by Des McAuley
MOST of us try to make a million but, the Irish rugby player who manages to try, try, try and try again will definitely reach millionaire status.
Don’t be surprised if there’s very little passing between the green shirts in the game against Wales on Saturday. Nor should you be astonished if the back line spend more time on the try line.
Yesterday, one of this country’s largest mobile phone retailers, the Carphone Warehouse, offered a princely prize of £1million to the first Irish rugby player to cross the line four times, with the ball of course.
This is the first time in the global history of rugby that such a lucrative reward has been offered to a player.
The offer was announced yesterday in the presence of rugby player Brian Robinson, who had the distinguished honour of scoring four tries for Ireland in a senior international match.
He established that record in October, 1991, when Ireland played Zimbabwe in the World Cup competition at Lansdowne Road. The final score in that game was Ireland 55 Zimbabwe 11.
Keith Wood, the current Irish captain, also scored four tries when the US were defeated 53 8 last October .
“Brian O’Driscoll scored three tries in the last match against France. With the continuous improvement in the Irish performance since the match against England, there is a very real prospect that an Irish player could go one better this time.” said Stephen Mackarel, managing director of the Carphone Warehouse Ireland.
The prize was also intended to alert Irish mobile telephone users to the fact they were losing an estimated £1 million every month by availing of deals not suited to them when buying a mobile phone, he added.
