Full credit to the ERC publicity department this week for the extraordinary spin they've been able to put on Tuesday's board meeting in Dublin. The vast majority of newspapers, with a couple of notable exceptions, reported on Wednesday the Heineken Cup had been saved for next season, that all was well with rugby again. The only problem is that nothing has been saved just yet. The agreement reached on Tuesday in Dublin merely stated both the French and English clubs will return if the English clubs can sort out their differences with the RFU. To be honest, that's something we at Against the Head presumed to be the case all along. The only way the competition will go ahead next year is if the two warring parties reach an agreement on the vexed issue of central contracting of international players before 18 May. We don't want to sound too pessimistic but if the two groups couldn't sort this out over the past few years, we're not sure why people are so con"dent they'll be able to do so over the next week.

Still, we'll keep our fingers crossed some middle ground can be found.

ALI FLOATS BEFORE BEING STUNG LIKE A BEE

Are the All Blacks beginning to crack under the pressure of the upcoming World Cup? A couple of weeks back Sitiveni Sivivatu admitted slapping his wife in a domestic dispute, and now Ali Williams appears to be turning to alcohol to relieve his stress. The All Black second-row, something of a free spirit it must be said, was sent home from the Auckland Blues trip to South Africa this week for drinking before and after their final Super 14 game against the Western Force and then drinking again in Sydney as the Blues prepared to "y out for their semi"nal against the Sharks in Durban.

What we find cruel about the whole incident is the fact Williams was allowed to fly from Sydney to South Africa before being sent home an hour or so after arriving. The fact six of his teammates were involved in the decision to send him packing leaves us with only one conclusion.

Williams will be playing in Europe next season.

MAKE YOUR NUMBERONE VOTE MURTY AHERN

Is the PA man at Musgrave Park working for Fianna Fail? During halftime at the Munster and Dragons Magners League match a couple of weeks back, it was announced the Munster mascot was going to do a lap of the field having returned from a de"ating injury picked-up over in Llanelli at the end of March. The crowd were promptly told on two occasions the mascot was called "Bertie" and it took a couple of swift whispers in the PA man's ear for him to tell everyone the mascot's name was actually "Murty". Easy to know it's election time.

GREAT MOMENTS IN IRISH RUGBY

Number 29 . . . Irish Universities beat South Africa The Irish Universities became the "rst ever Irish team to beat South Africa back on 6 April 1965.

Captained by Jerry Walsh of UCC, a Universities side missing Irish internationals Tom Kiernan, Pat McGrath, Ken Kennedy, Ray McLoughlin and Bill Mulcahy defeated the Springboks 12-10 at Thomond Park. Tries from Eamonn McGuire and Mike Grimshaw, along with a penalty from Tony Hickie and drop-goal from John Murray secured victory for the students in front of a raucous Limerick crowd. Three days later Ireland defeated the Springboks 9-6 at Lansdowne Road, with Jerry Walsh once again playing his part.

Note Two weeks ago we incorrectly stated that Pat Casey's famous try against England at Twickenham was scored in February 1965. It was, in fact, scored in 1964.

THE LAW LIBRARY

Paddy O'Brien, the IRB's refereeing manager, has been busy this past week clarifying a few things. For one, the former Kiwi whistler has invented a new word to be used at scrumtime. Instead of referees saying "crouch, touch and pause, engage" at scrums, O'Brien wants them to amalgamate the "touch and pause" bit into one word, "touchpause" to ensure that scrums are formed more efficiently. Not only that, O'Brien con"rmed that coaches will not be able to arrange meetings with match of"cials during the upcoming World Cup, although they will have an opportunity to speak to referees when they enter their team's dressing-room to inspect their gear.

RUGBY BY NUMBERS . . . 5

The number of Magners League games, from a total of 20, that scrum-half Peter Stringer has started for Munster this season.

RUGBY POSER How many seasons has the Celtic or Magners League been running?

Ans MOUTHING OFF. . .I think referees in this part of the world are lacking. Unfortunately referees in the northern hemisphere are better, which is sad to see. They have a better empathy for the game up there and something needs to be done. Apart from Jonathan Kaplan [South Africa], everyone is struggling and New Zealand and Australian referees are struggling.

Tana Umaga gives his view on the standard of refereeing in the southern hemisphere