Munster have/are singing a south african called Gerhard Van Den Heever

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_van_den_Heever

According to wikipedia he's a fullback/winger. To me that's an odd choice if you consider that they have Conway coming in and Felix Jones fit/ I'd rather have a centre I could rotate with Downey and Laula especially after letting Barnes go. Maybe this means Earls is now considered a centre first and foremost?

I haven't read an awful lot about it but I thought rog would be coaching the juniors?

I wonder how Sexton feels about this? I wonder was he asked his opinion?

So ROG is getting paid a packet to coach Sexton on how to kick a ball.
Is that the easiest job in the world?

rossie wrote: just saw what you were refering to swifty! LOL that lorenzetti obviously has a cracking sense of humour only matched by his bank balance! ROG to coach jonnie, BRILLIANT.

Best of luck Rog. i hope you really enjoy your new role. Im sure with your sense of humour that this must be amusing you no end! Thanks for the many many wonderful moments, your professionalism and commitment and obvious love of munster and irish rugby. a true legend.

He won't though, RO'G likes to be centre stage and the focus of attention, and can't see him enjoying watching Sexton go about his business for two seasons from the sideline it'll drive him crazy...

just saw what you were refering to swifty! LOL that lorenzetti obviously has a cracking sense of humour only matched by his bank balance! ROG to coach jonnie, BRILLIANT.

Best of luck Rog. i hope you really enjoy your new role. Im sure with your sense of humour that this must be amusing you no end! Thanks for the many many wonderful moments, your professionalism and commitment and obvious love of munster and irish rugby. a true legend.

Munster have 2 Niq spots to fill but dont really need to use them atm. Imo Jj will be used in the 10 position when Rog leaves/retires. He has been offered a 1 yr contract though and is considering it atm(unless something has been announced this pm). im aware of this kicking coach rumour but Rog has always had rumours circling at contract time so dont be surprised to see him sign.

seems like RoG could be on his way to racing metro as a kicking coach, this is surely good news for ian keatley who i think is well able for the job. will be interesting to see who munster will have on the bench, i think JJ is more of a centre and has very little time as an outhalf at senior level

phatguerilla wrote:

rossie wrote: Bj botha has signed a 2 yr contract extension also. This one breaks all the rules. Only one niq per position! No. Only one yr contracts for niq over 30s! No. Maybe it means afoa is going home but id doubt it.

Dont get me wrong im delighted hes staying and didnt agree with either rule but why have them in the first place if you are going to sanction the breaking of them.
In all likelyhood 3 of the 4 provinces will again have niq ths starting. As i said before mere lipservice to the problems of the national team. We also havr the possiblity that niq flyhalves will get significant game time at 3 of the 4 provinces also. (im including piennaar).

All the talk on other forums is that Afoa is almost certainly going home, supposedly he's trying to help source Ulster a replacement before leaving. Its pretty bad for Ulster because Fitzpatrick is not really an option (when you've less appearances than Ferris in the same time or longer you're not a realistic choice imo). Lutton has looked handy so far but they will be thin at TH without Afoa.

The niq rule was a mess from the start but it didn't have to be, everyone knows that it was intended to bring props through, there's no other position that has the same problem. By applying it across the whole team it brought issues of discrimination into the mix.

Ulster are hopeful John Afoa is staying at Ravenhill
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22188050

17 April 2013
Last updated at 14:52

Ulster chiefs are confident that New Zealand World Cup winner John Afoa will be at Ravenhill next season.

The tighthead is contracted to Ulster until June 2014 but has made several trips home this season, most recently for the birth of his third child.

Ulster chief executive Shane Logan confirmed no new players are arriving, which indicates Afoa will be staying.

"All our players are contracted into next season and so, no, we won't be bringing in anybody new," he said.

Ulster are allowed five overseas players who are not qualified to play for Ireland.
Afoa, Nick Williams, Johann Muller, Ruan Pienaar and Jared Payne are currently in that category, though it is anticipated that Payne will become an Irish international at the start of the 2014-2015 season once he has spent the stipulated three years in the country.

However during a trip back to New Zealand earlier this season, Afoa told a New Zealand TV station he was keen to return home to chase a spot in the All Blacks' World Cup squad in 2015. When Afoa has been absent or injured this season, Ulster have used Ricky Lutton and Kyle McCall in the tighthead position, but would need to recruit from overseas if Afoa left.

Logan reiterated that no overseas' signings are planned.
"Our policy with our five non-Irish eligible players is to have guys who are both box office on the pitch and off the pitch," he continued.

"But there will be nothing new in terms of players next season.

