Peter O’Mahony won’t be following Jonny Sexton out of the country anytime soon, England will have to be on the lookout for a Kiwi-born Scot and Jim Telfer wants to get a few things off his chest.
O’Mahony going nowhere
Ever since word got out that Jonathan Sexton was on his way to France last week, the doom-mongers suddenly predicted a mass exodus of Irish players chasing greater rewards in sunnier climes.
We happen to think that it won’t be the case and that Sexton is one of a select few Irish players who could command that sort of coin abroad, but Munster fans can at least rest easy in the knowledge that potential future Irish captain Peter O’Mahony isn’t going anywhere for the time being, having put pen to paper on a new deal with the IRFU until the end of the 2014/15 season.
“I am delighted to have my future sorted and to commit to Munster,” O’Mahony said.
“It has been a really enjoyable journey so far for me in my career and the last two seasons in particular have been exciting, from breaking into the Munster team and captaining the side and then earning my first cap for Ireland.
“I’m thoroughly enjoying my rugby at the moment and feel there is much more that we can achieve with Munster and Ireland over the next couple of years and I wanted very much to be a part of that.”
Amen to that.
Maitland begins path to become a Great Scot
England will be expected to do away with Scotland with little trouble on Saturday, but a Scotland debutant will be aiming derail the sweet chariot at Twickers. Glasgow Warriors’ Sean Maitland will be making his debut on the wing for Scott Johnson’s side and the England defence will want to keep an eye on a man who is quite a character indeed.
A pacey winger, Maitland scored 23 tries in 54 games for the Crusaders, including a record-equalling four touchdowns in one game, he’s a cousin of Aussie fly-half turned boxer Quade Cooper and is also from the same blood as ‘Smoking’ Joe Stanley, centre on the 1987 Rugby World Cup winning All-Blacks side.
We imagine that Smoking Joe himself would have been proud of this lung-bursting effort scored by Maitland for the Crusaders, when he burned no less of a man than Sitiveni Sivivatu on his way over the whitewash.
Tell us what you really think, Jim Telfer
A bit like a certain unnamed Irish television pundit, former Scotland and Lions player and coach Jim Telfer sees a few things wrong with the game as it currently is and wanted to get a few things off his chest before the start of the Six Nations at the weekend.
First in the firing line were Scotland’s opponents on Saturday, England, who Telfer described as “too arrogant, too pretentious and too condescending” in the Daily Mail this week, views which, we can only guess, would have a lot of support on this side of the water.
“The players (as opposed to the coaches) are a different matter, people like Chris Ashton, Danny Care, Ben Youngs and Manu Tuilagi,” Telfer said.
“They are young, very impressionable and they think what they read is all true. There are the makings of a good squad, but it is not good at the moment. Like the English football team, a couple of wins and they think they are world-beaters.”
When it came to Wales, Telfer delivered a similarly withering assessment. “Wales is not an easy country to coach because, basically, the Welsh are lazy,” Telfer added, pulling no punches.
Let’s hope they live up to that supposed (we would never dare suggest such a thing) stereotype in Cardiff this weekend.
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