Black ops

Even by Welsh rugby standards of the recent past, Neath’s preparations for this weekend’s Celtic League final have been set against an unusually politicised backdrop.

While Munster have been fine-tuning their game plan for Saturday's clash in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, under the reassuring leadership of coach Alan Gaffney, his opposite number at the Gnoll, Lyn Jones, seems to have been struggling to keep his players focused amid talk of buy-outs, mergers and, worst of all, confused ownership.

Neath RFC, it appears, are not owned by whom they thought they were. The astonishing news was dealt to club chief executive Mike Cuddy, the club's main sponsor, as he was preparing to finalise his takeover of the club last week from the Welsh Rugby Union. Trouble was, it was not the WRU's to sell.