Planet Rugby

Clearance finds Merc:We have word that during the St Mary's College game against UL Bohemians in the Under-20 Cup a wind-assisted clearance found more than touch. The kicker, a nephew, it is said, of the former Garryowen player Willie Sexton, put the ball into the carpark, where it was stopped by the windscreen, now shattered, of a Mercedes Benz belonging to the kicker's father.

If memory serves, something similar happened when the West Indies team came to play at the Leinster cricket grounds in the 1980s. A six from one of their famous batsmen also found the carpark.

Urban legend has it that the broken glass belonged to one Alan Lewis, then wielding the bat for Ireland but now of course a world-class rugby referee.

New class of owner

Keith Barwell (63) owns Northampton. His views this week in the Guardian newspaper are scarily revealing on the relationship between the English club owners, the IRB and the RFU. Addressing the IRB chairman, Syd Millar, Barwell has this to say.

"Syd, listen here, this is for you and all your mates at the IRB and the RFU . . . If you want to cling on to power you're doomed . . . Well, Syd, change is unstoppable. You run off and look after your internationals and rugby dinners and we'll get on with our business.

"This is such a class-ridden society. I'm a council-house kid from Kettering made good and most sport in the UK emanates from the aristocracy or upper classes - whether it's the RFU, the Lawn Tennis Association, the MCC or the Jockey Club, we're lumbered with administrators unequipped to run professional sport. That's why we're no bloody good.

"Last year I invited (the RFU chairman) Martyn Thomas to come watch Northampton. The guy's about 80 and I asked if he'd ever been to a professional club. He said, 'Yes, one in Cornwall and another in Nottingham.' He then turned to me at a heaving Franklin's Gardens and said, 'My word! Quite good, isn't it?'

"As club chairmen we have bunged £200 million into English rugby so this is a wheeze for the RFU. We pay all the players' wages and this year they have the England boys from May until the end of October . . . No wonder the RFU don't want to cut a deal.

"We want more autonomy to run the Premiership and more say in the Heineken Cup. That competition is massively undersold from a media-rights perspective and we want to take charge of the commercial side. The RFU can have 50 per cent of the profits - for doing nothing - and we'll get more money for all of us. They basically agreed - as did the French and Italian federations, who halved the shares with their clubs. When the RFU pulled out, Serge Blanco went barmy."

Barwell advocates the leading clubs "break away and take control of our own business. Let the RFU handle England but let us deal with club rugby. Most chairmen would prefer some sort of uneasy truce with the RFU but to me this is like a bad marriage. After a while both partners get sick of it and say . . . let's just go our different ways."

Clear enough?

Too Goode to be true

One Irish newspaper yesterday noted how well the outhalf Andy Goode had played in Leicester's 33-17 win over Llanelli in Saturday's European Cup semi-final. Indeed Goode was good. But the assertion, as printed, that "he also made" the Shane Jennings try seems overly generous. Goode's little kick over the defence was, er, good, all right, but the flanker's pace and step were what made the try very, very good.

Monkstown go solo

Everyone knows clubs around Ireland are in financial trouble. So when Lansdowne proposed a merger with Monkstown, the idea was taken seriously. But Monkstown have decided they wish to retain their autonomy - and, presumably, their debts.

"Following a club egm on Wednesday 27th March the members of Monkstown FC have decided not to proceed with a proposal to merge with Lansdowne FC. The proposal was defeated by approximately 60 per cent of members . . . voting at the meeting," said a statement from Monkstown.

So it's Plan B now.