“Just as they reached their zenith, World Rugby are about to scrap summer tours by the Europeans to the southern hemisphere. From 2024 onwards, they will be replaced by three-test tours in two or three countries, with lots more plane-hopping, which may also prove less attractive to visiting supporters. Here in New Zealand, a three-test, five-match tour has never felt more meaningful, not by a long shot.” The revamped global rugby calendar, set to come into effect in 2024, means that this was likely the last three-Test tour of New Zealand Ireland will ever undergo. It’s a good thing Ireland got their win when they did, but the spectacle of the contest shows the futility of such a scheduling decision, says Gerry Thornley. While countless pundits are bemoaning the amount of cards for high tackles in the game at the moment, Ryan Jones is the latest former player to come forward and announce a diagnosis of early onset dementia and probable CTE. In light of that news, Owen Doyle writes: “There cannot be a household in the rugby world, right now, which is not thinking very hard about where this game fits into their lives, and, indeed, whether it should or not.”
“While 20 years have been lived since we last had Galway in a final, this is not any run-of-the-mill crowd coming up on Sunday. This is the third most successful county on the island. Nine titles and a rich tradition that provides the inner confidence and knowledge of how to win these big games. Galway have an assured heritage.” Kevin McStay analyses Galway football’s history in the All-Ireland championship ahead of Sunday’s final showdown with Kerry - their heritage suggests they are not as much of a surprise package as people think. Their manager Padraic Joyce faced the media recently to discuss his own soul-searching on Galway’s long path back to the promised land while on the Kerry side of things, 2014 All-Ireland winner Barry John Keane is adamant that the Kingdom’s time has come again.
After the madness that was the 150th Open, time for some calm. For Rory McIlroy most of all. The Holywood man has chosen to take a three-week break from all competition before returning to action for next month’s PGA Tour playoffs – the FedEx St Jude, the BMW and the Tour Championship – where he again heads in empty-handed from his season’s work in the Majors. Someone who is not taking a break is Leona Maguire. The Cavan golfer is in action at this week’s Evian Championship, one of five majors on the LPGA Tour but she very nearly had no clubs to play with after her equipment bag got lost in transit from Dublin to Geneva. Thankfully, all’s well that ends well as the bag was quickly found after the player appealed for help on Twitter.
Shamrock Rovers are up against it tonight as they continue their Champions League campaign against Ludogorets in Bulgaria. Kick-off against the side that has reached the group stages of this competition before is at 6.45pm and the game is on RTÉ 2. In cricket, Ireland men suffered a convincing defeat to New Zealand on Monday in the first of a three-match T20I series while today the women are in action against Pakistan in Bready.
