PLANET RUGBY:A range of fundraising activities have now been put in place for The Stuart Mangan Appeal in conjunction with next week's Heineken Cup semi-final on Saturday. These are happening with the support of Paddy Power Bookmakers, Elvery Sports and The ERC.
Paddy Power has donated two corporate tickets with a range of entertainment, including overnight accommodation to be auctioned on eBay.
In conjunction with this the betting shop will donate €2,000 to the appeal for each try scored and also have special Stuart Mangan Appeal bets such as “will Contepomi score more than O’Gara in the match”. All Elvery stores in and around Croke Park as well as their stores in town will be selling copies of the CD – Together We Stand.
The initiative is being fully endorsed by the team captains, Leo Cullen and Paul O’Connell, and the ERC have given a full page of the match programme to help with the promotion.
Ballynahinch secure promotion
DIVISION TWO: Ballynahinch's 53-6 bonuspoint win over Highfield on Saturday means they leap over Lansdowne in the final All-Ireland League table and gain promotion to next season's Division One Section B. The Ulster side will also have home advantage in their play-off semi-final against Lansdowne on Monday, May 4th.
DIVISION THREE: Corinthians and Old Wesley will contest the final at Dooradoyle on Saturday, May 9th following wins over Midleton and Queen's University respectively on Saturday, while Sunday's Well, who beat Cashel 20-3 in Musgrave Park in the promotion-relegation play-off, retain their senior status for next season in Division Three.
Tullamore were in contact to politely point out they were not responsible for the programme fiasco where Blackrock’s name did not appear for the recent under-20 final against UL Bohemians.
We are informed that the IRFU were the culprits on this occasion.
Flutey joins a very select group
THE 29-year-old former New Zealand Maori, Riki Flutey, will join an elite group when he becomes the latest overseas-born player to pull on the famous red jersey of the Lions, having already played against them for Wellington in the Lions 2005 tour of New Zealand.
Flutey joins Irish forward, Tom Reid, who was the last man to turn out for and against the Lions in 1955, playing in one Test as a number eight and another as a lock in the drawn series against the Springboks. He later toured Canada with the Barbarians, settled there and in 1959 lined out for Eastern Canada in the back-row against the Lions.
Reid was the author of one of the immortal lines. After Ireland were beaten 22-0 in the Five Nations Championship he quipped “well we were lucky to get nil.”
Blunt Gatland
“SELECTION (for the Lions) is not about captains or countries. The squad has been picked on form and he is not playing well enough at the moment. I hope he will take his disappointment on the chin.” Wales coach Warren Gatland explaining why his captain Ryan Jones was left out of the Lions squad.
“The one thing that surprised me was that the leaders of three home nations weren’t included in the squad,” noted Pieter de Villiers, the Springbok coach.
O'Sullivan gets down to work
THE former Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan has selected his first US squad since becoming the American coach last month. He plans to meet the players, see where they stand on skills and fitness and get a better idea of the squad he will announce for his second assembly, which is set to bring in the USA players who have been playing overseas. The US play Ireland this May in California.
“As this is the first domestic pool assembly and because of the time lines involved, it has been necessary to base selections on feedback from many sources,” said O’Sullivan.
“My coaching staff, Sevens coach Al Caravelli and several other coaches around the nation have had an input.
“Some players have been omitted from the pool as we are aware of their abilities, whereas others have been included to give us an opportunity to assess their potential for the future.”
Booth eyes big date for Irish
LONDON Irish boss Toby Booth admits he is thrilled to have “a ticket in the lottery” after this season’s English Premiership title race was guaranteed a first-time Twickenham finalist.
While arch rivals Leicester and Bath will slug it out in the opening semi-final at Walkers Stadium on May 9th, London Irish head to Harlequins with Premiership silverware just two wins away.
Since the Premiership switched in 2003 to a play-off format to decide the title, only five clubs have reached the grand final, Leicester, Bath, Wasps, Gloucester and Sale Sharks. But London Irish are now certain of a May 16th Twickenham title contender other than Wasps after they secured third spot in the table, one place behind Quins.
London Irish’s 32-15 victory on Saturday over Worcester – secured by tries from Adam Thompstone, Paul Hodgson, Declan Danaher, Sailosi Tagicakibau and Chris Hala’Ufia – emphatically removed fringe hopefuls Sale and Gloucester from the play-off equation.
