ENGLAND HAVE DROPPED Owen Farrell to the bench and recalled specialist centre Billy Twelvetrees to midfield in a bid to finish a disappointing November campaign with victory against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday. Specialist 10 Farrell played at inside centre in the 28-9 win over Samoa last weekend after Bath’s George Ford made his first…
Category: News
Six things we want to see from Ireland’s provinces this weekend
Keep the good times rolling, Connacht IT’S SIX GAMES and counting in Connacht’s unbeaten stretch at the Sportsgrounds. And while the Challenge Cup offers little more than pride and a medal if you go all the way and win it, a seventh win would ensure Connacht take that unbeaten home record in to 2015. Source:…
Munster have ‘returned to traditional values’ this season, but Clermont didn’t seem to care
Reproduced with permission from Whiff Of Cordite THIS SUMMER, WHEN Axel Foley started his reign as Munster coach, there was a lot of talk about (brace yourself) a “return to traditional Munster values”. To be fair none of it came from Axel himself, but a meeja who had never really bought into the Rob Penney…
Old Belvedere cap terrific season by closing out final victory over dogged Blackrock
Old Belvedere 26 Blackrock 5 OLD BELVEDERE BACKED their stunning form from throughout this season to seal the Women’s AIL Division 1A title in a fast-paced final against an extremely dogged Blackrock. It was clear from kick off under the Donnybrook lights that this would be a high-intensity match. Blackrock were keen to knock the…
Toulon might be taking a punt on yet another flawed rugby genius
THE TRANSFER RUMOURS that come out of France can often end up being about as reliable as Match magazine but there is another one in La Provence today that says Toulon are lining up Danny Cipriani to share the out-half duties with Matt Giteau next season. Given that Nicholas Sanchez is only contracted until the…
The day Ireland stunned New Zealand – My 2014 sporting highlight
I’M NOT SURE how it could be anything else to be honest. The sheer scale of Ireland’s achievement, beating the winners of the previous four World Cups, cannot be underestimated but it was the nature of their win over New Zealand that made it my sporting moment of 2014. Gutsy, yes, but at all times…
New found flair the difference for Connacht against Munster — John Muldoon
COMBINING FIGHT WITH flair is why Connacht are enjoying such a productive campaign according to captain John Muldoon. The Portumna native contributed another hugely effective display as Connacht outfoxed Munster at 24-16 the Sportsground yesterday. “It was physical, but we probably have a bit of extra flair which won us the game,” was Muldoon’s honest…
Example number 1,043 of why Bakkies Botha is the toughest man in rugby
BAKKIES BOTHA IS a rare breed in rugby. The enforcer dishes out a fair bit of punishment from Toulon’s second row but he has also shown a remarkable pain threshold over the years. Earlier in the season he got a punch to the nose but he seem to revel in the physicality. Today, he broke…
One of Leinster’s possible quarter-final opponents looked very dangerous in destroying Toulouse
WITH ONLY ONE week of Champions Cup pool action left, we can now forecast the possible quarter-final matches without it being complete guesswork. Given the amount of tries they’ve scored thus far, if Leinster beat Wasps they will almost certainly be seeded number four. That would mean they would host Toulouse, Bath or Glasgow but…
Connacht have handed new contracts to three of their best back rows
CONNACHT HAVE ANNOUNCED contract extensions for back row trio Eoin McKeon, George Naoupu and Eoghan Masterson. Eoin McKeon has signed on until the summer of 2017. Source: James Crombie/INPHO McKeon and Masterson have signed new two-year deals to keep them in Galway until at least 2017, while Kiwi Naoupu has been tied down until the…