Tag: #Rugby2023
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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…
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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…
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Error-prone holders pay the price
LEINSTER… 21 MUNSTER… 16 It wouldn’t be a meeting of the two old foes if it wasn’t an epic. Score for score, massive hits given and taken on both sides. The pendulum swinging one way and then the other. As is often the case in these situations, it came down to who managed error limitation…
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Boks deserving winners despite blundering Barnes
South Africa… 12 New Zealand… 11 To a one-eyed fella sitting in a wheelchair thousands of miles away, it was blatantly obvious Ardie Savea had locked onto the ball, so how Wayne Barnes couldn’t see it from a foot away defies logic. Now read on… Furthermore, a squirming, half arsed apology in such a situation…
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All the skill and bravery in the world won’t paper over the cracks
There was a reason it took this corner quite a while to come onside with rugby. Until the nuances of the game were understood properly, all it looked like to me was f*t fellas trundling around and jumping on top of each other like young bulls turned out to fresh grass. More fool I. For…
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A game for the ages but ‘only’ an ordinary win
Ireland… 13 South Africa… 8 One of the strange curiosities of the four match saga between Meath and Dublin in the Leinster SFC of 1991 was, after all the hype and coverage had subsided, it was only a first round encounter. The victors still had several hurdles to cross before they could even contemplate silverware.…
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Another decent score with plenty to work on
Ireland… 59 Tonga… 16 A connection currently in France at the rugby said to me the other day, with a tinge of sadness attached, that it was unlikely Keith Earls would be seen in an Irish jersey again. I wouldn’t be so sure. In the reverse of what often happens in this space, let’s go…
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Twelve tries but still room for Paulie to give them a bollicking
IRELAND…82 ROMANIA…8 You’d hope Kevin The Carrot isn’t booked in for a session too early in the morning. Ireland’s favourite animated advertiser wouldn’t deserve to incur the wrath of an angry O’Connell. No living being would. You might wonder what Paul O’Connell might have to be put out by having seen those prepared by Andy…
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A fine line between opportunity and risk
Ireland… 33 Italy… 17 Challenge matches, Test matches, friendlies, warm ups, whatever you want. Do they carry any value? Observers of a certain vintage would be of the view they’re not worth the grass they get played on. An easy conclusion to arrive at if using the 1988 case of Meath and Kildare as a…
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Carlsberg don’t sponsor Munster…but if they did…
Hans Christian Andersen, you may stand down sir. For those who produce fairytales to rival anything ever penned by yourself did so again on Saturday evening in some far flung corner of South Africa. Though I don’t think anybody in the celebrated writer’s works ever endured as much heartache and disappointment between pots of gold…