Oh dear. As Gerry Thornley puts it in his match report, last night’s game in Paris “quickly disintegrated into one of those dog-eared scripts from the bad old days”. It was a thoroughly “disheartening night”, and few seemed more disheartened in its aftermath than Andy Farrell. “Something that I never thought we’d be saying about this Irish team, we had a bit of a lack of intent in that first-half … and if that’s lacking you’re not going to win any international game, never mind one in Paris.”
Just two of the starting 15 earned more than a five out of 10 mark in Johnny Watterson’s player ratings, Ireland’s game plan “shredded almost from the get-go”, as John O’Sullivan notes in his ‘Talking Point’. And in his analysis of the game, Nathan Johns concludes that Ireland were given “a lesson in modern attacking rugby”. They gifted “chaos to a French outfit that was already capable of finding it themselves”.
After that performance, the members of the Ireland XV that take on England A in Thomond Park this evening might just feel their chances of promotion to the senior squad have increased. John previews the game.
And in Gaelic games, Gordon Manning looks forward to the meeting of Cork and Tipperary’s hurlers at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night when 25,000 are expected to attend what is a repeat of last year’s league and All-Ireland finals.
Is 40 the new 30? Johnny Watterson reckons so – after all, Katie Taylor, who will be 40 in July, is shaping up for another world title fight. Justin Rose is 45 and is still going strong and Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 41st birthday on Thursday. “Time used to be the truth teller to elite athletes,” says Johnny. “It is now more fallible than ever.”
This being the week that the Winter Olympics got under way, Ian O’Riordan catches up with the man who came closest to winning a medal for Ireland in the event – Lord Clifton Wrottesley, the “Irish Lancelot on ice”. Meanwhile, Sean Ingle brings you some rather eye-watering news: some ski jumpers might just be “injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further”. Anything for a marginal gain, eh?
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey made his way over to Stoke to meet up with 22-year-old Bosun Lawal, the St Kevin’s Boys graduate who is targeting a first senior Irish cap, and he also previews the new League of Ireland season, taking you through the runners and riders.
And in racing, Brian O’Connor has news of jockey Philip Byrnes being cleared of wrongdoing over the long-running controversy involving his unseat from Redwood Queen at Wexford last May. And in light of remarks made by David Armstrong, a former British Horseracing Board member, about the threat of jump racing not existing for welfare reasons in 10 years, Brian despairs of the sport yet again circling the wagons and hoping that “a difficult subject will simply go away”.
TV Watch: BBC2 and TNT Sports continue their Winter Olympics coverage through the day and night, with the opening ceremony taking place at 7pm (that will also be shown live by the RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player). From 2.15pm you can watch the second round at the Phoenix Open (Sky Sports Golf), and at 7.15pm Premier Sports has live coverage of Ireland XV v England A at Thomond Park.
Come 8pm, Shamrock Rovers open the defence of their league title against Dundalk (Virgin Media Two), subject to a pitch inspection in Tallaght at 11am on Friday morning. If that game is called off they will broadcast the northwest derby between Derry City against Sligo Rovers from the Brandywell as James McClean marks his return to the League of Ireland.