Friday, March 19, 2010 Previous editions
GET SET for a rare treat in modern international rugby — a three-test series. The question on everyone’s lips, however, is how competitive will it be and for how long?
EVEN with the prospect of another Triple Crown to play for against Scotland next Saturday – incredibly a potential fifth in seven years – the collective highlight of Ireland’s relocation to Croke Park will remain that epic occasion and clinical performance against England in 2007.
ALL over bar the shouting? Well, unless Martin Johnson can oversee a tactical sea-change of monumental proportions and England finally decide to go out and play, the destination of the 2010 Six Nations championship has already been decided.
THE SIX NATIONS moves into its final phase over the next two weekends but France could all but wrap up the championship this weekend with a comprehensive win over Italy in Paris.
THERE IS no greater remedy for a heavy defeat than going out and winning your next game. More often than not at club level, players and management have that opportunity on a weekly basis. That is not always the case on the international stage, thus disappointment and frustration tend to linger that bit longer.
THIS Irish rugby squad is fast becoming a victim of its own success with expectation levels at home at an all time high coming into this year’s Six Nations. We have also become a treasured scalp for even the top teams. Nothing illustrated this more than the sight of a French side doing a lap of honour after beating Ireland in Paris.
IT’S so long since Ireland lost a game that one had forgotten how bad it feels. Those once familiar pictures of dejected figures in green jerseys at the final whistle had almost faded into sepia-tone. It was inevitable that a reality check would come at some stage and the fact that it occurred in Paris shouldn’t come as a surprise.
WHEN the rival brass bands from various rugby regions of southern France are playing in unison after only 25 minutes, you know you’re in serious trouble.
IF DECLAN KIDNEY is keen to present fresh challenges to his high-achieving national squad, then Saturday’s crunch clash against France fits the bill perfectly. With just a solitary win in the French capital in the past 38 years, conquering the Stade de France this weekend is a potential fast-track to glory.
WE’RE spoiled. After the drama and excitement of the race to reach the last eight of the Heineken Cup, we now have a Six Nations championship to nourish our insatiable appetite for top class rugby.
FOR the Munster players saying their farewells at Thomond Park last Friday night, the scene was reminiscent of classmates leaving boarding school at the end of term. There were handshakes all around as a 12th successive Heineken Cup quarter-final slot was secured.
NO OTHER rugby tournament worldwide can match the drama and excitement of round six of the Heineken Cup. After five intense rounds of competition – encompassing 60 games – only two teams, Biarritz and Toulouse, have officially qualified for the quarter-finals.
WHO would want to be a referee? Well quite a few actually. In fact over the last three years the numbers officiating in Ireland have increased by 25%, from 400 to 500.
FOR A brief period last Sunday, it felt like the good old days of the Celtic Tiger, happy faces everywhere, supporters laden with Christmas presents and the Munster team smashing a quality French outfit away from home.
WITH SO much negativity surrounding rugby at the moment, with the plethora of law changes that favour the team without the ball (and the kickfest that has ensued), how refreshing to see so much positive rugby produced by a whole host of teams in last weekend’s Heineken Cup.
IT was not the type of preparation any of the Irish sides would have wished for last weekend before resuming their respective European journeys, with all four provinces losing in the Magners League.
NINETEEN internationals in a calendar month involving 12 different countries provides a surfeit of information not only on the state of the game but also on the form lines of the main pretenders for honours with the 2011 World Cup now coming into sharp focus.
ONE can only speculate as to the response of the Fijian players when they drew the curtains in their hotel rooms every morning last week to be greeted by rain, rain and more rain.
WHEN big Rocky Elsom touched down last Sunday in the same corner of Croke Park where he had denied Munster’s Ian Dowling an early try in that epic Heineken Cup semi-final earlier this year, you feared the game was up for Ireland.
I have learned through harsh experience that every Australian side will fight to the death.
I LOVE this phase of the season when the big boys from down under come to town and we are treated to a host of quality international rugby.
I HAVE no doubt when Declan Kidney finalised his squad for the autumn internationals last Sunday he was aware the World Cup final in Eden Park, Auckland was exactly two years away to the weekend.
EVEN at this early juncture there is a clarity of purpose about the French in Europe this season that suggests they mean business. Biarritz, Toulouse and Stade Francais are unbeaten at the summit of their respective pools while Clermont Auvergne and Perpignan are well positioned to make up ground when the tournament resumes in December. Brive, with two losses, are the only Gallic side out of the mix.
IT WAS good news on all fronts for Munster and Leinster at the weekend, with convincing wins over Benetton Treviso and Brive respectively further sweetened by outcomes in other pools.
TO borrow a phrase from one of Heineken’s rivals, last weekend’s opening round of the European Cup was probably the best we have seen for some time. Intense action, high-quality performances, buckets of tries, contentious refereeing interpretation and games that went to the wire. An outstanding medley of issues to launch the 15th year of the Heineken Cup.
DESPITE my absence of just over two months from the journalistic front-line, so much has happened since the conclusion of the Lions test series in July that has brought nothing but shame, ridicule and much negative comment to a sport loved by many all over the world.
FOUR DAYS on, and that defeat in Pretoria is still pretty hard to take, especially from a smug South African support base who are slow to recognise the limitations within their own set up. Let’s face it; the Lions could have done with winning last Saturday or even in the circumstances holding on for the draw which their herculean efforts over the last two weekends have deserved.
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