Thief has field day during rugby stars’ training session

’TWAS the week before Castres, when all through the grounds, not a creature was stirring, ’cept a thief out of bounds.

As the Munster rugby squad lined out for a practice session in the University of Limerick campus, in preparation for their weekend Heineken Cup clash, a pick-pocket took to the team changing room. Having rifled through pockets and gear bags, he or she departed €900 richer and with five mobile phones.

The robbery took place sometime between 11.30am and 2pm on Tuesday as the squad was going through its paces at the UL training grounds, where practice sessions are normally held.

The thief got in through a window in the changing room located in the Arena complex.

Arena manager David Mahedy said: “We are disgusted that this could happen.”

He said the excellence of the facilities at UL attracts world class sports men and women. The Munster team were allocated the biggest changing room in the Arena building and the team management locked the only door.

However, a window was left open and gardaí said an opportunist thief managed to get in.

Gardaí at Henry Street who are investigating the theft have been looking through CCTV video tapes located in the Arena building and around the UL campus. UL has its own campus security but dressing rooms at sporting grounds are regularly targeted by thieves.

Heineken Cup heavyweights Munster are looking to steal back a win tomorrow after last week’s upset in Castres when they lost by a margin of seven points.

The squad has been in training all week in preparation for the match in Thomond Park. Win, and they’re well on their way to the knock-out stages; lose and they would fail to get to the business end of the competition for the first time in seven years.

The Pool 4 game starts at 5.15pm and will be shown live on RTÉ and Sky Sports.