"I would be interested in combining the two roles, " Edwards reasoned. "The Guinness Premiership and the Heineken Cup are cutting edge and a coach needs to be where it's happening.

To rest is to rust in my book and, if you are not coaching every week, there is a chance that you will lose touch." When you think about it, it makes complete sense. How can somebody be in touch with what's happening in rugby when they only coach for an average of ten weeks a year? It might be something the IRFU will consider in the coming months.

TALKING 'BOUT THE NEXT GENERATION The IRB under-19 World Cup gets underway in Dubai on Wednesday and thanks to our friends at Sky Sports, who'll be televising Ireland's "rst two games, we'll be able to see how Ireland's next generation are shaping up.

Unfortunately Luke Fitzgerald (apparently approached by Munster in recent weeks) won't be playing due to his upcoming Leaving Certi"cate, while his Blackrock College schoolmate Vasya Artemiev will also miss out, due to red tape regarding eligibility.

All of which means the highlyregarded St Munchin's College centre Keith Earls should be the star of the show. Ireland's "rst game is against England, who they lost heavily to in a recent "xture, while they play France in their second game next Sunday. Samao are up after that on 13 April but it's dif"cult to be positive about Ireland's prospects. Hopefully they prove us wrong.

I'M LEAVING ON A JET PLANE. . . SHORTLY An unneeded diversion for Connacht last weekend on their way to play the Borders. Their chartered plane was unable to take-off from Galway Airport because its load was too heavy and the runway wasn't long enough for the craft to get airborne. All of which meant that four players had to take a different "ight to Dublin, where the plane carrying the rest of the squad landed to pick them up, and was able to take off thanks to a longer runway. This delay meant that instead of arriving at their hotel at 9.30pm as planned, they checked in at 1.30am. Still, it didn't seem to bother them one bit as they beat the Borders later that day.