Rugby News round-up: Senior Irish players met their players union chief executive, Niall Woods, last night as he laid out the IRFU's latest offer to them regarding match fees and win bonuses for internationals.
The IRFU will be hoping the players find the offer acceptable and thus remove the need for further debate on the issue in the run-up to the Six Nations, which begins against Italy in the Stadio Flaminio on February 6th.
Although player salaries have increased by almost 300 per cent since 1998, the match fee of €1,270 and win bonus of €3,810 have remained the same.
"There are some improvements in the current deal," said Woods. "I have had a number of meetings with the IRFU over the last two months and I am relatively happy with the current agreement. Now, it is up to the players to accept it."
Woods, who this week moved the Irish Rugby Union Players Association offices from Lansdowne Road to Dalkey, hopes the impasse can be resolved in the coming days.
Meanwhile, fears that David Humphreys had sustained a fractured cheekbone in Ulster's Heineken European Cup defeat at Cardiff on Sunday were allayed yesterday when the outhalf was passed fit for the Irish squad's first training camp of 2005 in Dublin this week.
The seven Ulster players in the 35-man squad squad took part only in light training yesterday after Sunday's match and return to their province today to prepare for the crucial Celtic League away trip against the Ospreys on Friday night.
The rest of the squad will stay together until tomorrow when they return to provincial or club squads. Preparations will go up another notch next week with a full week of training.
The Connacht branch have denied making approaches to Irish players abroad, including former players Gavin Duffy, Johnny O'Connor, Damien Browne and Colm Rigney.
Duffy and O'Connor have been capped since moving to Harlequins and Wasps respectively. Both are in the preliminary Six Nations squad with Duffy's contract at the Stoop up for review at the end of the season. It is unlikely the province could afford to bring the two back without increased IRFU backing.
Connacht are clearly on a high after reaching the European Challenge Cup semi-finals for the second successive year and if they do manage to qualify for the European Cup next season they will be keen to strengthen their squad.
Their entry to Europe's premier competition is by no means guaranteed despite yesterday's clarification from Connacht PRO Rob Murphy: "With one of the three lowest-ranked sides from each Celtic League nation heading to a play-off with Italy's third-ranked side, Saturday's game (against Cardiff) is the proverbial eight-pointer as far as Heineken Cup qualification is concerned."
While Saturday's victory over Grenoble left Connacht three wins away from taking the European Challenge Cup title and a place in Europe's elite competition, a win on Saturday would mean they remain on track on both fronts.
The IRFU have previously stated that Connacht would not be entering the competition at the expense of another Irish province so the Celtic League route appears closed for next season.
Leinster will take on a €500,000 redevelopment of the playing facilities in Donnybrook this summer, the focus being on the main and back pitches (behind the Bective clubhouse).
The wear and tear of the Donnybrook surface means Leinster will face the Gwent Dragons in Lansdowne Road on January 30th. Some €700,000 in lottery money has been made available for work on the two pitches and the Wesley end of the ground.
"We hope to lay down sand-based pitches during the summer," said Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson. "In the modern day with the level of players in Leinster we require a professional surface."
Considering the Leinster Schools Cup is about to crank into overdrive Leinster's two remaining home Celtic League matches in March, against the Ospreys and Llanelli, may also be at Lansdowne Road.
The dates and times for the European Cup quarter-finals were released yesterday with Leinster playing Leicester at 5.15pm on Saturday, April 2nd at Lansdowne Road, while there is a 3 pm kick-off for Munster and Biarritz Olympique the next day (see panel). The venue for this match is as yet undecided. Both games will be shown live on RTÉ and Sky Sports.
