Today's other rugby stories in brief

Rough passage for Kiwi

POOR GREGOR Paul. The New Zealand Heraldcolumnist doesn't appear to have experienced the smoothest of journeys from Edinburgh to Dublin.

"Some airlines, not mentioning any names, but maybe Aer Lingus, overbook flights. Again, trying to keep things anonymous, but maybe Aer Lingus, are prone to saying on arrival at the check-in desk that they have absolutely no record whatsoever of a booking been made. Doesn't matter that a credit card statement might suggest otherwise, what with $650 having been deducted. The booking still vanished.

"Any chance of being put on the next flight? None. The truly resourceful will then traipse to every ticket desk in the airport to see if there is an alternative means of reaching Dublin. The truly resourceful will discover there is - it requires boarding an Easy Jet flight, something only the very brave should attempt, to Belfast. Make sure, though, that in attempting this dangerous exercise, that mention is made of having some luggage in tow. Otherwise that requires a return to the ticket desk - having endured the monstrous queue at the check-in desk - to pay extra for inconveniently putting something in the hold."

On arrival, Paul was bothered by the Northern Ireland accent. "It requires extreme concentration to understand even just three words per sentence of the unintelligible Northern Irish brogue at the car hire place."

He also got stung at the toll booth for not changing sterling into euro.

O'Leary keeps his counsel 

FOLLOWING IN the footsteps of his father and Cork hurling legend Seanie, Tomás O'Leary will run out at a packed Croke Park this Saturday.

Asked yesterday for his opinion on the latest in-fighting in the Rebel County, he replied: "I don't want to get into trouble with the lads," replied Tomás. "I know a lot of them quite well so I'll let them sort it out themselves."

Will he be the only Cork hurler to feature on the hallowed turf off Jones' Road in the coming season? "I hope not," he added.

Quotes of the day

Respected journalist: "Did you know Dan Carter has been voted 11th sexiest man in the world?"

NZ assistant coach Steve Hansen: "Jeez, he is one behind Graham Henry."

Graham Henry (right): "Who has been voted number one?"

Respected journalist: "Beckham."

Henry: "Him! Gee, that's annoying."

"We are well aware of it. There was a play made about it. A movie? All sorts of things. It must be a helluva big occasion. We are well aware of it. You have reminded us many times. We look forward to a marvellous encounter. The humour around the day will be great."

- The black comedian in Graham Henry looks forward to Wednesday's trip to Thomond Park

Looking back to 1978 and all that

DOUG HOWLETT, Rua Tipoki and Lifeimi Mafi will be in big demand after Saturday as the NZ and Irish press corps train their sights on the 30th anniversary celebrations of Munster hammering the All Blacks 12-0 at Thomond Park. All three have been warmly adopted by the Red Army and are expected to line out against their fellow countrymen on Wednesday evening.

The match is live on RTÉ but Setanta Sports are to broadcast a documentary named after John Breen's play Alone it Stands this Monday at 10pm. Breen returns as director and also features in it alongside a host of familiar faces, including the three Foley internationals Brendan (who played in '78), Anthony and Rosie.

It then gets a little surreal as Kevin Myers sets the scene of Ireland's "economic failure" back in 1978. Breen balances this out with a bike-riding 12-year-old's perspective of life in Limerick, describing it as "a magical place".

The documentary is intermingled with excerpts from Breen's hugely successful play and the match itself.

By GAVIN CUMMISKEY

Landmark day for O'Driscoll

FOR BRIAN O'Driscoll Saturday's game will mark a particularly memorable landmark, as he will be leading out Ireland for the 50th time as captain, and he couldn't have scripted a better way of doing it than against the All Blacks at Croke Park.

"It is a huge honour," he said at yesterday's press conference. "It was a huge honour getting capped as a player number one, then getting capped as captain of your country. I never dreamed of lasting 50 caps as captain, but you want to mark occasions by playing the biggest teams, and luckily the All Blacks in Croke Park, it doesn't come any bigger than that. It's a hugely exciting prospect."

The All Blacks remain the ultimate challenge for O'Driscoll, and the one box still to tick on his win column. "Records speak for themselves, and having never been on the winning side against them, I think personally it's the only international team I've never been on the winning side against, whether it's for Ireland or the Lions."