Interesting to note the new coaching structure Australia have committed themselves to with the appointment of John Connolly as head coach.

The former Bath trainer will appoint a backs, forwards and defence coach in the next couple of weeks to form a coaching 'team' rather than the former dictatorial type arrangement. With the game increasingly coming down to the "ner details, this type of management system seems to be the way forward, although it could spell bad news for Alan Gaffney.

Interviews for the positions listed above will take place in the next couple of weeks but word is that the former Munster coach will join Eddie Jones at the Queensland Reds rather than resume his assistant's role with the national side.

WARATAHS NOT MAKING UP THE NUMBERS

With the Super 14, as it's now known, getting underway next weekend, there's a bit of a storm brewing about the New South Wales Waratahs' decision to have no numbers on the back of their shirts.

Instead, the Sydney side's jerseys will simply have the players' names, with each number indicated on their shorts. Rival coaches in the Super 14 do not believe the decision to shed the numbers will give the Waratahs any on-"eld advantage, but they do believe it could confuse supporters and journalists alike. It will be interesting to see how long the Super 14 organisers allow the Waratahs to get away with this practice, especially since English clubs like Leicester and Bristol ditched the letters on the back of their shirts at the behest of tournament of"cials in England a decade or so ago. Just a reminder of both clubs, Leicester's numbering went from A to O from loose-head prop to full back (with H being the openside "anker, G the number eight), while Bristol's system went in the opposite direction. Bath and Richmond, meanwhile, both used the numbers system but never the number 13.

Simpler days all round now.

Compiled by Ciaran Cronin