Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny must wait to find out if he is to be offered a new contract by the FAI, following a 12-person association board meeting last night. FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill will present "positive, detailed and confidential" feedback to Kenny and his management team, after they have inspired an upturn in fortunes for the national side over recent months. Kenny's current deal expires in July 2022, while a new one could see him lead Ireland as far as the 2024 European Championships in Germany. An FAI statement read: "The Football Association of Ireland can confirm that board members undertook positive and detailed discussions around a review of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification tournament in its entirety at its scheduled monthly meeting in Dublin this evening. CEO Jonathan Hill will now provide feedback to the Republic of Ireland men's senior team management accordingly and will move the process forward. As with all employee matters, this process will remain confidential."
Munster's 49-strong touring party remain stuck in South Africa, as they wait for the green light to leave Cape Town and return to Ireland following a positive Covid-19 case in their squad which was detected over the weekend. Johann van Graan's side face a race against time to be ready for their Champions Cup opener away to Wasps on December 12th, with hotel quarantine facing them on arrival back into Ireland. Munster will be hoping they can train during their isolation period, or face being massively undercooked against a Wasps side who played as recently as last Friday. The fate of the United Rugby Championship as a whole could be decided later, as Gerry Thornley writes: "Hindsight is 20-20 vision and the organisers of the United Rugby Championship (URC), whose board will hold their latest crisis meeting today, probably now wish that they had gone ahead with contingency plans to have the South African sides hold their round six and seven 'home' games in Italy. Understandably, the four South African sides were already weary enough of being on the road from their five-week tour to Europe for the first four rounds of the competition. They didn't particularly fancy another three weeks after the November international window."
Ireland women take on Georgia in Tallaght tonight (kick-off 7pm, RTÉ Two), as they look to end their international window on a high following last week's disappointing draw at home to Slovakia. It is a must-win World Cup qualifier for Vera Pauw's side, who are heavy favourites, with up to 4,000 expected through the turnstiles following last Thursday's record attendance. And Pauw has said she will stick with a 3-4-2-1 system, despite then having to deploy Arsenal's Katie McCabe as a wingback: "It is not my system, it is a system to get the best out of our players. For example, there is a lot of debate about Katie's role and I appreciate that because we are debating that every day, how to get the best out of her and every player." You can follow all of the action via the Irish Times liveblog, which will be up and running from around 6.30pm.
Elsewhere Manchester United have confirmed the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season, with the German then taking up a two-year consultancy role at Old Trafford. Rangnick could be in the dugout for Thursday's clash with Arsenal, work permit depending. There is a full round of Premier League fixtures this week, starting tonight with Newcastle against Norwich (7.30pm, Amazon Prime) and Leeds at home to Crystal Palace (8.15pm). Meanwhile, Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or for a seventh time, extending his record.
And Tiger Woods has admitted he is unlikely to make a full-time return to golf, following the car crash earlier this year which almost left him needing a leg to be amputated. He said: "I don't have to compete and play against the best players in the world to have a great life. After my back fusion, I had to climb Mount Everest one more time. I had to do it, and I did. This time around, I don't think I'll have the body to climb Mount Everest and that's OK."
