Former Terenure College coach Kevin Putt has been appointed head coach to NPC side Counties Manukau NPC on a three-year contract.

THE hailstones hammered against the windows, the players shivered in their boots. It could hardly have been further removed from Cape Town, where Shaun Payne was born and spent much of his childhood.

MUNSTER coach Alan Gaffney yesterday announced a 25 strong Munster squad from which the team to play Benetton Treviso in the Heineken European Cup at Thomond Park on Saturday will be picked tomorrow.