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Sport
581

good man the pook

from rte.ie

The final piece of Declan Kidney’s coaching team has been put in place with the announcement that Paul Pook will be joining Ireland as strength and conditioning coach up to and including the next Rugby World Cup in 2011.

Pook comes to the Ireland set up with a wealth of experience and also a reputation for innovation in the field of rugby fitness.

Originally a native of Wales, the former professional player and Wales Sevens representative has worked in the field of sports science and fitness since 1994, beginning his career with the University of Wales.

He then began to specialise in the area of rugby fitness where he worked with professional outfit Ebbw Vale (1998 - 2000) and the Wales under 21 team (1998 - 2001). He then moved to English Premiership side Nec Harlequins in 2000 where he was head of fitness until 2005.

Since then, he has worked as a high performance consultant to various teams including the Ireland U21 team and in addition to this, he has aided the delivery of the IRFU’s certified conditioning courses over the last three years and worked at various levels within the professional and representative ranks of Irish rugby.

Kidney is delighted with the appointment: 'Paul brings excellent experience in this area and importantly a good understanding and knowledge of working with the provincial teams.

'As with all of the other areas of coaching, we want to be able to work closely with the provinces to allow a smooth transition for the players into and out of the Ireland team with their provincial teams and clubs, with fitness and conditioning a key element to this.

‘Paul will be important in this respect and together with the level of expertise that he brings, he is a welcome addition to the management team.’

Paul Pook said: 'To get the opportunity to work with such a talented group of professional players and coaches is an exciting prospect.

'My experience of working with the Irish players has been very positive and this is a testament to the excellent work of the provincial fitness staff.

'International rugby demands the highest levels of fitness and hopefully my background and knowledge will add something to help the team to be successful in the coming years.
’

582

What do we make of Stade Francais’ new kit?

583

The french eh?

throws eyes to heaven

584

Munster: K Earls, D Howlett, L Mafi, B Murphy, I Dowling, R Tipoki, R O’Gara, P Warwick, P Stringer M Prendergast, M Horan, F Pucciariello J Flannery, D Fogarty J Hayes P O’Connell capt, D Ryan, D O’Callaghan, A Quinlan, J O’Sullivan, J Melck, D Wallace.

No MOD, Buckley, Sheehan…

585

No Toms O’Leary either by the looks of that. What’s his story?

586

the times said this morning he has a foot injury.

587

Picked up a knock on the leg against Leinster. Should be able to get over Montauban without him mind you.

[quote=“A2LUE42”]
No MOD[/quote]

Ryan covers second row then, as does Quinny I suppose.

588

With JOS as specialist cover at 8.

589

I always liked Josh Lewsey

Lewsey escapes rap after knocking out Cipriani: England boy wonder floored with a single punch

Josh Lewsey, the England World Cup-winning full-back, seems unlikely to face internal disciplinary action by London Wasps despite knocking out team-mate Danny Cipriani in a training ground bust-up.

It is understood the players clashed when a one-on-one defensive drill got out of hand and Cipriani left the house of girlfriend Kelly Brook this morning with a cut lip.

Threat: Cipriani (left) told Josh Lewsey to ‘Shut up or be shut up’ as the two stars clashed at Wasps’ training ground in west London

The drill had led to a heated exchange of words, followed by pushing and shoving and a knock-out punch which left Cipriani with cuts to his nose and lip and in need of smelling salts to come round.

Lewsey, a former Army officer, criticised Cipriani for missing a couple of tackles and the 20-year-old England No10 responded by telling him to ‘Shut up or be shut up’.

A Wasps insider said: ‘Josh can be a bit prickly about things but you could say the same about Danny. That’s probably why they clashed. It was certainly one hell of a punch because Danny was out cold.’
Wasps confirmed an ‘incident’ took place in training but a spokesman insisted the whole incident had been overblown, adding: 'It was nothing unusual, just the sort of thing that happens at any club, at any time. It’s a very physical sport and this sort of thing happens from time to time.
‘Rugby is a fiery and physical game and incidents like this happen in training sessions all the time. There is no issue and there is no problem between Danny and Josh. They are friends and team-mates.’
Wasps officials added that this is the first occasion in which training ground rivalry has resulted in a player being knocked out but they admit the intensity of the work does lead to occasional outbursts of anger.

