Laulala honour shows Munster new boy size of boots to fill

The scale of the task facing Munster’s new centre signing Andrew Smith was made clear yesterday when the man he is set to replace was named in the RaboDirect Pro12 Dream Team for the season about to end.

Casey Laulala, leaving shortly for Racing Metro, is one of seven players from the Irish provinces to make the final selection, while Cardiff’s Robin Copeland is also named at No 8 ahead of his switch to Munster over the summer.

Once again, the Pro12 ‘best of’ is dominated by players whose availability stretches through the season and is therefore devoid of some of the bigger stars whose appearances in the competition tend to be more hit and miss.