Trivia pursuit

We decided a more erudite figure was required for this segment, or failing that someone with a good sense of humour and Leinster team manager Ken Ging is over-qualified in the latter respect. He is the first non-current player to enter the spotlight.

1. Favourite line from a movie?: Louis, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. Humphrey Bogart (Rick) walking away from the airfield in the timeless classic, Casablanca.

2. Nickname?: When I was at school it was `Sting', for whatever reason I do not know. Maybe because it was the fact that it rhymed with Ging. Since then it was been Ging'r, although when I see it written down it is always Ginger, which Mick Doyle pointed out to me is something else entirely.

3. What book are you reading at the moment? It's David Campese's autobiography. It's one that if you put it down it's very hard to pick up again

4. Two things/People who you would take to a Desert Island? My wife, Carol to keep me sane and Ned Thornton to make me laugh.

5. Favourite sport outside of rugby? I don't have one. Rugby is the only sport I watch without getting bored, from under-10's to golden oldies.

6. Meat and two veg or breadcrumbed mussels with herbs and a garlic jus? Having been involved for two years in professional rugby, just about anything other than f***ing pasta.

Testing challenge

Those who are looking to take in the second and third Tests between the Lions and Australia next Summer can do so and at the same time raise money for a very charitable cause. Entitled the Irish Lions Rugby Challenge, it entails a 100 kilometre sponsored walk in Melbourne and Sydney.

Any person who raises a minimum of u £3,850 as part of the fundraising campaign will receive: flights from Dublin to Melbourne to Sydney to Dublin, including insurance. Stay in four-star hotels in Melbourne and Sydney, receive a tracksuit, etc, attend receptions, get entry to the second and third Lions Tests and meet both squads.

Entries are limited and there is a minimum deposit of u £300. Those interested should contact Mick Quinn at 01-4901884, unit €222 or 0872452222, or Eleanor Connolly at 01-2834277 or 0868098363. E-mail: ec@connolly-group.com.

Lions pose problems

The column was very impressed with the response to the request to submit a Lions Test team for Australia next summer. Appreciation is reflected in the column's largesse in doling out Irish Times polo shirts to all whose teams are published below.

What can be gleaned from the response is that there are several contentious areas, especially at full back, scrumhalf and the props. Scottish duo Chris Paterson and Glenn Metcalfe have been touted, along with England's Matt Perry who received the most votes. There was almost unanimity in the choice of wings, Ireland's Denis Hickie and Dan Luger of England.

The preferred centre combination was Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland) and Scott Gibbs (Wales) but Will Greenwood represents an in-form alternative: Mike Catt's name was also mentioned.

There wasn't a single objector to England's Jonny Wilkinson at outhalf while the scrumhalf berth was a split decision between Matt Dawson (England) and Rob Howley (Wales). Keith Wood was unopposed at hooker. Ireland's Peter Clohessy received a great deal of support, although half the respondents pencilled him in at tighthead. Some included Welsh prop Peter Rogers in the same position but his international experience is at loosehead. Scotland's Tom Smith won several votes at loosehead while Phil Vickery (England) was a good choice at tighthead.

England's Martin Johnson made every team and was generally partnered in the second row by Scotland's Scott Murray. Malcolm O'Kelly (Ireland) made several teams and those he did not, he was included amongst the replacements. The English back-row trio of Richard Hill, Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back was a popular choice with Scotland's Budge Pountney and Colin Charvis and Scott Quinnell of Wales, alternatives.

Other Irish players to receive a mention were Kieron Dawson, David Humphreys, Rob Henderson, Kevin Maggs and Anthony Foley. The following were deemed the most "interesting" selections.

Gerry Owens Lions Test side: Perry; Hickie, O'Driscoll, Catt, Luger; Wilkinson, Dawson; Rogers, Wood, Vickery; Johnson, Murray; Hill, Dallaglio, Back. Replacements: Balshaw, Jenkins, Howley, Greening, Clohessy, O'Kelly, Charvis.

Richard Beveridge: Perry; Hickie, O'Driscoll, Tindall, Luger; Wilkinson, Dawson; Rogers, Wood, Vickery; Johnson, Murray; Hill, Dallaglio, Pountney. Replacements: Greenwood, O'Gara, Healey, Greening, Clohessy, O'Kelly, Dawson.

Jim O'Connor: Paterson; Hickie, O'Driscoll, Gibbs, Luger; Wilkinson, Howley; Smith, Wood, Rogers; Johnson, O'Kelly; Hill, Dallaglio, Back. Replacements: Catt, Henderson, Dawson, P Clohessy, P Greening, M O'Kelly, M Leslie.

One man's view

It was omitted last week in the piece on London Irish's Declan Danagher that the quotes and slant of the article came from an interview which the player did in an article with Robert Dineen. It has been misconstrued as representing a definitive appraisal of the situation rather than a single perspective, i.e. that of the player in question. This column felt it was important to clarify this.

Rugby Speak

"After a game coaches vent their frustration to the press and we read about it the next day in the papers. We can't do that. The more experience you get the more thick skinned you are. People feel that they have a right to abuse you and that goes with the territory. I still enjoy the job. I wouldn't change places with anybody."

England's Steve Lander, a professional referee for two years, displays a masochistic streak, as he weighs ups the pros and cons of being an international whistler.

"With its emphasis on rapid muscular development and the high-octane appetite for tackling, rugby is bound to have a drugs problem. It's a question of policing the problem; testers in white coats dropping in and all that. To believe that an age of innocence lives on and will be outed by a tradition of decency, reveals a softness in the head as disturbing as the belief that such an age ever existed in the first place."

The Observer's rugby correspondent Eddie Butler offers a sensible reaction and puts into perspective the allegations of drug abuse in French rugby 20 years ago.