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Posted 53 days ago
IT CAME as no surprise that the IRFU decided against renewing Kidney’s contract. Their recent defeat in Rome, Ireland’s first Six Nations loss to Italy, left Ireland with only one win and languishing in fifth position. Had Wales started the championship as they ended it, with an impressive dismantling of England at the Millennium Stadium finale, and had France not malfunctioned then Ireland would have been the deserved recipients of a first Wooden Spoon since 1998.
Posted 69 days ago
“IS IT time to go back to the drawing board Declan?” The question posed after so many basic errors saw Ireland defeated by England. “No” was the simple answer given. He was right too. For Ireland the drawing board is no longer the issue, it’s the architect.
Posted 71 days ago
ITALY MADE history as they beat Ireland for the first time in the RBS 6 Nations at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, on Saturday. In what has been widely suspected to be Brian O’Driscoll’s last Test match for Ireland, the iconic centre was sent to the sin bin for a stamp on Simone Favaro – a mark of the frustration that is being felt throughout the Irish camp.
Posted 76 days ago
JUST LIKE his French counterpart Kidney is a man under pressure. At the beginning of the tournament, it was expected the fourth round in Dublin would be a defining moment in the tournament but instead of either team going for the Championship, it was a battle to avoid the bottom of the table.
Posted 77 days ago
France remain winless in the 2013 RBS 6 Nations as their visit to Dublin resulted in a draw. On a wet, grey day in the Irish capital, the hosts were the ones who initially looked to be gritting their teeth, and were rewarded on the scoreboard in the first half, earning a 13-3 lead by half-time. Ireland came out of the changing room full of confidence at the start of the second half, only to lose their way in the third quarter of the game.
Posted 90 days ago
SOMETIMES THE stats do lie.
If you didn’t know the score at Murrayfield on Sunday and were just handed the match data afterwards, everything would suggest that Ireland had beaten Scotland and consequently joined Wales and England at having a shot at the Championship title. But as everyone knows by now, against the odds, it’s Scotland who earned that right.
Posted 111 days ago
BOD’S HANDS… Zebo’s feet… First half demolition… Second half defensive scrambling… It’s hard to know where to start with the latest celtic clash in Cardiff because as the late Belfast comedian Frank Carson would have said “It’s a cracker!”
Posted 174 days ago
With results and incidental occurrences varying throughout the autumn Internationals, it is not a case of saying that there were winners and losers. There is a cost for the smallest of efforts and a reward for the most taxing of endeavours. The key is to look at the whole picture and ask what is next for those who were fiercely cross-examined.
Posted 370 days ago
THREE UNCAPPED players have been named in the Ireland squad to travel to New Zealand in June. Ulster prop Declan Fitzpatrick has made the cut, while Munster duo Mike Sherry and Simon Zebo have also been included in the 29-man party.
Ulstermen Darren Cave and Dan Tuohy, both of whom played in Saturday’s Heineken Cup final, have also been named in…
Posted 448 days ago
France clawed their way back from an 11-point deficit to draw with Ireland in the rearranged RBS 6 Nations fixture at the Stade de France. The men in green started well, and Tommy Bowe scored two tries in the first half, silencing the French crowd. But Wesley Fofana scored his third Championship try in the 51st minute, and the swing in momentum saw France even the scores thanks to Morgan Parra’s boot. Ireland couldn’t convert a surge of pressure into points in the final quarter of the match, as France’s defence proved to be water tight.
