Dublin

Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll wants his side to use their November programme, including this weekend’s Test against the Springboks, to assert themselves against southern-hemisphere opponents and banish any lingering sense of inferiority they may have heading into next year’s World Cup in France.

Springbok coach Jake White handed debuts to three players when he announced his starting side on Wednesday to play Ireland in the team’s European tour opener at Lansdowne Road in Dublin on Saturday. The new players line up in the back three, with fullback Bevin Fortuin, right wing Jaco Pretorius and left wing Francois Steyn all taking the field.

Two Irishmen who stole a fishing trawler after missing their ferry had to be rescued off the British coast where they were going in circles because they did not know how to sail. After hours at sea, the men called what they thought was the Irish coastguard for help.

Four years after Ireland adopted the euro, up to 60 people a day are still turning up at the central bank in Dublin to offload their old punts — many with some peculiar explanations. ”There are still a lot of people finding hoards of old money, but the amounts are getting smaller,” a central bank spokesperson said on Thursday.

Australia coach Eddie Jones said that some harsh words spoken at half-time had sparked his side into a revival that saw them end a run of seven straight defeats by beating Ireland 30-14 in Dublin on Saturday. Jones, for whom the pressure on his job will now be slightly lessened, said that he, captain George Gregan and the vice-captains had had words with the rest of the team after going into the break 6-3 down.

Roy Keane was sacked by Manchester United after being barred from playing for the club’s reserves on Thursday evening, according to reports emanating from his home town of Cork after the official announcement of his departure from the club. United issued a statement on Friday claiming that Keane was leaving by mutual consent.

New Zealand were chosen by the International Rugby Board as hosts for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in Dublin on Thursday. New Zealand edged out Japan after South Africa was voted out in the first round. The result was never expected as SA, along with Japan, had been considered clear favourites to go head-to-head in the final round for the right to stage the rugby showpiece.

International rugby officials have a choice between traditional strongholds and a new Asian frontier when they select the host country on Thursday for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. South Africa, New Zealand and Japan are the candidates to stage the sport’s seventh world championship.

Rugby will be faced with a stark choice on Thursday when the vote takes place for the 2011 World Cup host. Does it try to breach new boundaries in choosing Japan or does it stay with the establishment — as it has done since the inaugural tournament in 1987 — and elect either South Africa or New Zealand as host nation?

Ireland’s obsession with the cellphone has sunk to new depths with a growing number of people now taking them with them to the grave, according to undertakers on Monday. Ireland has a tradition of people being buried with some of their most treasured possessions alongside them in the coffin.

With the excitement mounting ahead of Ireland’s Gaelic football final this weekend, one man has enlisted some extra supporters to back his favourite team — the animals on his farm. He has painted 30 ducks, 10 sheep, two cows, three goats and several geese in Kerry’s green-and-gold colours.

The legendary luck of the Irish was true for once when a local lottery player scooped a record jackpot of more than €115-million (R916-million), the Irish national lottery said on Saturday. The jackpot had not been won since May and had been rolled over nine times before Friday night’s draw.

Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, which has produced a long line of geniuses from Sean O’Casey to Brian Friel, does not put on an annual Christmas pantomine. But if it did produce a raucous show of punch-ups, mishaps and double entendre, nothing could match the excruciating farce that continues to unfold backstage.

The Netherlands claimed the final qualifying place at the 2007 Cricket World Cup on Monday as they trounced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 145 runs in the International Cricket Council Trophy fifth-place play-off. Bermuda, Canada, hosts Ireland and Scotland have already qualified from this tournament.

An Irish fisherman hooked more than he bargained for when a suspiciously heavy catch turned out to be a large package of cannabis, part of a submerged haul worth €400 000 (R3,1-million). Police said on Tuesday they are investigating the origin of the drugs haul.

Five Belfast sisters campaigning against the Irish Republican Army’s killing of their brother traveled on Tuesday to Brussels to lobby European Union leaders for help. The McCartney sisters say the IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party are covering up their members’ involvement in the January 30 attack on their brother, Robert.

Three years after Ireland adopted the euro, up to 130 people a day are still turning up at Central Bank headquarters in Dublin to turn their old Irish punts into the single European currency. ”There is still about 310-million punts’ [R2,9-billion] worth of old money outstanding,” a Central Bank spokesperson said.

A judicial inquiry reported on Thursday that members of the Garda — Ireland’s police force — planted hoax Irish Republican Army weapons and bomb-making equipment in county Donegal in the northwest of the country during 1993 and 1994 in an effort to boost their chances of promotion.

”Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.” So begins June 16, 1904, the day on which James Joyce’s modernist masterpiece Ulysses is set. One hundred years on Ireland is marking the anniversary with a five-month-long, 50-event festival.

The alleged commander of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) breakaway group responsible for Northern Ireland’s worst act of bloodshed went on trial on Wednesday in a case unprecedented, on two counts, in Ireland’s legal history.