It’s a stark enough stat: “Over the last four seasons Leinster have reached one semi-final and three finals in the Champions Cup”, compared to a single quarter-final appearance for the other Irish provinces combined. That, writes Gerry Thornley, might be great for Leinster, but it can hardly be healthy for Irish rugby. The biggest challenge facing IRFU performance director David Humphreys is, then, “reducing that gap and with it the national team’s dependency on the Leinster production line”.
Leo Cullen might bristle at that class of talk, though, as he did when asked about the quality of Leinster’s bench in their opening Champions Cup game against Bristol. He was, says Gerry, “clearly irked by the perception in the UK that Leinster can essentially purchase and play whomever they want”.
Owen Doyle was a bit irked himself by referee Luke Pearce’s performance at Thomond Park on Saturday. “Putting things as politely as I can, Pearce will have better days,” he writes. And looking at Leinster’s game, he reckons Sam Prendergast was lucky to stay on the pitch after “a tackle that Don Revie’s Leeds United would have been proud of”. “Leo Cullen doesn’t need telling that the outhalf needs serious tackle mentoring.”
Ronan O’Gara, meanwhile, has been talking about his coaching ambitions. “There are,” he said, “Test jobs I’d bite people’s hands off for.” Has he any interest in the Wales job? “Without lacking humility, I’d prefer Ireland, England or France,” he replied.
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In Gaelic games, Seán Moran talks to Cora Staunton about the Football Review Committee’s rule changes. There are no plans to introduce them to the women’s game, but she can see how in some instances they could be of benefit. “Predictably, as one of football’s great scorers, she is interested in the two-point score from outside the 40-metre arc.”
In light of recent events in Galway and Mayo, Seán also reports on growing concerns over counties’ potential tax liabilities, the GAA due to meet with senior county officers tonight to discuss the issue.
And in golf, Philip Reid previews the efforts of five Irish players to earn themselves a tour card for “the megabucks LIV Golf circuit”, and he also looks ahead to Conor Purcell’s first appearance of the DP World Tour season in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa.
TV Watch: The Champions League is back today with Celtic and Liverpool both on the road – Celtic are away to Dinamo Zagreb (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 2) and Girona host Liverpool (Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 1), the games kicking off at 5.45. Frustratingly for Caoimhín Kelleher, Alisson might well be back in the Liverpool goal for that one. And at 8.0, you have your pick of a raft of games, among them Atalanta v Real Madrid (Virgin Media More and TNT Sports 1) and Leipzig v Aston Villa (Virgin Media Two and Amazon Prime).
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