Perils of French leave exposed
Saracens admit they were tempted not to release Thomas Castaignède to play for France yesterday. 'We briefly considered it,' says managing director Tim Lawler, 'but it wouldn't have been fair on the player.' It might, though, have broken the two-year impasse that goes back to the day the Frenchman suffered a serious Achilles tear as he warmed up for a France-South Africa match. The French argued that the injury must have pre-existed, which Saracens hotly disputed. There has been 'almost zero contact' over the two years and, worryingly, there seems to be no other body than can assist in the matter.
Release of players for internationals is supposed to be a carefully ordered business, with unions taking over from clubs the responsibility for player insurance. But Saracens say that 'France is different from any other union - it appears they will provide medical cover, but no compensation for lost wages'. In Saracens case, that must be close to £250,000 over two years. A frustrated Lawler describes clubs as being 'like incubators keeping players warm until this great cause - the national unions - need them', and he says that the International Rugby Board is 'too distanced from the nuts and bolts' to help in such issues. Now a meeting has at last been scheduled between Saracens owner Nigel Wray and the French Federation, but the club don't seem too optimistic about compensation. Says Lawler: 'What we mainly want is an acknowledgement that we weren't fairly treated, and to make sure it doesn't happen again.' Just to be safe, Saracens arranged special cover for Castaignède before he departed for French duty last week.
What 19 stones means in Tunis
'A cultural battle' is how Namibia's coach, Dave Waterson describes the critical away leg of his country's World Cup qualifier against Tunisia. According to Rugby World magazine the main complaint of the Namibians was that 'people in the stands were throwing stones at our players - that's not good for rugby'. Another affront to traditional rugby values was an alleged failure of the hosts to collect the visitors for the after-match dinner - so the Namibians stayed put and had their own party. The IRB confirms that they have received a complaint from Namibia about 'crowd problems' and are following it up. Losing in Tunis by the same margin as they had won at home, Namibia qualified by scoring three tries to two over the two legs. They join Australia, Argentina, Ireland and Romania in Group A.
Wanted: well-bearded No 9
Having previously selected an all-time red-haired XV - naturally, two thirds of them being Irish - Dublin's Sunday Tribune has now offered a bearded XV in which just one place is proving difficult to fill. That's a scrum-half to partner the late John Bevan at No 10. Apparently, heavy stubble does not qualify, hence no Philippe Carbonneau (above). Any suggestions?
Playful cuff from the chief Tiger
An endorsement from Peter Wheeler for England's innovative 2007 World Cup bid will please the RFU. Or, rather, some of it will. The chief executive of Leicester Tigers, a sometime ally and sometime foe of the RFU, declared in last week's match programme that 'the merits of the format, the worldwide profile and potential development for the game, ought to win the day.' Then comes the sting in the Tiger's tail: 'I did, however, miss the part of the presentation that explained how the Premiership clubs would be compensated for only playing 16 games in the league and being without their international players for the championship play-offs. Perhaps I had a page missing.' The RFU says that a truncated Premiership in 2007 is a long way from being decided. 'When we showed a week-by-week map of how the season might look it was purely for illustrative purposes,' says Terry Burwell, one of the architects of the bid. 'A World Cup in whatever window does create problems for the international and domestic seasons. We have to minimise those problems.'
Quotes of the week
'Whenever I wanted the ball in league I got it, but in union you have to be in the right place at the right time and run the right line.'
Australia's rugby-league convert Wendell Sailor
'I can tell you now that if I'm captain of Wales and get to lift the World Cup trophy then I'll definitely be calling it a day.'
Scott Quinnell in fanciful mood