"We'll be concentrating on having all our guys fit, which, for a third of this season, has been a real struggle for us."

rossie wrote: Bj botha has signed a 2 yr contract extension also. This one breaks all the rules. Only one niq per position! No. Only one yr contracts for niq over 30s! No. Maybe it means afoa is going home but id doubt it.

Dont get me wrong im delighted hes staying and didnt agree with either rule but why have them in the first place if you are going to sanction the breaking of them.
In all likelyhood 3 of the 4 provinces will again have niq ths starting. As i said before mere lipservice to the problems of the national team. We also havr the possiblity that niq flyhalves will get significant game time at 3 of the 4 provinces also. (im including piennaar).

All the talk on other forums is that Afoa is almost certainly going home, supposedly he's trying to help source Ulster a replacement before leaving. Its pretty bad for Ulster because Fitzpatrick is not really an option (when you've less appearances than Ferris in the same time or longer you're not a realistic choice imo). Lutton has looked handy so far but they will be thin at TH without Afoa.

The niq rule was a mess from the start but it didn't have to be, everyone knows that it was intended to bring props through, there's no other position that has the same problem. By applying it across the whole team it brought issues of discrimination into the mix.

Bj botha has signed a 2 yr contract extension also. This one breaks all the rules. Only one niq per position! No. Only one yr contracts for niq over 30s! No. Maybe it means afoa is going home but id doubt it.

Dont get me wrong im delighted hes staying and didnt agree with either rule but why have them in the first place if you are going to sanction the breaking of them.
In all likelyhood 3 of the 4 provinces will again have niq ths starting. As i said before mere lipservice to the problems of the national team. We also havr the possiblity that niq flyhalves will get significant game time at 3 of the 4 provinces also. (im including piennaar).

danny barnes hasnt got a contract but seems to have a deal abroad

I think its Newcastle but I wouldn't swear on it. Shame to see Howlett go, there's talk of him getting a coaching job at Munster so hopefully will see him in that capacity next year.

danny barnes hasnt got a contract but seems to have a deal abroad

Dougie Howlett has announced his retirement. Legend of the game. Wish him well in future, hopefully at munster. Thks for memories!

connachtexile wrote:

connachtexile wrote:
Apparently there was some trouble at the Clermont game. Alcohol,terrible stewards and over-zealous security all led to some ructions. It seems the stewarding was the biggest problem with most of the stewarding staff not having a clue nor giving a shit about the potential flashpoints created. For example their was one steward tearing the heads off tickets which were meant to be scanned and when people went to a different area there was no barcode so they couldn't be allocated seats. Then security got called in to remove or push people into more/other areas and when you mix that with drink or indignant people being told to move it lead to some nasty confrontations. To be frank I don't think that is good enough of a top European team like Clermont to have such an amateurish set-up. Especially for such a high profile event like a HEC semi-final. The ERC should have serious words to say about it. I don't want to ruin what was a great event but nor do I ever want to read about a riot happening at a rugby game.


It wasn't Clermont's own ground, it was played at Montpellier FC's (Stade de la Masson) ground (350 odd KM away )for capacity and availability reasons, hence possible security issues...

Just saw this now. Good to know and explains a few things. Doesn't say alot for the Stade de la Masson's staff though.

Montpellier Hérault SC (Footy club) only average about 17-18,000 per game at Stade de la Masson in Ligue 1, which probably explains why the security team struggled, I suspect they had a good few temps (who would not have been au fait with procedures) in to cover the almost double attendance....

www.ligue1.com/ligue1/affluences/club

connachtexile wrote:
Apparently there was some trouble at the Clermont game. Alcohol,terrible stewards and over-zealous security all led to some ructions. It seems the stewarding was the biggest problem with most of the stewarding staff not having a clue nor giving a shit about the potential flashpoints created. For example their was one steward tearing the heads off tickets which were meant to be scanned and when people went to a different area there was no barcode so they couldn't be allocated seats. Then security got called in to remove or push people into more/other areas and when you mix that with drink or indignant people being told to move it lead to some nasty confrontations. To be frank I don't think that is good enough of a top European team like Clermont to have such an amateurish set-up. Especially for such a high profile event like a HEC semi-final. The ERC should have serious words to say about it. I don't want to ruin what was a great event but nor do I ever want to read about a riot happening at a rugby game.


It wasn't Clermont's own ground, it was played at Montpellier FC's (Stade de la Masson) ground (350 odd KM away )for capacity and availability reasons, hence possible security issues...

Just saw this now. Good to know and explains a few things. Doesn't say alot for the Stade de la Masson's staff though.