All in the scrum

Compiled by JOHN O'SULLIVAN

Not fair comment: Henry fuming with press

GRAHAM HENRY, the man who led New Zealand to their Rugby World Cup triumph last October, has called in his solicitor, after comments he made at a private fundraising function were printed in the press.

The remarks were made during a NZ$120 (€75) per head dinner in Napier and centred on a light-hearted reference to leaving the country if New Zealand had lost to France in the final. “I would have been in the south of France smoking marijuana and drinking red wine,” he is alleged to have said. “I would still have the same woman ... nobody else would have me.”

The New Zealand Heraldreported Henry's furious reaction. "It shouldn't be in the paper. It was done as a fundraiser for Hawke's Bay Rugby."

He had an agreement with the organisers that there would be no media coverage.

“I said at the time it wasn’t for publication and I don’t know how it got into the papers. I asked the people running it that there be no reporters.”

He said the comments were intended for the private audience and were not at all serious. “They were said in jest and in fun. I’ve now put it in the hands of my solicitor.”

Hawkes Bay Today editor Anthony Phillips said a sports reporter from the newspaper prepared the article after attending the event. “I don’t believe there was any directive either way; to report from it or not to.”

DEAN RICHARDS’S three-year suspension for his part in the ‘Bloodgate’ affair will be up this summer and he has already been linked with a coaching position at the Newcastle Falcons.

The English club are six points adrift at the foot of the Premiership, with former Springboks assistant coach Gary Gold in charge until the end of the season, with Richards linked with taking over full-time.

Break down: Italy not half bad

THERE IS a tradition in sport to praise the virtue of a half-time exhortation or two from a coach whose side comes out after the interval and positively transforms their fortunes. Italy’s French-born coach Jacques Brunel’s (right) words must have lost a little in translation and he was left to bemoan the Azzurris second half display against Ireland.

The Italians trailed 17-10 at the interval before going on to lose 42-10 at the Aviva Stadium. Brunel admitted: “I think we had two different teams on the field today. In the first half, we were attacking, we tried to play and we kept the score close. In the second half it was completely different, we suffered under Irish pressure and made many mistakes so it’s frustrating.””

Italian number eight and try scorer Sergio Parisse was even more unequivocal in his condemnation of the post-interval display. “In the end we just gave up,” he said.

Sort the line out

IT WAS very much a case of ‘Ryle Butler’ or ‘Eddie Nugent’, at the start of Saturday’s Six Nations game between England and Wales at Twickenham as those listening to the RTÉ feed of the game got two commentaries for the price of one. As RTÉ’s Ryle Nugent called the game, he did so to the backing vocals of the BBC’s Eddie Butler, whose voice could also be heard on the feed. It made for a bemusing soundtrack before the issue was finally resolved.