Tag: Heineken Cup

  • Big Pete’s procrastination threatens to ruin the time of his life

    Big Pete’s procrastination threatens to ruin the time of his life

    Some people cannot equate the situation whereby a person can be an animal lover and still enjoy hunting and/or fishing. Yet for a huge number of people – including some very close to home – the two facts co-exist without so much as a whim. On foot of same, I ended up being in a…

  • Casualties likely to be Cullen’s main concern

    Casualties likely to be Cullen’s main concern

    Leinster… 43 Stade Francais… 7 Just how far does Leinster’s strength in depth actually run? Is a question I’m sure many of their adversaries have long pondered. Well, unfortunately for Leo Cullen et al, they might be getting a bit closer to finding out. Certainly at fly half anyway. Obviously, the retirement of Johnny Sexton…

  • Plenty of problems but a shortage of solutions

    Plenty of problems but a shortage of solutions

    Sport never loses its ability to amaze. No matter how much of it you look at. In fact, maybe the more of it you observe, the more confusing it becomes. How else to explain Manchester United holding Liverpool to a draw? At a time when the form of the two sides was about as polarised…

  • What was once a fortress now has swinging saloon doors

    What was once a fortress now has swinging saloon doors

    MUNSTER… 17 BEYONNE… 17 If there were any positives, let’s get them out of the way first. Which, you suspect, is exactly what Graham Rowntree will be doing when the debrief begins. If he hasn’t got the paint stripper out already. So here goes. Even though it was the French side who put the first…

  • A quality not to be taken for granted

    A quality not to be taken for granted

    Munster… 16 Castres Olympique… 13 There will come a day when it won’t work. When the bucket will come up dry from the well. Don’t plan your schedule around it though. Because if it didn’t happen last night in France, there may be a lengthy wait for such a situation. Again Munster found aaawwwe teetering…

  • Munster outdo themselves – Rugby Wrap Part I

    Munster outdo themselves – Rugby Wrap Part I

    During a weekend with as many sporting highlights as there are Dublin busses, it’s hard to know where to begin. Between Clough-Ballacolla ousting Kllmacud Crokes from the Leinster Club SHC, Katie Taylor recording a 20th Professional win, the Irish U-23 team striking glory in cross country Athletics, Arsenal winning minus their petulant skipper. And so…

  • Snyman comeback tops typical Thomond turnaround

    Munster… 34 Stormers… 18 As debuts go, rupturing your ACL in the early stages thereof and missing the rest of the season thereafter fairly stinks. Yet the giant RG Snymann had shown enough in that maiden outing to leave Munster fans in no doubt as to what they’d be missing for the remainder of last…

  • Nigel made me see things in a different light

    To my knowledge, I’ve only been blocked by three users on Twitter. Two of which were Nigel Owens and Joseph O’Brien. While the reason for the young horse trainer putting up the barricades remains a mystery, the occasion which apparently stirred Nigel’s ire was another – possibly the first in fact – case of reacting…