The Irish rugby team should get back to winning on Sunday next when Italy visit the Aviva for round three of this year’s Six Nations campaign. France ended our 10-game unbeaten run when they outmuscled us in Paris two weeks ago. I think France “cheated” by playing big chunky men, who wouldn’t look out of place in the front row, in the three-quarters line. Although we scored three tries, overall it was very difficult for the Irish backs to get through that chunky blue line. Captain Johnny Sexton, who missed the French game with a hamstring injury, will no doubt come back into the team if fit. Joey Carbery, Sexton’s replacement, was excellent in Paris and didn’t miss a kick. However, Sexton is a very confident player and great leader of men.
New Zealand-born James Lowe could also be fit for a place in the squad for the Italian game. Italy will put up a decent performance for maybe 35 or 40 minutes, but I expect Ireland to cruise to victory in the second half. Italy haven’t won a Six Nations game since 2015 when they beat Scotland. Since then they have lost 34 consecutive games and there is talk of replacing them in the Six Nations with Georgia or maybe South Africa. Already this season Italy were beaten 37-10 by France and two weeks ago they failed to register a score against England, going down 33-0. We are away to England on March 12 and home to Scotland on March 19, while France, who are not great travellers, are away to Wales and Scotland and finish at home to England.
Coach Andy Farrell thinks Ireland still has a good chance of winning the Six Nations. He said: ‘‘If we continue to show the fight and character that we showed in Paris in what was an unbelievable Test match, I’m sure we will certainly be in the mix towards the end of the campaign.’’
Meanwhile Leinster has confirmed that Leo Cullen is to continue as their head coach for at least another season. Last May the 44-year-old agreed a new rolling one-year contract with the Blues that was set to expire at the end of the current season. Cullen, a former Leinster captain, was first appointed in 2015, and has led Leinster to win the European Cup in 2018 and four Pro14 titles.
NO TIGER ROLL FOR NATIONAL
Ryanair boss and race horse owner Michael O’Leary has ruled out Tiger Roll from a hat-trick attempt at the Aintree Grand National in April, describing the horse’s rating for the race by the British handicapper as absurd. It means the greatest Grand National star of the modern era, hero of the world’s most famous steeplechase in 2018 and 2019, won’t get a chance to emulate the legendary Red Rum as a triple winner. O’Leary wasted no time last week, his decision coming shortly after the Grand National weights were announced. It comes on the back of a long running dispute between the Irish businessman and the senior British Horseracing Authority handicapper, Martin Greenwood, over his rating of Tiger Roll. Last year O’Leary described a mark of 166 as patently unfair and took Tiger Roll out of the race in early March. At the announcement of this year’s weights Greenwood said he had relented a bit and assigned Tiger Roll a rating of 161, 4lbs lower than his last start over fences in December. However, O’Leary was unimpressed, saying the mark was manifestly wrong, and added that he had to protect Tiger from the handicapper’s idiotic opinion on a welfare basis. “Tiger Roll is now 12 years old. He is clearly not as good as he was at eight or nine, and yet the UK handicapper now rates him 2lbs higher than his 159 rating in April 2019,’’ added O’Leary.
100 FOR FAHEY
Galway-born defender Niamh Fahey captained her country as she won her 100th Irish cap in the 2-1 win over Poland in a Pinatar Cup game in La Manga last week. The 30 year-old is only the fourth female in Irish women’s soccer history to become a Centurion, following behind Emma Byrne (134 caps), Aine O’Gorman (111) and Ciara Grant (105). Niamh, who plays her club soccer with Liverpool, is a dual star, having won a Ladies All-Ireland title with her native Galway in 2004.
BEIRNE IMPRESSES ZEBO WITH SKILLS
Munster and Ireland winger Simon Zebo Simon Zebo has hailed Tadhg Beirne as the complete package after the Ireland and Lions star agreed a contract extension that will keep him with Munster until July 2025. The Kildare native has demonstrated remarkable resilience since being released by Leinster seven years ago, before revitalising his career with the Scarlets and then joining Munster in September 2018. Zebo, who re-joined Munster from French club Racing 92 last year said: “Tadhg is exactly what I expected. I am probably even more impressed now, having been around him so much now in the last few months. He is an incredible athlete, incredible over the ball. His attacking, his lines of running. Everything. He ticks every box for a second-row and back-row. I suppose the most impressive thing about him would be his skills. His off-loading and passing ability. He is a real smart rugby player. He has got the full package and his contract is very well-deserved.”
JUNE GAME IN KIEV IN DOUBT
Both of Ukraine’s World Cup play-off games in March, the semi-final against Scotland and a potential final against either Austria or Wales, are away from home, so no worries about Kiev staging the games. But The Republic of Ireland are due to travel to Kiev to play Ukraine in a Nations League game on June 14. The game could be moved to a neutral country as happened with our World Cup qualifier against Georgia 14 years ago. In 2008, UEFA applied a no-risk policy over the political instability between Russia and Georgia by switching Ireland’s opening World Cup qualifier from Tbilisi to Mainz in Germany.
LACROSSE FOR UL
The University of Limerick sports campus will stage an international under 21 Lacrosse tournament over ten days next August. The tournament will include teams from Africa, who will be making their debut. Michael Kennedy, CEO of Lacrosse Ireland and a former UL student, said: ‘‘It has been six years since we had an international under 21 championship back in 2016 in British Columbia in Canada. So we are delighted to get the back up and running after Covid and it’s a big deal to them to Ireland and Limerick, which has excellent sports facilities to host a tournament like this.’’
PLAYERS OPPOSE WC REFORM: POLL
The debate over a biennial World Cup has been the subject of strong opinions from politicians, sponsors and governing bodies, most commonly in opposition. Now the players have had their say and they appear to be against it too. A survey by the international players’ union Fifpro has found that 75 per cent of players in the men’s game want the tournament to continue on a four-year cycle. The survey also contains good news for organisers FIFA, showing that players consider the World Cup to be the most important competition in the professional game, alongside their own domestic leagues.
PRO DEAL FOR CRISTIANO JR.
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. has signed for Manchester United and will also wear the No. 7 shirt of his famous father. The 11-year-old has played for United’s academy on a number of occasions over recent months, after Ronaldo Senior sealed his Old Trafford homecoming. And now, Junior has officially signed a professional deal with United. The announcement came inadvertently through fellow youngster Gabriel on his Instagram Account, who has also signed a contract with United.
