Planet Rugby

Compiled by John O'Sullivan.

Let Contepomi decide

Argentina's Felipe Contepomi was a central figure not only in Australia but also back in Ireland. Leinster's new signing may have suffered mixed fortunes at the Rugby World Cup but he probably doesn't realise that he's at the centre of a tug of love on the other side of the world.

The standard practice for an incoming non-national player arriving on a provincial contract is to hook up with a club in that province. Contepomi is no exception and shortly after signing his four-year deal with Leinster he expressed a preference to become a member of Carlow.

The reason is simple, dating back to a friendship with Carlow coach Dan van Zyl. Van Zyl and Contepomi played together a few seasons back at Bristol, forming a halfback combination in the absence of Agustin Pichot. It blossomed into friendship, and when the Argentinian was next in South Africa he stayed with van Zyl.

Contepomi specifically expressed a preference for Carlow and as a result the club informed the Leinster Branch of this fact. Chief Executive Mick Dawson was not quite so enamoured of the development and wrote back to the club stating there would be an open draw among Leinster's AIB Division One clubs on an unnamed date in the future - the same open-draw format that has seen former overseas players awarded to Lansdowne (Matt Leek, Adam Magro), St Mary's College (Keith Gleeson, Nathan Spooner) and Blackrock College (Ben Willis, Nathan Turner).

Now given that Contepomi is unlikely to play a single club match in his four years in Ireland, it seems a little churlish that a player who has already agreed to give coaching to underage teams in Carlow should not have his wishes respected.

If he hadn't expressed a preference, fine - but he has and he should be accommodated. Far better the public relations exercise it would be for Contepomi to visit Carlow than to barely raise an eyebrow in Dublin.

It is an opportunity for the Leinster Branch to exercise common sense. We're not holding our breath.

Eddie walks on water

It seems Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is set to follow Mother Teresa and be beatified for his astonishing good works at the Rugby World Cup. He'll have the support of at least two people, Ireland's press officer, John Redmond, and Eddie's own personal spin doctor, radio and television pundit George Hook.

This column received a rather strange press release during the week that originated in Australia. At one point it gushed: "In what he (O'Sullivan) describes as the prospect of a game 'not for the faint-hearted', the loquacious O'Sullivan, who has so endeared himself to the world's media for the quality and content of his Press conferences so far in Rugby World Cup 2003, explained the rationale for the make-up of the new-look back row . . . blah, blah, blah."

The saccharine tones of the release were echoed by Hook, who just about ascribes everything from splitting the atom to a cure for Aids to O'Sullivan. According to Hook, Ireland didn't beat Argentina, O'Sullivan did. He gave him credit for the victory in the first instance because of O'Sullivan's team selection, "a brave decision that highlights his understanding (alone, according to Hook) of the physical challenge Argentina would present".

There were numerous other examples of Hook's infatuation. O'Sullivan is an excellent coach but he would surely be mortified by the love bombing.

George, we know you like Eddie. We know you think he is in a different coaching stratosphere - but the Irish coach is human and does occasionally make mistakes, which you seem to ignore or gloss over. Time to remove the blinkers and bring a little balance.

Rugby speak

"It's strange, that's the word I would like to use . . . not unfair, but strange."

- Pumas coach Marcelo Loffredo on the short period of time some teams have between matches.

"I've given up predicting where I'd like to be or where I should be."

- Australia's Chris Latham on being selected at full back against Namibia.

"Do I get a lollipop?"

- Chris Latham, the Australian full back who scored five tries against Namibia after being told he had scored the 1,000th point of the World Cup.

"We can't afford to complain, we are a minor union and we can't afford the fine. If we go out on Saturday and make the last eight it will be the greatest thing for world rugby, but if we don't win because we are fatigued it will be an incredible injustice."

- Italian coach John Kirwan on his side's chances of making their first ever World Cup quarter-finals despite playing all four pool matches within 14 days.

"Sometimes the old heart and passion out-thinks the brain."

- Tongan coach Jim Love on his side's failure to stick to the game plan.

"Winning in the World Cup would create an atmosphere to boost the interest in the top level of competition in Japan. To win shows the world that Japanese rugby is on the way up. It is time to create new history for Japanese rugby."

- Japanese coach Shugo Mukai on the importance of the Cherry Blossoms winning their final two games, against Fiji and the USA.

"It was a really amazing feeling for me. Personally I thought it was really wonderful with all the crowd cheering 'Georgia, Georgia'. It was wonderful and I thank them very much."

- Georgian captain Ilia Zedguinidze on playing his first RWC match against Samoa.

Sign of the times

The problems facing club rugby in this country were manifest recently when Young Munster were forced to pull out of a Munster Senior Cup tie against Shannon because they didn't have props of a sufficient quality to take part in the match. It must have been particularly galling for the proud Limerick club and five years ago would have been unheard of but these days may become an all-too-prevalent scenario.