Rugby players in an Irish Open Pro-Am are not an unusual sight. Along with GAA stars and jockeys, they are a staple of the pre-tournament entertainment at this annual stop on the European Tour.

LINING OUT in tonight’s Magners League season-opener against Llanelli Scarlets at Musgrave Park (5:30pm) was not what Shaun Payne had envisaged when he signed up as manager this summer.

HE should have been cocooned in Dublin with the rest of the Irish elite squad preparing for this weekend’s daunting Six Nations opener in Paris against the French.