Murphy on courseOn top of Ireland's excellent victory over Wales, there was further good news for Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan with the return to action of Geordan Murphy at the weekend.
Originally a replacement for Leicester's Zurich Premiership match against London Irish, Murphy was called into the action after just eight minutes and while looking a little rusty produced several typically sublime touches.
London Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea was warm in his praise of Murphy and the only problem now appears to be a lack of games ahead of Twickenham. Seconds matches won't really suffice in preparation for facing the world champions.
Irish supporters will be keeping fingers crossed that Murphy continues to thrive after recovering from the broken leg sustained in Ireland's World Cup warm-up against Scotland at Murrayfield. His immediate objective though is probably to play his way into contention for the games against Italy and Scotland.
Two hands good...
Who'd want to be an international rugby player? Probably millions - and that is the number who saw the hapless French wing Christophe Dominici's faux pas in Saturday's game against Italy at the Stade de France.
Racing through a gap just outside the Italian 22 he careered untouched to the posts and, obviously enjoying the moment, headed toward the dead-ball line. Unfortunately for him, he elected to carry the ball in one hand.
Now as every young player knows, you can dot down 99 times out of a 100 using one hand but that 100th time, if you drop it, will be hard to live down.
Dominici's gallop was abruptly halted when he absent-mindedly flicked the ball out of his hand with his knee, much to the chagrin of the French replacements who had jumped into the air in delight to celebrate the try.
Cue much head-shaking and rueful lip-blowing from the player and a wry smile from coach Bernard Laporte. There is no truth in the rumour that his new nickname is "Slots", after the one-arm bandit.
Pope spins a yarn
Popular television pundit, former player and current St Mary's College coach Brent Pope is tackling the world of children's books - not for the first time, mind you - with the release of Woody - a Whale of a Tail. Not that you'd necessarily know the name of the book if you'd listened to RTÉ anchor Tom McGurk.
Having allotted Pope a few seconds to plug the book toward the end of Saturday's programme, McGurk then intervened as the seconds ticked down and announced that A Tale of a Whale would be available in all good bookshops.
The aforementioned book tells the story of Woody the whale and his friends Sir Brian O'Driscoll, Ballybahoo's mayor; Michelangelo Galway, the ice-cream man; Mr Hickie, the local garda; Rog O'Gara, the chemist; Malcolm Mudcrab; and many more.
This is Pope's third book and all the proceeds from the sale of Woody are going to the Irish Hospice Foundation - Children's Hospice Homecare, which allows terminally ill children the comfort and dignity of remaining in the care of family and loved ones while they bravely battle illness. A hugely worthy cause and one that deserves the support of the Irish public at large.
Woody - a Whale of a Tail will be available through Hughes & Hughes bookstores - there are 10 nationwide - from Friday for only 10 (For details on locations of the bookstores see www.hughesbooks.com).
Originally from New Zealand, Pope has already published two children's books, for the New Zealand Child Cancer Society in the late 1980s. The books gained national celebrity, and a feature article entitled Pope's Passions was nominated for the national sports journalism awards in 1989.
A wardance too far
Former Italian international and Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli, a confirmed rugby fanatic, had been hoping to telephone his brother-in-law the former England international Steve White-Cooper with the news of an Italian victory against England on the opening weekend of the Six Nations Championship but the Azzurri lost 50-9.
He did though pass on an interesting anecdote about his time at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea manager when he employed rugby union's most fearsome wardance, the All Blacks' haka, to provide a little motivation.
"We had a little problem once as slow starters, so I got a tape of the haka and played it at full volume for the players to see just before they went out onto the pitch," revealed Vialli.
"I thought it would cure the problem but do you know what happened? Celestine Babayaro got sent off almost straight away. I didn't show them the haka ever again."
Miracle revisited
Munster fans are set to enjoy another DVD for the mantlepiece to go alongside The Miracle Match, recounting their Heineken Cup victory over Gloucester last year.
Fresh off the production line is a documentary by Brian O'Flaherty recalling the province's famous victory over New Zealand at Thomond Park in 1978.
There are about 16 minutes of footage of the game in question, while a host of players from both sides are interviewed to provide background.
Former All Black wing legend Stu Wilson offered the following observation of Munster's 12-0 success: "They just snotted us off the pitch." Sure we know what he meant anyway.
The DVD is a must not only for Munster supporters but also for Irish rugby fans in general and will allow those who claimed to be there - about 100,000 - the opportunity to embellish their tall tale with a few hard facts about the occasion.
Different ball game
England may be world champions but it doesn't guarantee global fame, as they discovered during a reception in Toronto a while back.
"Gee, it's great to have you soccer-ball guys here," commented one local dignitary before adding: "Which one of you is Beck-Ham?"
