Committed to Leinster's cause

RUGBY/CELTIC LEAGUE Build-up: One of the more intriguing rumours doing the rounds during the summer was that Victor Costello was about to move to a Welsh club. It seemed preposterous, of course. For not only was Costello still under contract to Leinster, but he's become as much a part of the furniture in Donnybrook as the Bective or Old Wesley clubhouses.

Every since his brief move to London Irish, Costello has always seemed happier at home in Ireland and coming on top of the departure of Trevor Brennan and Bob Casey at the end of last season, Leinster surely wouldn't have countenanced losing such another big hitter. Nevertheless, sufficient credence was given to the whisper for it to merit a paragraph in one newspaper reporting Costello was joining Newport this season.

There's no smoke without fire, of course, and Costello admits that when Matt Williams was considering a lucrative offer from Saracens, it prompted him to consider his future as well.

"I was never speaking to Newport at any point but when Saracens made their move for Matt it did make me think about the future, 'if Matt goes what are my options?' I'm not going to say I'd made my mind up to leave. I still had another season of my contract left, but I was just considering a plan B."

Where in the past clubs from England, Wales or France would have focused their attentions on Ireland's international squad members, the improved performances of the provinces in Europe has seen them cast their net further - witness the examples of Brennan and Casey.

Though outside the Irish squad since the last of his 22 caps three summers ago in Australia, there remains few better ball-carrying players in Irish rugby. Costello would be a game-breaker for any club in Europe and inevitably there was some interest from abroad, believed to have been headed by Swansea and Leeds, whatever about Newport.

However, the chances of Costello emulating Brennan and making one last career move at the end of his current contract have receded.

"Once it was confirmed Matt was staying then it was all systems go. It was all put to bed in my mind. I'm still under contract to the union and I've a lot of things to keep me here in Dublin."

"Last year's success gave everybody here the taste for more," he adds. "There's a bond between the squad and the Leinster supporters which wasn't there before. I'd like to think that we can build on that and the dream would be to finish with Leinster."

The one-time Olympic shot-putter is a relatively low-mileage 31-year-old, and Costello makes the point that he didn't start playing rugby seriously until he was 23. Williams concurs with Costello's view that he has a few more good years in him yet.

Although Williams replaced Costello before the 80 minutes were up on a fair few occasions, more so for Ireland A, even in a few years' time he envisages the player remaining at the very least a big impact player off the bench. Indeed, there's an existing argument for Ireland using Costello in that role.

"He's hugely important for us," says Williams. "He performed brilliantly for us and for Ireland A last year and we won't be letting him go if we can help it."

Costello is perhaps knocking louder on the door, for he is currently in camp with the Irish squad. As he's one of 13 Leinster players on duty in Limerick, in addition to the injured Brian O'Driscoll, Williams has announced an experimental 22-man squad - captained by Liam Toland - for their seasonal opener in Longford tomorrow (3.0) against Bristol.

Meanwhile, Ulster, with five on duty and missing Neil Doak, Robbie Brink, Warren Brosnihan and Tony McWhirter through injury, have been less affected for the visit of English first division side Bedford to Ravenhill tonight - where Ulster lost only once last season to a last-minute conversion by Llanelli's Stephen Jones, following that they reeled off five successive home wins.

Buoyed by a 51-0, five-try victory away to Borders a week ago, coach Alan Solomons says: "It's difficult to judge how tough this may or may not be. I don't know that much about Bedford. The result isn't paramount. The idea of these pre-season games is to give the team game time to put into practice your game strategy. But I'd like to get another win under our belts as winning breeds confidence."

The Irish referee David McHugh, who sustained a dislocated shoulder when attacked by a South African supporter in a Tri-Nations game in Durban last Saturday, should be refereeing again in three or four weeks.

IRFU referee development officer Owen Doyle says: "He (McHugh) is having his shoulder assessed and receiving physio on a regular basis, and he may miss one Celtic League game, or perhaps two, but hopefully that would be the most."

WEEKEND TEAMS

ULSTER (v Bedford, tonight, Ravenhill, kick-off 7.30 p.m.): B Cunningham; J Topping, R Constable, J Bell, J Cunningham; A Larkin, K Campbell; J Fitzpatrick, M Sexton, C Boyd, M Blair, J Davidson, A Ward (Capt), N McMillan, R Nelson, N McMillan. Replacements: R Kempson, P Shields, M McCullough, N Best, R Spee, S Stewart, S Young.

BEDFORD: J Pritchard; L Anker, T Kirk, M Staten, B Whetstone; E Barnes, A Holloway; J Ross, K Ronaki, M Volland (Capt), S Halsey, A Brenton, H Quigley, A Fox, L White. Replacements: M Ormesher, D Hankinson, P Saffy, A Orugboh, T Cowley, M Cornish, S Gray, M Mansfield, S Lincoln.

LEINSTER SQUAD (v Bristol, at the Demesne, Longford, tomorrow, kick-off 3 p.m.): Backs: P McKenna, S Keogh, G Browne, K Lewis, C Warner, A Dunne, B Willis, M Leek, D Quinlan, S Whelan. Forwards: L Toland (capt), D Dillon, A McCullan, A Kearney, B Grissing, G Hickie, P Smyth, J Lyne, E Bohan, D Sheehan, S Jennings.

LEINSTER JUNIOR SQUAD (to tour Edinburgh, August 16th-18th): K Dorian (Dundalk), P Deering (Tullamore), B Behan (Cill Dara) N Crawford (Coolmine), K Quinn (Ashbourne), M Donohue (Wicklow), N Peavoy (Portlaoise), J Mahon (Ashbourne), I Dunne (Tullamore), A Kingsley (Portlaoise), P O'Grady (Tullamore), I Scully (Tullamore), G Brennan (Wicklow), M Loughnane (Roscrea), K Flanagan (Portlaoise), W O'Dowd (Coolmine), J O'Toole (Arklow), J Lyons (Ashbourne), R Murphy (Mullingar), E Fitzpatrick (Cill Dara), R Grimes (Ashbourne), P McEvoy (Portlaoise). Coach: Tony Bellew (Greystones); assistant coaches: Martin Fenlon (Wexford), Maurice Logue (Carlow).