Whether it’s the smell of a new pair of boots, the smooth texture of a new ball unblemished by the thousands of hours of play yet to come or that sense of excitement that comes with donning the latest replica kit for the first time, sport clearly isn’t just about the joys accrued from playing or watching it.

Do a Wikipedia search for ‘Joe Schmidt’ and you won’t be hit with a bio and pic of Ireland’s current rugby union coach, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Like much of the country, this column was marooned in rush hour traffic yesterday morning when news dropped the interminable counting of ballots in the Longford- Westmeath constituency had come to an end and, with it, the 2016 general election, writes Brendan O’Brien.

With renewed focus on concussion, there are contrasting cultures in the northern and southern hemispheres in that the approach here is to seek ‘collisions’ while the emphasis down there is to avoid ‘contact’, writes Brendan O’Brien