Talk to Len Dineen, they said. There’ll be stories, they said. Well, the Limerickman, who recently retired after 40 years as a rugby commentator, settled in ...

Last week, Colm Greaves had a terrific piece in this paper speculating on what Charles Haughey’s political and personal career would have been like if he’d retained a financial interest in a lucrative filly he sold on, Ballidaress.

Ronan O’Gara suggests it is not so much the no 10 who is pivotal to Rugby World Cup success, but the goal-kicker. 

THE DONAL LENIHAN INTERVIEW

Former Australia captain Michael Lynagh believes Ireland are potential dark horses for next year’s World Cup.

Let’s be blunt: do you deserve to win when you fail to score in the entire second half and manage only three points in the last 60 minutes?

Former Australia and Saracens fly-half Michael Lynagh says it is “a miracle” he survived after suffering a stroke.

Doctors have told Wallabies great Michael Lynagh he “dodged a cannonball” after surviving a rare and potentially-lethal stroke which has severely limited his vision.

Former Australia and Saracens fly-half Michael Lynagh has been released from hospital, two weeks after suffering a stroke.

IF THERE is one thing the All Blacks appreciate more than any other aspect of the game, it is the importance of controlling the breakdown.

WE love a good flanker down here.

WILL GREENWOOD yesterday questioned the balance of England’s midfield as Michael Lynagh called for Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood to play 10 and 12 at the World Cup.

Australia’s forgotten man Berrick Barnes has been recalled to the starting line-up for Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup game against New Zealand in Melbourne.

RONAN O’GARA was yesterday left “completely overwhelmed” after being named as the best player in the 15-year history of the Heineken Cup.

ONE of rugby’s more articulate and qualified commentators – the great Australian out-half Michael Lynagh – once said during a preview of one of Munster’s European Cup do-or-die extravaganzas that hope had no place in professional sport.

THE BRIEF from the top at ERC was straightforward: “your mission, should you choose to accept, is to select the best European side of the last 15 years comprised of players who played in either the Heineken or Challenge Cup competitions”.

A PANEL of experts, including the Irish Examiner’s Donal Lenihan, have finalised their awards shortlists for a scheme that celebrates 15 years of European club rugby.

I have learned through harsh experience that every Australian side will fight to the death.

THERE IS sufficient evidence to suggest that the international game as we know it in the southern hemisphere is under serious threat.

Richard Hill is ready to face his “biggest challenge for Saracens” in tomorrow’s Heineken Cup semi-final showdown against tournament heavyweights Munster.

Jonny Wilkinson has broken Neil Jenkins’ world record of points scored in Test rugby in today’s RBS 6 Nations match against Scotland.

IF JONNY Wilkinson is feeling the pressure in the run-up to England’s World Cup semi-final against France then it has nothing to do with the inflation of the match balls.

WHEN France winger Vincent Clerc scored in the dying moments in Croke Park last Sunday I couldn’t help but recall the moment Michael Lynagh scored in the Wanderers corner in the last minute of Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final against Australia in 1991. The nightmare returned.

THERE are rare occasions in sport when even the result is dwarfed by the occasion. Croke Park yesterday was one of those special days.

GEORGE CHUTER will hurl himself into the seething cauldron of a Heineken Cup showdown between Leicester and Munster on Sunday as proof that sporting life can begin at 30.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL will be free to play against Munster in the Heineken Cup semi-final on Sunday week.

ALL’S well that ends well. Twickenham was a great place to be last Saturday. For the countless thousands of Irish people working across the water, Saturday’s game was all the sweeter. To win a Triple Crown at any stage is a welcome achievement. To do so with the last play of the game at the home of the reigning world champions made it more noteworthy.

PREPARE for lift-off when flight NZ1 touches down at Heathrow Airport today — the All Blacks will be in town.

LEINSTER coach and former Munster mastermind, Declan Kidney, accepts that both provinces face difficult tasks in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals - but insists they can raise their games to a sufficient level to provide Ireland with two of the four semi-finalists.

ONCE again the organisers of the Heineken Cup have hit the jackpot.

The early leaderboard had a truly international flavour to it on the first morning of the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium is set to host the Lions next May in a warm-up game for their tour of New Zealand.

AUSTRALIAN legend Michael Lynagh slated Welsh referee Nigel Williams for killing off Munster’s Heineken Cup challenge.

He may not like it, but Jonny Wilkinson has catapulted himself into the sort of superstar category enjoyed by his new friend and advertising colleague David Beckham.

The rugby career of Paul Wallace will be celebrated at his Testimonial Dinner at the Burlington Dinner on Thursday evening.

FORMER Wallabies coach Alan Jones has joined the growing chorus Down Under backing England to win the World Cup.

Chris Latham’s international season went full circle on Wednesday when he was re-instated to the Australia side for this weekend’s Tri-Nations Test against South Africa.

COACH Eddie O’Sullivan believes the ongoing battle between Ronan O’Gara and David Humphreys for the number-10 position is one of the real plus points as Ireland build up to the Six Nations and, hopefully, the 2003 World Cup.

International Rugby Board bosses today gave their unanimous support to a proposed inaugural battle of the hemispheres at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium later this year.

How each player - Lions and Australia - rated in the third test.