Cipriani earlier this week he explained how a few choice words from coach Shaun Edwards had hit home and that Wasps would step up their intensity for the visit of
Castres.

‘We will be more aggressive, we will run harder and we will have that edge that we lacked. It is about time we stand up and make our fans proud,’ he said.

‘Shaun Edwards has hit home with a few truths and really made a few points clear to some of the guys. We needed it and it needed to be said.’
Lewsey has a reputation for being a difficult character and was dropped by England for last season’s Six Nations following his trickily relationship with head coach Brian Ashton.
Lewsey is now back in the England squad under new team manager Martin Johnson while Cipriani is set to replace the injured Jonny Wilkinson in the 32-man squad for the November internationals.

Lewsey has had problems coping with the high ball during matches this season which has seen him switch from full-back to wing as Wasps have won only one match.
They go into Sunday’s Heineken Cup opening game with French club Castres needing all of their stars to be singing from the same hymn sheet not knocking each other out.
Cipriani has played only one match since coming back early from an horrendous ankle injury and his increased profile in the media — he is going out with actress Kelly Brook — raises the possibility of petty jealousies among his team-mates.

The bust-up occurred on the same day the rising star of world rugby signed a multi-million pound boot deal with adidas.
Cipriani has featured on television, radio and on the cover of Sunday newspaper magazines while clinching lucrative sponsorship deals that make him the biggest name in the sport since Wilkinson dropped his famous goal to win the 2003 World Cup.

590

Doubt Lewsey is jealous of kelly Brook to be honest!

Nothing in this really except Cipriani stupidity, Lewsey is an animal, and is ex Army as well so Im sure more than capable of taking good care of himself!

591

[quote=“dancarter”]Doubt Lewsey is jealous of kelly Brook to be honest!

Nothing in this really except Cipriani stupidity, Lewsey is an animal, and is ex Army as well so Im sure more than capable of taking good care of himself![/quote]

Cipriani was on BBC the other night getting interviewed by Kenny Logan’s missus. I thought he came across all right, although he is fond of himself.

Brian Moore, who is an almighty bollox, was giving Cipriani stick after the interview- you’ve only won one cap son, stay away from the ladies and the good time sort of stuff

WBY

592

Tickets for the new Thomand are surprisingly handy to come by… Happy days.

593

Early days yet, Montaubon arent the huge draw either. We’re in a credit crunch also remember.

594

I will probably have a spare ticket myself the way things are looking at the moment.

595

It was rarely enough that the “Old” Thomond would be a complete sell out, there’s always tickets floating around, with so many season tickets (14k) I would imagine that there shouldn’t be any problems getting tickets except for the really big games

596

[quote=“W.B. Yeats”]Cipriani was on BBC the other night getting interviewed by Kenny Logan’s missus. I thought he came across all right, although he is fond of himself.

Brian Moore, who is an almighty bollox, was giving Cipriani stick after the interview- you’ve only won one cap son, stay away from the ladies and the good time sort of stuff

WBY[/quote]

Saw that interview myself, he went all coy when asked about Kelly Brooke.

Brian Moore, what a coont. But he had a point about his achievements so far to be fair.

597

the majority of the montauban allocation has been returned, currently on sale on the munster rugby site. 4 per person, so must be plenty to go round.
I assume they would have been allocated 25% of the capacity as per the knockout stages?

598

team for thr weekend, no real surprises…

K Earls, D Howlett, R Tipoki, L Mafi, I Dowling, R O’Gara, P Stringer M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes P O’Connell capt, D O’Callaghan, A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Melck.

subs: D Fogarty, F Pucciariello, D Ryan, J O’Sullivan, M Prendergast, P Warwick, B Murphy,

599

Back row is the only area that there could really have been questions. Quinny could have played anywhere across as could Wallace, but the three are there on merit. I imagine Melck couldnt have hoped for more from his season so far, fair play to him.

600

yeah in fairness to melck he has improved with every game…wonder will they give him an extention(more than likely til the end of the season)…hard to see him getting too many games when leamy is back fit and williams arrives from new zealand…i am sure there will be plenty of other interested parties…