John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan

Sports writer

John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer.

How the IRFU was dragged kicking and screaming into the professional era

Thirty years on, rugby’s professional era has gone from strength to strength, but it had plentiful doubters at the time

Rugby’s next generation: Meet the rising stars of Leinster, Ulster, Connacht and Munster

Richie Murphy’s exploits with the Irish Under-20s has helped attract some top young players to Ulster

Former England prop Ellena Perry in line to make Ireland debut against Canada

The 28-year-old Gloucester-Hartpury frontrow played 11 times for England; team shows 10 changes to side that beat Scotland

Ringrose’s big call and questionable officiating: Five things we learned from the Lions’ tour of Australia

Questionable officiating; Garry Ringrose’s right call; and a new lease of life for Australian rugby

Lions player ratings: Tadhg Beirne and Tom Curry best of the tourists in Sydney washout

Wallabies sharper in dreadful conditions to deny the Lions a series whitewash

Lions v Wallabies head-to-heads: James Ryan v Will Skelton

The Irishman is likely to be party to a plan to reduce the influence of the La Rochelle giant

Lions v Wallabies head-to-heads: Jamison Gibson-Park v Nic White

The Ireland scrumhalf has been one of the players of the series so far, whereas the Western Force player is set for his first appearance in the Tests

Hugo Keenan’s touch of class and what else we learned from the Lions’ second Test win over Australia

Discipline swing key to success; scrum dominance finally pays off; 6-2 split backfires on Wallabies; Skelton and Valetini losses huge as Aussie power game fades

Lions player ratings: Keenan and Gibson-Park among the star turns as bench impresses

Andy Farrell’s side were forced to dig deep to come back from 18 points down at the MCG

Lions v Wallabies head-to-heads: Andrew Porter v Allan Alaalatoa

Porter part of all-Irish frontrow while Alaalatoa has scrummaging in his blood

Lions v Wallabies head-to-heads: Tadhg Beirne v Rob Valetini

Beirne shone bright in the opening Test while Valetini missed out due to injury

Lions Tour: Ryan, Ringrose and Van der Flier makes their cases for second Test and what else we learned

Andy Farrell and his coaching staff have a few further selection conundrums after win over First Nations and Pasifika XV

Lions player ratings: Versatile Jamie Osborne shines with two-try debut in Melbourne

Blair Kinghorn, Ben White and Scott Cummings among the others to impress in scrappy win over First Nations and Pasifika

Ireland Under-20s finish World Championship campaign with narrow win over Spain

A late try from Henry Walker secured a one-point win for Neil Doak’s team

Lions clean up the breakdown and what else we learned from first Test win over the Wallabies

Jamison Gibson-Park’s kicking was immense while Dan Sheehan had the lineout singing

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