of their plans.

"In some ways, the fact that players have made their own decisions to leave makes it easier for me as some players were going to have to go anyhow."

Is there a suggestion some of those who have left the sinking Ulster ship were pushed before Williams officially arrived rather than left of their own volition?

Slow start a real pain

A debate has begun over the length of time players must wait before they actually start matches in the Six Nations Championships. The long pre-match ceremonies, with players standing in line in freezing cold, are beginning to draw attention.

It follows that after players have done their vital warm-up and stretching, it is counterproductive that they then stand still in the cold and risk early muscle injury.

There was long delay at Murrayfield for Scotland's home match when Princess Ann was introduced to the players, while at Croke Park, where it was quite cold, there was an even longer wait.

The Irish players were first introduced to President Mary McAleese. There was then a wait while she made her way back to her seat in the VIP section. Then there was a "minute's silence" out of respect for Carlos Nieto's father, who had recently died.

After that the Italian anthem was played and following that the Irish anthem was played. Trying the patience of everyone in the stadium, the dirge the IRFU are trying to push on fans as a quasi-anthem, Ireland's Call, was ground out as many spectators sat down.

After that the players broke away and we were allowed to watch some rugby. Nice start?

More glory in New York

The RTÉ/IRFU documentary Reaching for Gloryhas won a gold medal at the prestigious New York Festivals International Television Broadcasting Awards.

The behind-the-scenes documentary, made by Dave Berry and Nathan Nugent, followed the Ireland team over five months in the lead-up to, and including, the Triple Crown-winning 2007 Six Nations campaign.

The 52-minute programme gave an inside view of the action, both on and off the pitch. Featuring unique footage of team talks, squad training and the team bus, it also showed dressingroom exchanges during the historic home matches at Croke Park.

Now in its 48th year, the New York competition is judged by several hundred producers, directors, writers and other professionals working internationally in the media industry.

Entries were assessed for production values, organisation, presentation of information, creativity and use of the medium.

New spin on 'Swerve'

Do we see the fingerprints of Donncha O'Callaghan or one of the other Ireland squad pranksters on Wikipedia's illuminating biography of the fullback Girvan Dempsey.

The entry goes as follows.

"On July 8th, 2006, Dempsey wed his fiancée, Anne-Marie Craig, in Kilquade, County Wicklow. His pastimes away from the game include golf, making jam, picking mushrooms and spending quality time on his Shetland pony 'Tiny'. He has also found time to publish several academic works on the flora and fauna of some of the world's most remote islands. His groundbreaking discovery of the South Atlantic guillemot ( Uria Girvanae), unique to the islands of Tristan da Cunha, in particular brought him much credit within the Royal Society. He is currently working on his autobiography, tentatively entitled Solid As A House, due for publication in February 2008.

"Once he has retired from his days as rugby player, the 'Swerve' plans on furthering his interest in horses by pursuing a career as a showjumper; his favourite breed for showjumping being the Conamara (sic) pony."

Obviously we on Planet Rugby salute the Irish fullback for his miscellany of skills.

Reid talks politics

The Ulster CEO, Michael Reid, has always been one for straight talk. That sometimes attracts attention. This extract from the Ulster rugby website, in which Reid is talking about the old Maze prison as a site for Ulster rugby, might prompt the question whether his partiality is helpful or unhelpful to progress.

"We are committed to the Maze, because it is the only thing that's there. The difficulty here for all of us is we are in a country where we had politicians who when they were effectively in opposition threw stones. Now they are in power, they have to show some leadership here, and I believe it is unfair on sport to be put in a position where we have to decide."

Presumably the Ulster boss means people like Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Kelly, the very people he will need behind rugby if there is to be a stadium built anywhere in Northern Ireland. Was it not Ian Paisley who led the only protest to Ravenhill, when Ulster, to accommodate television, decided to play matches on Sunday?

Reid was also interesting on the difficulty of attracting elite players to Belfast.

"After Simon Best's illness at the RWC, for anyone asking, 'why the h*ll didn't you bring in a top-quality replacement?', we spoke to every 'tier one' prop at the World Cup, or their agent - every one! Not one was available."

Lead on, Matt Williams.