WELLINGTON DIARY

Other rugby stories in brief

McCaw and Keane find common ground

KEEPING A relatively low profile in his watching brief with the All Blacks is Roy Keane, whose club Sunderland passed on instructions to the All Blacks' media officer that no interview requests were to be granted while Keane was in Wellington.

Oh well. Keane was revealed to have had lunch with Richie McCaw on Tuesday, and the All Blacks captain said: "Obviously he's a superstar in football and I had a chance to ask him a few questions, and what happens at Manchester United, and what he does as a manager now. It's pretty special to ask a guy like that. He's a bit of a character."

McCaw said Keane reckoned the pride in playing for the All Blacks was akin to playing for Man U. "He didn't realise that until for the last six months (of his playing career) he played for someone else. He said it just wasn't the same and he realised then what it meant to play (for Man U) and I think guys find that.

"When they give up or move on they really realise what it's all about, the great fun it is playing for the All Blacks. So I guess there's a few similarities there."

Better class of service on tours of duty

NESTLING BETWEEN harbours and hills, beaches and bays, and with its spaciously detached timber houses, downtown Wellington, as well as being home of the nation's parliament, likes to think of itself as something of a cultural and restaurant capital.

Duty called for some of the Ireland squad when they were hosted by the prime minister, Helen Clarke, at a function last night.

These things can have their moments though, as former All Black lock Richard Fromont recalled this week from their tour to Scotland and England in 1993. Two days after arriving, the squad went to a sponsors' function attended by almost 800 people. They supplemented their official blazers with bow-ties, "so we were looking a picture and the first thing we noticed was that the waiters were dressed better than us.

"Me and my mate Norm Hewitt had decided we were going to keep our heads down on our first All Black tour, butts up and work hard so it wouldn't be our first and last trip. Norm decided he liked this getting fed and served, and he spotted this waiter across the room he liked the look of. 'Hey, Bro, bring us some food,' shouted Hewitt."

Fromont pointed out the waiter wasn't dressed like the other waiters, but Hewitt repeated the demand. "Hey, Bro, bring us some food." Heads turned and one Englishman approached Hewitt: "Excuse me, my good sir, but that's no waiter. That's actually the ex-prime minister of Great Britain Sir Edward Heath."

"Needless to say," chuckled Fromont, "for the rest of the trip, Norm became a lot more quiet."

Nacewa's sense of humour

THE LEINSTER-BOUND Isa Nacewa this week was interviewed on television by a Blues team-mate, Gus Collins, about his impending move to Ireland. The multipurpose and versatile member of an often thrilling Auckland Blues back line arrives in Dublin on July 6th and the interview was deliberately light-hearted.

Hence the discussion centred around his need to buy a few more "long-sleeved items" for his travelling bag, developing a taste for Guinness and satisfying his fondness for surfing.

"The closest place I'll probably get to is either Northern Ireland, where it's about four degrees in the water, or jump on a plane to Spain, which is probably cheaper and quicker and warmer."

After six seasons with the Blues, he's looking forward to catching up with Doug Howlett - "two hours down the road" (Best of luck, Isa) - and playing against him. Discussing the array of Test backs at Leinster such as Brian O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi and Gordon D'Arcy, Nacewa did admit it would be "quite daunting going into that environment".

Asked what level he expected, compared to the Super 14, Nacewa said: "I think it's better than here. Everyone's main focus is heading towards Europe and the Heineken Cup. There's big sponsors and big names there now, so a lot of the world will probably be watching it."