Organisation: Biarritz

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

rugby

Dave O'Callaghan swaps Youghal strand for La Grand plage

HE may be talking over the phone, 1 500km removed from home, but it quickly becomes clear that Dave O’Callaghan has a spring in his step.

rugby

Munster fans can relive their greatest European games this weekend

rugby

The day Peter Stringer pulled a fast one as Munster finally got over the line

rugby

Bonus points Connacht’s Achilles heel in Europe

rugby

Rory Best tempted by move to Bristol but put family first

other

Donal Lenihan: When Munster traded blow for blow at Vicarage Road

Eternal eurosceptics Lyon already looking for the exit

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline

Mon, 25 Nov, 2019

Once a key weapon, it's 80 games since Munster last dropped a goal

Some revealing facts can be laid bare today about the once symbiotic relationship between Munster and the drop goal, a weapon that never seemed to fail in the hands of Ronan O’Gara.

Sun, 24 Nov, 2019

‘My son had gone to bed with a migraine he was so stressed after the Ireland game. He was ten’

Eddie O’Sullivan curls a smile and offers a bald, one-word answer when asked to sum up his experiences of Rugby World Cups.

Fri, 20 Sep, 2019

Leinster embrace history as they look ahead to Saracens

Leinster are refusing to shy away from history as they chase a fifth star against Saracens in Newcastle this weekend.

Tue, 07 May, 2019

Peter Stringer small in stature but a giant amongst men

Having delayed the inevitable longer than anyone could possibly imagine, Peter Stringer last night finally brought down the curtain on his 20-year rugby career.

Wed, 27 Jun, 2018

Peter Stringer small in stature but a giant amongst men

Having delayed the inevitable longer than anyone could possibly imagine, Peter Stringer last night finally brought down the curtain on his 20-year rugby career.

Wed, 27 Jun, 2018

Peter Stringer retires from rugby, aged 40

"I cannot describe how it feels to have lived that dream for nearly all my life."

Tue, 26 Jun, 2018

Remi Tales misses a late drop goal 12/5/2018

Four-star Leinster ready to kick on once again

Leinster - 15 Racing 92 - 12

Mon, 14 May, 2018

Get the look: Finding that one palette that works for you

Looking to invest in a new all-in-one palette? Rachel Marie Walsh has the best options on the market

Sat, 21 Apr, 2018

Munster’s penultimate pain: Five semi-finals lost since 2009

You can be sure Munster lock Billy Holland is not the only person trying to crack the secret of what it takes for his team to reach a Champions Cup final but he has been involved in enough last-four showdowns to know there is little margin for error once you get to this point in a European campaign.

Fri, 20 Apr, 2018

‘You probably can’t go after them head on’

The “Sold Out” signs have been up for days at Thomond Park, Ireland’s Six Nations heroes have returned to the fold and the treatment room is as busy as it has been all season. Would it be any other way for Munster in a Champions Cup quarter-final week?

Sat, 31 Mar, 2018

Confirmed: Champions Cup rugby returning to free-to-air TV for first time in 12 years

The last free-to-air European Cup game broadcast in Ireland was Munster’s 2006 final victory over Biarritz.

Fri, 16 Mar, 2018

Serge Betsen: Defeat to Munster was one of the great frustrations of my career

Serge Betsen enjoyed many momentous days playing for France: Six Nations Grand Slams, Top 14 titles, World Cup semi-finals. But something still rankles: The 2006 Heineken Cup final defeat to Munster, and that try by Peter Stringer.

Sat, 24 Feb, 2018

Peter Jackson's 10 things we learned from the final round of the Champions Cup Pool stages

Peter Jackson looks at what the weekend’s European rugby action has thought us. 

Mon, 22 Jan, 2018

Marking Munster's major milestones ahead of 4,000-point landmark

On November 1, 1995, Richard Wallace touched down at Thomond Park to score Munster's first points in European Cup competition. This Saturday at the much-changed stadium, barring a complete disaster from Johann van Graan's new charges, someone from the province will pop up and grab the 4,000th. We recall some of the landmarks in between.

Thu, 07 Dec, 2017

Son of Kilkenny... man of Munster

Hear the one about the Kilkenny man who played for Munster? Or even better, about the Kilkenny GAA man who now works with Tipp GAA? Ian Dowling is a walking quiz question, but wherever he turns up, success seems to follow...

Sat, 22 Apr, 2017

Why we should be thankful for this weekend in the 2017 Champions Cup

Let’s park logic and bookmakers’ predictions for a moment and allow ourselves the luxury of contemplating a scenario come tea-time on Sunday whereby both Munster and Leinster are confirmed as finalists for the 2017 Champions Cup.

Fri, 21 Apr, 2017

How Ugo Mola became fall guy for Guy Noves’ Toulouse woes

It’s five years since mighty Toulouse last won a trophy, their longest barren spell since the early 1980s. Has it become a comfort-zone club, and how much responsibility must the man who turned Toulouse into a European powerhouse bear for that?

