Penney hits the ground running with Reds

If first impressions count, then new Munster rugby coach Rob Penney got off to a flyer yesterday at his official unveiling, apologising to the assembled hacks for arriving a few minutes late.

In the parallel universe of appointments with sportspeople, a zone which defies Einstein’s theories and where anything within 45 minutes of the original agreed meeting time is regarded as staunch punctuality, this was an unnerving development. What’s more, Penney actually added a quick explanation for his tardiness.

This kind of normality can’t last, surely? Penney may not have picked up much Irish in his time here yet, but here’s a proverb he embodied in Cork Institute of Technology: tús maith leath na hoibre.