The sight of Jack Conan leaving the Aviva Stadium with his right foot in a protective boot after last Saturday’s win over Italy was not a happy one, the injury resulting in him missing Ireland’s training camp in the Algarve this week.
Gerry Thornley reminds us that a similar injury curtailed Conan’s involvement in the 2019 World Cup, but defence coach Simon Easterby has played down concerns that the Leinster man might be a doubt for September’s tournament. “It’s nothing like it was in 2019,” he said.
South Africa, the victors four years ago and in Ireland’s pool this time around, have their own injury woes, with three of the players who started the final against England in Yokohama four years ago ruled out of their 33-man squad. Gerry runs his eye over those who made the cut, among them Munster secondrow Jean Kleyn.
England have also named their World Cup squad and it’s not, writes Robert Kitson, “one to encourage much champagne-fuelled excitement among connoisseurs of expansive, enterprising rugby”.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
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In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning hears from the Kerry and Dublin camps ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland women‘s football final, talking to Kerry captain Síofra O’Shea who will miss the game after suffering the dreaded cruciate knee ligament injury, and to Dublin manager Mick Bohan who has managed to coax four-in-a-row winning captain Sinéad Aherne out of retirement.
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya thought she might have been facing retirement too after being ejected from the Tokyo Olympics following her public criticism of her coaches, but she has since built a new life in Poland who she will represent at the Paris Games. Nick Ames spoke to Tsimanouskaya about what has been an extraordinary couple of years.
“Now might be a good time to start buying some shares in the French,” concludes Jonathan Liew after watching their 4-0 win over Morocco at the World Cup, during which they showed “the poise and purpose of a team beginning to move through the gears at just the right time”. And Jo Khan saw Colombia book themselves a quarter-final meeting with England by ending Jamaica’s fairy-tale run in the tournament.
And in his America at Large column, Dave Hannigan looks at the latest American to take a stake in an English football club, Tom Brady nailing his colours to the Birmingham City mast. There’s bad news for any Birmingham players who love tomatoes – Brady is likely to ban them from the canteen having “famously sworn off them in his quest for longevity”. It’s not the same way we all go.
Telly watch: Eurosport (2.20-9.30) and BBC Three (7.0-8.55) continue their coverage from the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow.
