Andy Farrell is due to name his Six Nations squad on Wednesday afternoon and Gerry Thornley is wondering if last weekend’s Champions Cup action will nudge any contenders in the direction of selection. And not necessarily new faces. “Intriguingly, on both form, and pedigree, one of the two best fullbacks in the country currently is Simon Zebo,” he writes. “Hmmm,” he adds. Hmmm, indeed. But whatever about the Munster man’s hopes of a recall, there will, inevitably, be a sprinkling of new faces in light of a number of retirements and injuries, Gerry taking a look at those in the running.
Garry Ringrose, Caelan Doris and James Ryan “all have their merits,” he reckons, when it comes to succeeding Johnny Sexton as captain, but “Peter O’Mahony might be seen as a safer pair of hands”. There is some doubt, though, about O’Mahony’s Munster future, Nathan Johns bringing news that he has yet to be offered a contract for next season.
Johnny Watterson, meanwhile, hears from attack coach Andrew Goodman about his impending switch from Leinster to the Irish set-up, while Michael Sadlier and Linley MacKenzie report from the Ulster and Connacht camps ahead of their crucial Champions Cup games at the weekend.
And Owen Doyle looks back at the refereeing in last weekend’s contests, saluting the performance of Georgian Nika Amashukeli in Munster’s win away to Toulon. “He showed once again that he is now established in the top quartile of elite referees,” he writes.
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In Gaelic games, Seán Moran looks forward to a new season of Laochra Gael, the TG4 series that profiles some of football, hurling and camogie’s biggest names. Remarkably, the series is now 23-years-old, the new season starting in March with its 200th episode.
In hockey, both the Irish men’s and women’s teams remain in contention for Olympic qualification, the women needing just a draw against Korea this evening to advance to the semi-finals. And the men need the same to make the last four when they take on Japan tomorrow.
Daniel Wiffen is already assured of a trip to Paris, Ian O’Riordan talking to the Armagh swimmer about his Olympic ambitions. They’re lofty too – he’s targeting a podium place in three freestyle events: the 400m, 800m, and 1,500m. Mind you, he’ll trust that he has a less testing build-up to those races than the one he endured ahead of smashing Grant Hackett’s 15-year-old 800m freestyle world record last month. “I was quite sick, I must have eaten something bad, I was throwing up from 2am to 6am.” Imagine what time he would have managed if he’d got some sleep?
TV Watch: Eurosport continues its coverage of the Australian tennis Open (up to 1.30 this afternoon), while Sky Sports Football has another three live games from the Africa Cup of Nations: Burkina Faso v Mauritania (2.0), Tunisia v Namibia (5.0) and Mali v South Africa (8.0). There’s also an FA Cup replay on TV this evening, Bristol City hosting West Ham (BBC 1 and Premier Sports 1, kick-off 7.45).
