We have a good squad, a good structure and things are going well. My job is to make it even better.”O’Sullivan has been instrumental in giving Ireland a more expansive approach, with players like Brian O’Driscoll, Girvan Dempsey, Denis Hickie, Ronan O’Gara and David Humphreys providing a cutting edge that had been lacking.Kidney, a former maths teacher, has made his name on the back of Munster’s success. “He’s a very weird, strange and wonderful man,” Keith Wood, the Ireland captain, said.. Another glory Friday night for Ireland’s provinces provided more worries for the Welsh club scene as Leinster and Ulster booked their places in the semi-finals of the new Celtic League with wins over Newport and Neath respectively. “That was critical not only for the points, but for the psychological lift it gave us, and in the second half we picked up our performance considerably.”Lee Jarvis actually gave Neath a slender second-half lead with a penalty and a drop goal after another Humphreys penalty, but that lasted just two minutes before the Ulster stand-off crafted a try for Andy Ward 10 minutes from time The victory left Solomons a relieved man “We were about 10 or 15 per cent off our game,” he said. “Our focus was not all that it should have been but Neath really played well and showed tremendous commitment.

We also demonstrated an enormous amount of resilience and got ourselves out of trouble.”Newport’s 34-22 defeat by Leinster at Donnybrook was their third defeat by the province this season, but they gave Leinster a mighty fright before succumbing, storming back from 24-3 down after just 20 minutes to 24-22 five minutes into the second half to set up a gruelling last 35 minutes.Leinster’s whirlwind start brought tries for Shane Horgan, Girvan Dempsey and Denis Hickey and raised thoughts of a comfortable evening cruise for the home side. But the Black and Ambers refused to co-operate and scored tries through Matt Mostyn and Andy Marinos to reduce the deficit to seven points at the break. And when Matthew Watkins went over early in the second half a real dogfight loomed.But then the Lions centre Brian O’Driscoll turned the tide with the best try of the night and Nathan Spooner rounded off a near faultless kicking performance with the conversion and a penalty to seal the win, much to the delight of team-mate Trevor Brennan.”That was very tough,” he said. “We slacked off a little too much after going into a strong lead and lost some of our concentration. But this is cup final stuff, every game is a knock-out and there’s no second chances so we had to win.”We knew it was always going to be a battle in the second half It’s a very tough competition but we want some silverware.”.

It takes a lot to stand out against the All Blacks, although Andrew Mower probably wished he was not in quite such a prominent position 35 minutes into Scotland’s Murrayfield Test against the New Zealand men in black at Murrayfield eight days ago. Then again, he did have a smile on his face as he lay with his head protruding from the wrong side of a ruck on the halfway line – a rueful smile. He happens to be a member of the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club in Sydney – that bronzed body of antipodean manhood featured in the Australian soap Home and Away.Not that Scotland’s new openside has ever starred in the long-running show. “I could have been in the background, but I’m a real-life lifesaver, not a soap star,” Mower said “Yeah, I have rescued people when I’ve been on patrol. I used to do it in my spare time in the summers, but obviously that’s on hold at the moment.

I don’t do surf life- saving in the North Sea.”In his 18 months with the Falcons Mower has dipped into the waters off Tynemouth – not quite as warming as the South Pacific, but free from the triangular-finned creatures he has encountered back home. The native Sydneysider has marks on his back, his arms and his legs. They were left there by rucking All Blacks, though – not by chomping Great Whites.Mower made a mark of his own at Murrayfield last weekend, standing out against the All Blacks in more ways than one. Indeed, so outstanding was his all-action play in the loose – knocking back New Zealanders, turning over possession – he was voted Scotland’s man of the match. The 26-year-old was not quite the talk of the match north of the border, though, with the spotlight fixed upon Brendan Laney, the fast-tracked debutant kilted Kiwi.