PLANET RUGBY:CJ VAN DER LINDE having been introduced to the near-15,000 attendance at the RDS on Friday evening during the interval, Rocky Elsom arrives this week from the disappointment of Australia having a 17-7 lead turned into a 28-24 defeat at the hands and feet of the All Blacks in Saturday's Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane.
During the the game, the television commentators revealed that Elsom, who had recovered from a virus earlier in the week to play in his 40th test, still wanted to play for the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup game in Hong Kong on November 1st and on Australia's ensuing European tour to Italy, England, France and Wales.
He is waiting for a ruling from the Australian Rugby Union.
It seems unlikely, however, that the ARU will reverse their policy of refusing to pick players based overseas, and privately Leinster would probably hope they retain the status quo.
The last test of that five-match schedule for the Wallabies, against Wales in the Millennium Stadium, would clash with the resumption of the Magners League and Leinster's game at home to the Dragons on November 29th.
Furthermore, Michael Cheika's squad then return to European action with back-to-back games against Castres.
The ARU would probably be doing Elsom a favour by keeping their policy intact.
Quotes of the week . . .
"I'M A GOOD soldier. I've joined Northampton to learn and improve, to make the most of whatever talent I have as a rugby player, but I'm more than happy to follow orders, and if Jim (Mallinder) wants me to concentrate on smashing people all afternoon long, on being physical and destructive and all the rest of it, that's fine by me. I like smashing people. But . . . if I'm asked to do some different things, I'll do everything I can to oblige."
- The ex-Ulster flanker Neil Best underlines his devotion to the Northampton cause.
"WE'RE A young team. We should have kicked the living tripe off the ball and played down in the other end of the park and we would have won the game. It was immature play during the whole second half. We were running around, as we would say in Australia, like we were chickens with our heads cut off. There was no structure. But we're going to be a good team. As I said to the guys, if you were a poor team I wouldn't be angry."
- Coach Matt Williams reacting to Ulster's one-point defeat away to Cardiff.
Different brawl game in France
IN THE aftermath of the Battle of Pretoria, between South Africa and Ireland, in the summer of 1998 the then Springboks coach Nick Mallett likened it to a French club game and Eurosport viewers of Friday's Top 14 game saw a revival of the kind of brawling that gave French club rugby a bad name.
Newly promoted Toulon 'welcomed' Stade Français to the Felix Mayol stadium, where home fans conduct a rallying chant akin to a crowd haka. During Stade's 19-13 win, an all-in 30-man brawl led to two sendings-off.
Munster's pool opponents, Clermont Auvergne, overcame a bad start to the season with a 16-6 home win over Toulouse - who beat them in last June's final.
Leinster's pool rivals Castres have plummeted to last place after a 19-11 defeat at home to the previously winless Dax.
After four rounds, Stade Français top the table with 17 points; Perpignan and Montpellier are on 13, Biarritz and Bayonne on 12 and Clermont Auvergne on 10.
James to step off test treadmill
CONTINUING the theme of player burn-out, CJ van der Linde's recent suspension is something of a bonus for Leinster in affording the Springbok prop what for him is a mid-season break.
So, consider this: as the South African RFU have no ban on playing overseas players, their outhalf Butch James has just returned from the Tri-Nations to Bath in time for the Premiership and on Saturday played his 34th game (including 15th tests) since last year's World Cup.
Save for an eight-week break with a shoulder injury, he has been on the treadmill continuously and has a full Premiership season, a Heineken Cup campaign and an autumn tour to come, not to mention a test series with the Springboks against the Lions next summer.
"It's not sustainable," says James. "It's pretty tough and I don't think it's advisable either."
No wonder, then, that James has decided to retire from test rugby after that series. He is 29.
Percy send-off
• TO MARK Percy Montgomery's retirement after the recent Tri-Nations campaign, the Springboks squad surprised the 101-times capped fullback by wearing 'Percy Wigs' for a farewell photograph session.
• "I DRIVE him everywhere, make sure he's where he needs to be, generally look after him; essentially we're one and the same person. Or to put it another way, it's like having a giant pet."
- Neil Best (again) on his Northampton team-mate, mate and housemate, Roger Wilson.
Jones bemoans law changes
EDDIE JONES is a ready talker and is always worth listening to, as when he outlined his vision for Saracens in an interview with BBC Radio 5 live during the week.
And in his first weekly column for the Independentin England the Aussie coach, having already aired his grievances about the vexed ELVs during the World Cup, returned to the subject.
Jones produced statistics from recent games to show the ball is in the air more and there are far few setpieces. Getting to the kernel of the issue, he wrote: "Rugby is meant to be a sport for specialists, one for all shapes and sizes.
"This has always been, and remains, its mission statement . . . What price specialists if we continue on this current path? Am I going to pick a prop who is really destructive in the tight but slow around the field if the number of scrums is way down in single figures? Ultimately, the answer will be no."
The favourite one-liner at Saracens these days is aimed at their scrum coach, the former Springbok tight-head Cobus Visagie.
"Hey, Cobie, what do you do for a living these days?"