Fri, 31 Mar, 2017

Racing 92 v Munster - European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 1 Round 1 Refixture

Peter O’Mahony a major doubt for Munster

Munster’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus will address the Conor Murray controversy for the first time at the weekly media briefing in Limerick today, with concern now also focusing on the availability of captain Peter O’Mahony.

Wed, 18 Jan, 2017

The thing that has become clear is how broken America is

Winning won’t be enough tonight, because the thing that has become clear is how broken America is, writes Fergus Finlay

Tue, 08 Nov, 2016

Tigers inspired by Burns’ ‘stardust’

Leicester boss Richard Cockerill praised Freddie Burns’ “stardust” qualities after the fly-half inspired Tigers’ 27-17 European Champions Cup victory over Racing 92 at Welford Road.

Mon, 24 Oct, 2016

Anthony Foley: Eight photographs from his rugby career

‘The journey isn’t over. This is just another station on the way’

Fri, 21 Oct, 2016

Anthony Foley: The hard man who had a heart of gold

How will I remember Axel? I will look at that picture of him on the front of Monday’s Irish Examiner. It captured everything about him. There was this perception of him as being dour but that picture of him with the beaming smile was Axel for me.

Tue, 18 Oct, 2016

Anthony Foley: One of the game’s greatest

Anthony Foley’s talent was spotted early on and he went about fulfilling every inch of his potential, writes Charlie Mulqueen.

Mon, 17 Oct, 2016

Peter Jackson on Anthony Foley: Munster’s most loyal servant

As smash hit double acts go, European professional club rugby never saw anything quite like Anthony Foley and Munster.

Mon, 17 Oct, 2016

Mick Galwey: ‘Anthony Foley was a great friend, a great man and a great family man’

The great Munster rugby teams of the early years of the millennium were renowned as hard men who never backed off a challenge. 

Mon, 17 Oct, 2016

The making of a Munster and Ireland legend

Seven moments that shaped Anthony Foley’s illustrious career...

Mon, 17 Oct, 2016

Bigger the giant, harder the fall is fiery Pat Lam’s motto

It’s a measure of how far Connacht have progressed in recent years that it will not be a major shock this evening should they beat the only side to win Europe’s premier competition four times.

Sat, 15 Oct, 2016

European mountain top may not be as distant as many believe

Eight years have elapsed since Munster toppled the mighty Toulouse to be crowned champions of Europe on an emotional evening in Cardiff.

Wed, 12 Oct, 2016

New Italy coach Conor O'Shea won't be able to count on Andrea Masi

Italian back Andrea Masi has been forced to retire from rugby following medical advice on an Achilles tendon injury.

Wed, 22 Jun, 2016

IRFU eases Munster Rugby financial burden

Munster Rugby may be in financial straits but it could be much worse if it wasn’t for the IRFU.

Fri, 03 Jun, 2016

You don’t have to lose one first. But maybe it helps.

The Racing 92 physio was in tears in the dressing room in Lyon last Saturday. That was Patrice Boutevin’s third European Cup final loss, and while it’s not nice to see adult men broken up, it’s good he cares so much.

Fri, 20 May, 2016

Stade Francais Paris v Munster - European Rugby Champions Cup - Pool 4 Round 2 Refixture

CJ Stander predicts third year will see Anthony Foley’s work reach fruition

Munster’s stand-in captain CJ Stander last night welcomed the one-year contract extension agreed with Anthony Foley and said he thought an incoming director of rugby could only help the head coach.

Wed, 16 Mar, 2016

Paul O'Connell: Career Timeline

2001

Wed, 10 Feb, 2016

Munster staying focused, says Mark Chisholm

Munster players were ready and willing to travel to Paris for this weekend’s Rugby Champions Cup fixture despite the terrorist attack that shocked the city and the world last Friday, according to the province’s Australian lock Mark Chisholm.

Thu, 19 Nov, 2015

Peter Jackson: Saracens are praying for Paris

Thierry Dusautoir will probably have heard of Vince Lombardi, the revered American football coach whose treasure-trove of homespun sayings includes one of striking relevance to the shattered captain of France: ‘’It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get back up.’’

Mon, 16 Nov, 2015

INTERVIEW: Peter Stringer looks back on his rugby career

Peter Stringer was the long-time first-choice scrum-half with Munster and Ireland before falling out of favour and making the decision to reboot his now 18-year professional career in England. He relives it all in his new autobiography, ‘Pulling the Strings’, writes Brendan O’Brien

Sat, 07 Nov, 2015

Paul O’Connell’s World Cup record unjust

Even in his worst nightmare, Paul O’Connell could never have envisaged it ending like this – not in, of all places, Cardiff, Irish rugby’s home from home, writes Peter Jackson.

Mon, 19 Oct, 2015

This was blood and thunder rugby at its best

From the moment Ireland’s Call thundered out inside the Millennium Stadium it was obvious something special was in the air. Never had a chorus of anything but Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau reverberated under the roof of Cardiff’s iconic venue to such deafening levels.

Mon, 12 Oct, 2015