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THE EARLIER-THAN-EXPECTED return of Johnny Sexton to start three consecutive Guinness Pro14 games had limited the early-season exposure for his understudy, but Ross Byrne showed all his quality in the out-half position on Saturday. Much of the pre-match talk revolved around the two number 10s, and once it became clear Sexton wasn’t going to be […]

FROM THE 61 caps he won for his country, Mike Ross racked up over half of them under Joe Schmidt’s stewardship. He knows a thing or two about the Ireland coach’s way of doing things and shared some insight on the latest episode of Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42.  Asked about the influence Schmidt had on […]

ALTHOUGH SLIGO MIGHT not be widely renowned as oval ball country just yet, none other than Joe Schmidt has called it “one of the hotbeds of rugby in Ireland.” Schmidt’s words came in 2016, soon after three products of Sligo RFC – Cillian Gallagher, Conán O’Donnell and Stephen Kerins – had played for the Ireland […]

JOHNNY SEXTON SENT a memorable birthday present to Anthony Foley’s son Dan earlier this year. Click Here: Italy Rugby Shop During RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live, Anthony’s father Brendan told the story of how Sexton posted a jersey to Dan which he wore in Ireland’s thrilling Six Nations victory over France that was settled by Sexton’s […]

JOSH VAN DER Flier will start for Ireland against the All Blacks tomorrow at the Aviva Stadium [KO 7pm, RTÉ/Channel 4] after Dan Leavy was ruled out with injury. Leavy sat out Ireland’s training session yesterday, with head coach Joe Schmidt citing “full body soreness” as the reason for the openside flanker’s absence. With Leavy […]

Scotland 14Argentina 9 SCOTLAND MAY NOT have been at their free-flowing best, but Gregor Townsend’s side finished 2018 on a high note with a 14-9 victory over Argentina on Saturday. Three penalties from captain Greig Laidlaw and a superb try from Sean Maitland proved enough to secure a third successive home win for Scotland over […]

AS MUCH AS Johann van Graan will continue to claim these are weeks like any other, there is something special afoot. More than just the unique atmosphere promised by Thomond Park on a European matchday, Sunday seems set to be the day the head coach finally gets to field his first-choice playmakers. Between Conor Murray’s […]

MUNSTER WILL INSTALL additional seating at Thomond Park for their final Heineken Champions Cup pool game in January in anticipation of a sell-out for the visit of Exeter Chiefs. With all four teams still in mathematic contention to progress through to the quarter-finals, Pool 2 is set to go down to the wire with Munster […]

THERE WAS WIDESPREAD praise for TG4′s coverage of Munster’s Gunniess Pro14 clash with Connacht over the weekend, which featured a fascinating insight into Jerry Flannery’s coaching technique. The Munster forwards coach was wearing a microphone during their warm-up which captured him offering some pre-match advice to Keith Earls as well as directing the scrum ahead […]

Happy New Year Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates Arsenal’s fourth against Fulham on 1 January. Source: Kirsty Wigglesworth ‘Tis the season… Kjetil Jansrud of Norway during his run on the Super G at the Stelvio in Italy. Source: Imago/PA Images …for January hurling Waterford’s Billy Nolan with Michael O’Halloran of Cork. Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO Nerve-jangling title-deciders Poor […]