If you were born after July 2022, (a) you’re doing very well to be able to read this and (b) you have never seen the Irish rugby team lose. John O’Sullivan takes us through that 17-game winning streak and points out that if Ireland make it 18 on Saturday, they will equal the record held by England and, of all people, New Zealand.
Gordon D’Arcy remembers the days when the All Blacks “might not know all the names of the Irish team and in extreme scenarios never seen them play,” but he’s pretty confident they know the names of Andy Farrell’s crew.
Despite having lost 10 games since beating Ireland in the quarterfinals four years ago, Gerry Thornley was still struck by how “much of the mystique remains” when he watched the All Blacks train on Tuesday. “Simply due to the colour of their jerseys as well as their fabled history, it always will.”
The Irish team for the game, which will be refereed by Wayne Barnes, is due to be named at lunchtime today, with James Ryan likely to be ruled out with the hand injury he picked up against Scotland. Gerry has a stab at naming the XV, not an easy task in light of other injury doubts, among them Mack Hansen.
“He’s outstanding as a man,” said Keith Andrews of Farrell, the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland football team having spent some time, at the invitation of the IRFU, watching the Irish coach and his staff prepare for the last Six Nations meeting with Scotland.
Gavin Cummiskey heard from Andrews in the build-up to Friday’s European Championships qualifier against Greece for which, mercifully, Evan Ferguson will be available after he missed last month’s defeats to France and the Netherlands.
Developing a few more Fergusons is among the aims of the FAI who, in December, will unveil a white paper outlining how they intend improving the pathway of promising young players. Gavin takes a look at the challenges that face them.
Ideally, the conveyor belt would produce a few diamonds in time for Euro 2028, Malachy Clerkin reporting on the success of Ireland and the UK’s joint bid to host the tournament.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran wonders, amid the rise of possession-based football, what exactly people want the game to be, while in Olympic news, Ian O’Riordan tells us that boxing looks set to miss out on the programme for the 2028 Games. Considering 18 of Ireland’s 35 Olympic medals have come from the sport down the years, that would be an almighty blow.
TV watch: Slim enough pickings again today, alas, but cricket fans at least have the World Cup meeting of India and Afghanistan (Sky Sports Cricket, from 9.30am). The best we can offer football followers is a friendly between Wales and Gibraltar (Premier Sports 1, 7.45). That’ll have them tingling.
