A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Gallant effort by Irish
London Irish put up a gallant performance before losing 28-25 at home to Leicester yesterday in their Premiership meeting. The performance is made all the more laudable because of the fact the Exiles coach, Brian Smith, had to plan without 10 senior players.
Four games in 20 days has wreaked carnage on the playing resources at the club. Ten senior players are currently unavailable for selection because of injury: Justin Bishop, Darren Edwards, Dominic Feau'nati, Riki Flutey, Paul Franze, Nick Kennedy, Olivier Magne, Robbie Russell, Richard Skuse and Ben Willis.
The number of injuries to backs in particular meant that Topsy Ojo, a 21-year-old England underage international, made his Premiership debut. The main architect of Leicester's win was outhalf Andy Goode who kicked seven penalties and a conversion for a Tigers team that included Geordan Murphy and Shane Jennings.
In mentioning things Irish it should be noted that Eoin Reddan and Jeremy Staunton were the chosen halfback combination for London Wasps in their victory over the Newcastle Falcons.
This is the second match in succession that the former Munster dup have started ahead of England internationals Matt Dawson (he came on to score a try) and Alex King.
O'Brien laid to rest
The funeral of former Ireland Grand Slam number eight Des O'Brien took place in Scotland towards the end of last week. It was a pleasure for this column to interview O'Brien, a modest, self-effacing gentleman, a fine raconteur possessed with a sharp mind undiminished by age.
It was no surprise that a huge crowd turned out for the proceedings. O'Brien had left specific instructions that the occasion was to be a party. Former team-mates Jim McCarthy, Jimmy Nelson and Jack Kyle were present as were Ronnie Dawson and Ronnie Kavanagh. Legendary Lions and Scotland coach Jim Telfer was also present.
Over 200 people crammed into the small parish church of Rosewell near Edinburgh before O'Brien was finally laid to rest in the cemetery overlooking his home at Lawswade.
Moves for Umaga
New Zealand captain Tana Umaga has been linked with a move to NEC Harlequins and the Leicester Tigers. His proposed transfer to London and the Harlequins club comes on foot of a story in New Zealand's Sunday News newspaper. Quoting an unnamed insider at the London club, the story alleges that Dean Richards wants Umaga and another All Black, Justin Marshall (currently at Leeds), to link up with Andrew Mehrtens. Deep throat suggests: "Dean has his heart set on a three-pronged All Black back core. There are 21 former All Blacks playing in England, France, Wales and Ireland and that is one of the selling points to Umaga. He would be among friends in this part of the world." (No this column is not going to rehash the whole spear tackle thing again!)
Roberto Brady, Umaga's agent told the Sunday News that no announcement about the player's future was imminent. But the rumour mill kicked into overdrive after Mehrtens revealed that he has applied for South African citizenship in order to help Quins secure the signature of an extra overseas player.
The 32-year-old pivot was born in South Africa and aims to exploit a legal loophole whereby South Africans are not counted as imported players by English clubs. "I'm looking at it because South Africans play as locals over here. But I've been investigating it from a while back - even before I looked seriously at coming to the UK, I'd realised it would be a bit of a plus."
Mehrtens denied that his decision had anything to do with Umaga. He was quoted as saying: "I haven't talked to Tana specifically about it, and I don't know what his plans are."
Marshall has a get-out clause in his contract if Leeds are relegated from the top flight and they currently languish at the foot of the table.
Leicester have also been linked with Umaga.
Smit is sorry, sorry
France star Jérôme Thion confirmed that he received a brace of apologies from South African captain John Smit following an incident in a Test match between France and the Springboks in November that left the Frenchman nursing a fractured larynx.
The Biarritz player sustained the damage when the recipient of Smit's forearm, deliberately thrust into his throat during the match at the Stade de France. Smit was cited and suspended for six weeks with the ban scheduled to to begin on January 14th, the opening day of the new season in South Africa.
Thion confirmed: "He sent me a SMS text message and, more surprisingly, a letter posted in Bayonne - his agent was probably in the region." Thion is in fine shape but did confess: "I cannot talk loud and I cannot shout."
The bad news for Ulster, who host Biarritz in the European Cup at Ravenhill on Friday night, is that Thion made his return during his club's 59-10 demolition of Toulon on Saturday.
