By JOHN O'SULLIVAN

Debate over Irish emblem is more than just a Trefling matter

FUNNY HOW things can get lost in translation.

On the excellent website of French newspaper Midi Olympique, they list the Ireland emblem as a Trefle, commonly translated as a clover, without suggesting whether it is the four-leafed variety.

The emblem on the Irish jersey is referred to as a shamrock in these parts, but apparently the use of the term clover is equally apt.

Our exhaustive research (the internet) led us to American botanist Kathleen Pelkki, who explained that a shamrock is a common name for any number of plants belonging to the genus Trifolium, from the Latin “having three leaves.”

The plant most commonly referred to as shamrock is white clover, or Trifolium repens. The Irish word seamróg, from which shamrock comes, means little clover. Black medic, wood sorrel, and the hop clover have also been called shamrocks.

Apparently a true Irish shamrock is a white clover, or the aforementioned Trifolium repens, an assertion supported by Irish naturalist Nathaniel Colgan’s 1893 manifesto, The Shamrock: A Further Attempt to Fix Its Species.”

Just to complicate matters slightly further, Trefle also refers to the suit clubs in a deck of cards.

NO referee has officiated in more Six Nations Championship matches than South Africa’s Jonathan Kaplan. He has presided over 14, eight of which have involved Ireland. The only time Ireland lost when he was the man with the whistle was in 2003 – England came to Lansdowne Road and thumped Ireland in a winner-take-all clash for Triple Crown, Grand Slam and Championship.

Kaplan is scheduled to referee Ireland’s clash with Scotland at Croke Park in the final round of matches this season. For the record, Ireland beat Italy three times, Wales twice and England and Scotland once apiece.

Ulster's Blair switch project

SPECULATION that Ulster might try to persuade Scotland scrumhalf and Edinburgh captain Mike Blair to join them next season has been dashed with his new, two-year contract with the Murrayfield-based side.

Isaac Boss is reputed to be joining Leinster next season and Blair was viewed as an ideal replacement. The Scot admitted: “I’m pleased to have signed a new deal. Edinburgh are an ambitious team capable of challenging for honours.”

Distance gives Italy an advantage

SIX NATIONS SPEAK: “With Italy you don’t know from one year to the other what their game plan will be because they’re further away, without much press and there’s not a lot of news about their club games. They are the unknown.”

– Ireland Women’s team captain Fiona Coghlan.

“One of Chris’s strengths is his goal-kicking – that’s a key factor – but he’s not selected just for his goal-kicking. Chris has been selected because of the way he has played at fullback and his counter-attacking ability.

“That, to me, is important to the way we want to approach this game.”

– Scotland coach Andy Robinson talking about place-kicking metronome Chris Paterson and the other qualities he possesses.

THE Ulster Branch has a number of tickets available for Saturday’s match at Croke Park on their website, but a spokesperson for the IRFU said that they didn’t expect to have any available for sale to the general public through the union’s website.

Flaminio to be refurbished

ITALY’S home matches will not be moving from Rome to Milan in the long term.

The Italian Rugby Federation have announced that the Stadio Flaminio in Rome is to undergo a major re-vamp that will see its capacity rise to 42,000.

Approval for the stadium upgrade has been granted by Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno, and the work will begin this summer with the completion expected before the 2012 Six Nations.

“Six Nations rugby is absolutely indispensable for Rome,” Alemanno said.

However, it won’t be finished in time for Ireland’s visit next season, so where the Italians will play their home matches in 2011 is still unknown.

An infantile relationship

WE can not confirm if they sat beside each other on their first day, but Ireland and Leinster team-mates Jonathan Sexton and Kevin McLaughlin started junior infants at the Kildare Place National School in Rathmines in September 1989.

McLaughlin would celebrate his fifth birthday a few weeks after starting school (September 20th, 1984), while Sexton would have been only seven weeks past his fourth birthday (July 11th, 1985).

This nugget provides irrefutable proof that backs are more precocious than forwards.