Positive Payne wins over the fans

THIS weekend represents a sort of a homecoming for Shaun Payne.

The Munster back arrived in Ireland after a two-year spell with Swansea and this weekend’s Heineken Cup game against the Neath-Swansea Ospreys will see him return to familiar territory. Well, a familiar landscape, if not quite familiar rugby territory, given the new regional system adopted by the WRU meant that traditional rivals Swansea and Neath were forced into a merger which neither wanted.

However, as Payne says, the new structure is bedding down and it does not mean that the Ospreys will be a pushover.