Pints to ponder: Matt Williams renewed some acquaintances at Lansdowne Road last Friday week. The former Leinster and current Scotland coach had popped back to Dublin to run the eye over two Scottish players lining out for Sale - Iain Fullarton and Jason White - while scrumhalf Bryan Redpath is on his backroom staff.
Williams caught up with his successor Gary Ella in Kiely's of Donnybrook for a few pints before heading back to Edinburgh.
Official complaint
I know we offered a mild rebuke about the quality of officiating last week and suggested we were not going to return to the matter for a while but the variations in standards of refereeing this weekend demonstrate it is a serious problem.
Tony Spreadbury's peformance in the Agen-Llanelli game and Joel Jutge's at Thomond Park provide a classic illustration. While Jutge correctly binned players for professional fouls, Spreadbury, despite calling over the two captains, declined to punish blatant infringements with a card.
At one point Spreadbury called over Agen captain Jean Jacques Crenca and his Llanelli counterpart, Vernon Cooper. Paraphrasing the conversation, it went a bit like this: Spreadbury: "Right, I'm telling you both that both teams are killing the ball deliberately. You were at it down there (a reference to Llanelli) and you were at it up here (a reference to Agen). There will be no more warnings, just cards. Now go away and tell your players."
Did he live up to his promise? Not a chance, even when Llanelli's outstanding number eight Scott Quinnell blatantly knocked on to prevent an almost certain Agen try. Is it any wonder players despair sometimes?
The wrong Pat
We'd like to congratulate Pat Geraghty on his new position with Heineken.
The Munster press officer has been ribbed mercilessly by the players about the fact that RTÉ's Ryle Nugent got the wrong Pat when he was presiding over the man-of-the-match award on Saturday. Instead of the Heineken tankard being presented by Pat Maher, Ryle said Pat Geraghty. There is no truth in the suggestion Geraghty has been besieged by the players for kegs and trays of lager.
Munster milestones
It proved a good weekend for Munster in more ways than one. Quite apart from their victory over Gloucester they were also presented with an award prior to the match by ERC chairman Jean-Pierre Lux. ERC has initiated a series of "Elite Awards" to mark significant milestones reached in the tournament.
Munster were honoured in three of four categories: for teams playing 50 matches; players reaching 50 tournament caps; players scoring 500 points and players crossing for 25 tries. Lux presented Munster with an engraved crystal bowl to acknowledge their 50 tournament matches, Anthony Foley with a personalised embroidered cap for his 50 appearances in the competition and Ronan O'Gara a crystal boot in recognition of his passing the 500-points barrier.
No player has scored 25 tries. Michel Marfaing is the closest to that mark with 24.
Tickets competition
Congratulations to the winner of last week's competition, Niall Buckley of Cork, who won two tickets for Munster's superb victory over Gloucester at Thomond Park on Saturday.
Once again The Irish Times has teamed up with ERC to offer our readers the chance to win two tickets to a Heineken Cup Pool match this weekend involving one of the Irish provinces.
To enter this week's competition, answer the following question: who scored Munster's fourth try against Gloucester at Thomond Park on Saturday. Email josullivan@irish-times.ie, no later than 6 p.m. today.
We're going to run this competition for the remaining pool games in the Heineken Cup.
The good news doesn't finish there. Log onto www.ercrugby.com for the chance to win a pair of tickets to any round-three Heineken Cup match in any of the participating countries. So log on or lose out.
Canterbury trail
Once again the Irish Shamrocks Rugby Academy is New Zealand-bound, on a seven-week excursion to the rugby heartland of Canterbury.
The academy is the brainchild of Brent Pope, and follows in the traditions of the All Black Rugby News Tours which have launched the careers of many young Kiwi internationals.
The academy focuses on developing young players from junior clubs or junior level by immersing them in seven weeks of full-time rugby, including tailored fitness programmes and coaching by some of the world's best underage coaches, including Mike Cron, the All Blacks and Welsh scrum coach.
In addition it gives the selected players the opportunity to enjoy the culture and camaraderie that comes from touring in a country where rugby is the national pastime.
The tour is open to sponsored club players and to individuals who aspire to improving their game.
Austrian Institute of Sport Physiology graduate Will Heffernan designed all the fitness programmes. The Shamrocks Academy team will play each Wednesday against leading schools and youth sides in New Zealand, and during the week the players are placed into elite senior clubs in Christchurch where they can further develop the skills they have acquired.
Interested individual players or club officials can obtain more information by visiting the Shamrocks website at www.shamrocksrugby.com, or contact Pope via e-mail at info@shamrocks.com.
