Melville: Munster will be our biggest test yet

NIGEL MELVILLE, the former England scrumhalf who had a glittering career cruelly cut short by serious injury, is, these days, directing rugby affairs at Gloucester.

The English West Country club take on Munster in the Heineken Cup at Kingsholm tomorrow, and if events had worked out differently he might well have been in the other side’s dugout for this clash. Melville was linked with the Munster job at a time when he was severing his connection with London Wasps and the Irish province was seeking a replacement for Declan Kidney.

“It sounded interesting but it never went very far and once the offer from Gloucester came up, there was never any contest,” he said. “I know all about the tradition of Munster rugby and that was part of the attraction, but obviously I wanted to stay in England and now I’m settled at one of the great bastions of the game in this country.