Planet Rugby

Today's other stories in brief

Night of the Tigresses

The Leicester Tiger and former England captain Martin Corry has enlisted the help of team-mates for an unusual fundraiser in his testimonial season at the club. On Wednesday week Corry's "ladies' night" takes place, and the females among the club's supporters are promised a wonderful evening.

The event features members of the first-team and academy squads, and a raffle where punters will, quite literally, be able to win the shirts off the players' backs.

The light-hearted evening begins with a drinks reception, followed by a three-course dinner with wine - each table being allocated a player to act as wine waiter - and concludes with a disco and the distribution of personal goody bags.

The venue is the Walkers stadium and the cost is £59 (€82) plus VAT, per person.

I wonder if the idea will catch on in Ireland.

Gatland talks tough

Wales's new head coach Warren Gatland has warned his players they will be tested to the full in training as he seeks to mould a winning team. The former Ireland and Wasps coach decided to spell out what lies in store.

"At times in training we're going to put them under some stress, under some pressure," he said. "I'm going to try and break a couple of them. I'm going to try and break them physically and mentally and see how tough they are.

"It's about intensity and making sure we work under pressure. If you do that enough times in training then when you come to the game you're prepared for it. There is absolutely no excuse for a player pulling on an international jersey and not dying for the cause. If he doesn't and he's holding something back, then he doesn't deserve to be there."

You'd almost fear for Gavin Henson.

Golden opportunity

Seeing it is the Christmas season, this column, in conjunction with the Eden Park shop in the Powerscourt Townhouse centre, is giving three lucky readers the opportunity to win a gold-coloured Eden Park ball signed by the Leinster outhalf Felipe Contepomi.

To be in with a chance to win this unusual prize, simply answer the following question.

Felipe was an integral part of Argentina's success during the recent World Cup in France, but which country did the Pumas beat twice during the tournament?

There is a clue in the question itself.

This is an email competition. Entries should be addressed to edenparkdublin@eircom.net.

Winners will be notified.

Better get this right

People in glasshouses should not throw stones so this next snippet should perhaps be accompanied by the sound of breaking glass in the background.

At Stradey Park on Saturday the Sky Sports commentator Mark Robson and his match analyst Scott Quinnell - no doubt confused by the blizzard - perpetrated verbal bloopers.

The former darling of the Stradey crowd was first to slip up, Quinnell describing how important it was, in the matter of keeping the opposing defence guessing, for one particular Llanelli player to carry "two balls in his hand".

We hope that what he actually meant to say was "the ball in two hands".

Before you could say Scarlet, Robson decided to let us in on one of Declan Kidney's secrets. He suggested the Munster coach espoused the notion of "fire in the mind and ice in the belly".

As the replacement hooker Frankie Sheahan could have told them, because he himself has used the metaphor, the Munster philosophy is "ice in the mind and fire in the belly".

Henry in black books

The New Zealand Herald did not hold back in its appraisal of the decision to reappoint Graham Henry All Blacks coach.

The paper's outspoken columnist Chris Rattue railed: "Henry failed dismally at the World Cup. And, no, it wasn't just a matter of one game going wrong, as some of his pathetic minions claim.

"The quarter-final loss against an ageing and limited French team guided by an eccentric coach with an eye on political office was a long time in the misplanning. South Africa were the only credible hurdle at the World Cup in 2007, although Henry's cronies have done their fanciful best to rewrite history.

"Of course Henry, in his typically conceited way, returned home claiming he had done nothing wrong. Now he concedes to mistakes, partly.

"Henry's reappointment, to my mind, confirms that rugby in this country is being sailed and assailed by a ship of fools.

What a black moment for rugby union in this land, and a mighty victory for dunderhead thinking."

Quote of the week

"It was almost as if the players thought we had scored too many points and wanted them to make a game of it. But that doesn't make my job any more pleasurable. Treviso came back very well and for a while two or three of our wheels came off. Thankfully the fourth stayed on and we finished with maximum points."

- The Dragons coach Paul Turner after his team led by double scores before pipping Benetton Treviso 33-32 with a late Ceri Sweeney drop-goal.