Planet Rugby

Tickets at a premium: Tickets for what was supposed to be the Grand Slam decider next Saturday between Wales and Ireland at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff were available for about £125 and £175 three weeks ago, as we have pointed out in this column, but ahead of last weekend's penultimate round of Six Nations Championship matches the asking price of the website hospitality company we visited had risen appreciably.

Category-one tickets in the all-seater stadium are now being listed at £500 while the category-two versions are on offer at £400. Now this column highlighted the cheaper tickets several weeks ago and suggested they might, even at those vastly inflated mark-ups, be worth snapping up.

Saturday's defeat by France means Eddie O'Sullivan's team must concentrate on the more mundane, like Triple Crown and Championship. Still those Irish who don't now want to travel won't have any problems getting rid of tickets because the demand in Wales is such that tickets are being offered at £800, a price that is likely to rise.

Putt to pin of his collar

The former Terenure College and London Irish scrumhalf Kevin Putt is feeling the heat as coach of the Natal Sharks and the man the fans hold accountable for the poor fortunes of the team in the Super 12 this season. The Sharks have struggled and this has revived the criticism that never really died down after last year.

Ollie le Roux had described the Sharks as a team in "terminal decline". Le Roux, who has relaunched his career at the Cats, told a rugby news magazine, "It is sad what has happened to the Sharks, but basically there is a big problem with their culture, as they have become a bunch of mercenaries."

Another to stick the boot in was Mark Andrews, the most capped Springbok forward of all time and a veteran of 154 matches for the Sharks. He pointed out that his former team are too inexperienced to be a force in the Super 12.

"A mid-table finish would be a great result for the Sharks," he said. "Kevin Putt and (assistant coach) Balie Swart owe us an explanation as to why they have picked an inexperienced pack for such a tough competition. You look at the Sharks and you see a mixture of players who, when combined, are not strong enough to dominate teams and also not mobile enough to move around the park. They are stuck in no-man's-land. I worry because I don't think they have any real fire-power."

Putt's days seem numbered.

Punter goes for broke

Speaking of inflated prices, a French journalist was staggered by a transaction in a well known hostelry near Lansdowne Road last Saturday when he watched a man pay €1,300 for a terrace ticket with a €25 face value. He wasn't sure whether the purchaser was Irish or French but given the result of the test match and for the sake of the man's sanity this column is hoping he is French.

At least then he could have enjoyed the occasion, although few would suggest he received "value for money".

Ireland in deep pool

Ireland will take part in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong, which takes place from Friday to Sunday this week. The squad is captained by Ian Humphreys, who along with Michael McComish has played in all five IRB Sevens circuit tournaments this season in which Ireland have participated.

The squad also contains three newcomers to the Sevens circuit in the shapes of UCD's Kevin Croke, former Ireland Under-21 flanker Brendan O'Connor and Shannon's Brian Tuohy. Ireland have been placed in Pool A with Sevens kingpins New Zealand, Scotland, Tonga, Korea and the USA.

The Irish will play Scotland, New Zealand and the USA on day one of the tournament and Korea and Tonga on day two. The team left for Hong Kong last Thursday and will prepare under the watchful eye of former Australia Sevens captain and Ulster centre Ryan Constable.

IRELAND: Mark Bruce (Loughborough University), Kevin Croke (UCD), David Hewitt (Clontarf), Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin), Ian Humphreys (Belfast Harlequins, capt), Andy Maxwell (Ballymena), Michael McComish (Ballymena), Martin McPhail (UL Bohemians), James Norton (UCD), Brendan O'Connor (Cork Constitution), Niall Ronan (Lansdowne), Brian Tuohy (Shannon). Management: Ryan Constable (coach), Ailbe McCormack (physio), George Spotswood (manager).

RUPA deny drink claim

Australia's Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) have strongly denied drinking and gambling is prevalent among their Super 12 players. They further contend the published interpretations of a survey conducted by RUPA have been "exaggerated" and are not representative.

The association conducted a survey of 84 players in January of last year and the results suggested over half those asked believed between one to 10 players in their squad had a serious alcohol problem and the same number had serious gambling addictions.

Tony Dempsey of RUPA countered: "This has been greatly exaggerated and it would be impossible for them to have a serious drinking problem - we're talking about the maximum of several individuals out of the 115 players on contract.

"I was unhappy with the article in question. The results are open to interpretation but there's no endemic drinking problem in Australian rugby and it's very rare that players need support or help. These results are 14 months old and since then measures have been taken to rehabilitate anyone who might have had a problem."