Tag: Connacht Rugby
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Mack puts the knife into Wales on impressive debut
Ireland…29 Wales…7 A very short time into his Championship debut against Dublin, Ollie Murphy palmed the ball into an empty net in front a packed Canal End. For any Meath player it can’t get much better than that. Well, at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon, shy of scoring a try, if there is such a…
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Irish eyes smiling for different reasons
It had to happen, didn’t it? Anytime they have been required to deliver big when it mattered most, Munster have answered the call. Against the All Blacks, 1978, The Miracle Match, then defeating Glasgow days after Axel Foley was laid to rest. And again on Sunday. Yet, in ways, for this observer at least, Sunday’s…
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A bit of routine and some pleasant surprises – Rugby Wrap Part II
On another weekend, the latest chapter in the Munster European heroics tome would be more than enough to keep aficionados sated. Being the first helping of continental fare for the season, it was never likely to be the only talking point. Not even from an Irish point of view. Teams from the Emerald Isle going…
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Munster go try-Axel to trailer more points
Munster…20 Connacht…18 There are two certainties about October. I will get a flu (check) and Munster will produce at least one remarkable performance at Thomond Park. If the second half of that hadn’t been accomplished before last night, the box was well and truly ticked by the time the 80 minutes had elapsed under the…
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It’ll be up to the others to Stand Up And Fight
Every sport has its standout figures. Those who, to someone with no interest in or knowledge on a given discipline will still be recognisable. Think Tiger Woods in golf, Phil Taylor in times past relating to darts or Lewis Hamilton on the Formula 1 grid. Turn attention to rugby and ‘BOD’ and ‘Paulie’ and ‘ROG’…
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Plenty of positives for under-fire Farrell
When interest becomes ratcheted up in the PRO-14 rugby, the conclusion that you are well down the rungs of the ladder in terms of seeking sporting salvation becomes an unavoidable truth. However, regardless of the merits of the level of competition therein, with the four Irish teams currently excelling, it has a particularly renewed zing…
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Two red corners on very different paths
Easter Saturday, 1993. The talented but luckless David Hirst gives Sheffield Wednesday a very early lead at Old Trafford. On a day that, if Manchester United won, they would virtually have one hand on their first League title in over a quarter of a century. Having blown a similarly promising position previously against Leeds United,…
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Red Alert! The Shannon tide is murmuring
In some ways, things in sport are cyclical. Unless of course there happens to be an all-dominating force at the head of affairs. Manchester United in the early years of the Premiership, Dublin currently in Gaelic football, Willie Mullins in National Hunt racing. Now read on… Examine rugby through that lens and you get both…