Sports Digest: Donnybrook has been confirmed as the venue for Leinster's first home game of the season when they host London Irish next Friday (kick-off 7.30pm) in their final pre-season game before the Celtic League, writes Gerry Thornley. This will be preceded by an A game against their London Irish counterparts on the Donnybrook back pitch at 5pm.
Leinster will welcome back their Churchill Cup contingent as well as Felipe Contepomi after Wednesday's defeat in Dax, while also giving home debuts to summer signings Chris Whitaker, Owen Finegan, Harry Vermaas, Trevor Hogan and Stephen Keogh. The Exiles are expected to include some of their former Leinster players Aidan McCullen, Ben Willis, Bob Casey and Barry Everitt.
Despite shared misgivings, European Cup champions Munster and Leicester will go ahead with their pre-season friendly in Musgrave Park next Friday, even though they are also due to face each other in the Heineken Cup, while in a third Hiberno-English friendly on the same evening the defending Magners League champions, Ulster, face Andre Bester's Rotherham Titans in the Grafton Challenge at Ravenhill (7.30).
The Munster Supporters Club have attracted almost 5,000 new members during the close season. Munster have also sold over 5,000 Magners League season tickets for the 2006-2007 campaign.
Andrew lands new elite director post
Former international outhalf Rob Andrew has been appointed England elite rugby director to oversee all the country's representative teams up to the senior side preparing for the 2007 World Cup.
The Rugby Football Union made the announcement on their official website yesterday, filling a new post they thought up in April after England finished a poor fourth in the Six Nations championship for the second successive season.
"Rob is the best person for the job and the fact that he came through a very competitive field, with some superb candidates, says much about the way he impressed the interview panel with his vision and ideas," it reported RFU chief executive Francis Baron as saying.
Andrew, who played for England in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups and won 71 caps, was preferred to the former head coach Clive Woodward, who steered England to the trophy in Australia in 2003. Woodward, now working at Southampton football club, left the RFU on sour terms with Baron after his World Cup victory.
The RFU created the post following a review of their national coaching set-up, after which coach Andy Robinson survived a cull but his three most senior assistants were sacked.
Other candidates for the top job are believed to have included the former coaches of the Springboks Nick Mallett, Ireland Warren Gatland and Australia Eddie Jones.
Lynch grabs win
Denis Lynch notched up the first Irish win at the big Dutch fixture in Valkenswaard yesterday, claiming an easy victory in the young-horse class, writes Grania Willis.
The Tipperary-born rider, who was third in Thursday's opening class with Lancelot, steered the stallion Cezanne into the winner's enclosure in yesterday morning's one-round Acorn Hill Farm prize, scoring by more than three seconds from one of the German stars, Otto Becker.
Jessica Kürten was also in the money, finishing seventh on Laurus in the medium tour prize, just under four and a half seconds behind Albert Zoer.
