Show jumping team affairs get serious for Ireland from this weekend.

After an injury-enforced lay-off Cian O’Connor is set for a return to jumping action this coming weekend in Germany. The Meath rider heads for Wiesbaden’s four-star meeting with his top horse Good Luck, along with Copain du Perchet and his newly-acquired Cybell.

Nations cups dominated last week’s show jumping headlines, but the international limelight over the next few days switches to the relatively new, mixed-nationality format that is the Global Champions League (GCL), writes Mike Dunne.

The securing of maximum points is the target of manager Rodrigo Pessoa as Ireland’s show jumping team begin their competitive season in the five-star Nations Cup at La Baule, France this Friday.

Ireland’s new show jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa maintains that Irish teams have been underperforming and says that his goal is to transfer good individual performances to better team effect.

It’s been 15 years since an Irish team won the nations cup at Rotterdam and it’s guaranteed to be 16, as Ireland will not be represented today.

Greg Broderick and MHS Going Global flew two successful Furusiyya Series missions for Ireland recently in Lummen and La Baule, but it’s fair to say they did so under the radar.

It may prove an omen that Cian O’Connor rides Good Luck in today’s Furusiyya Nations Cup at La Baule, France, but the Olympic bronze medallist believes the team has enough ability to create its own fortune.

Cian O’Connor is countenancing no suggestion but victory in today’s Furusiyya Series Nations Cup at the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show.

Show jumper Billy Twomey yesterday described himself as "disappointed" after he was replaced by manager Robert Splaine for tomorrow’s crucial nations cup contest at the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show.

Shane Sweetnam may have offloaded his top ride last year, but that does not mean he is ready to relinquish his position as a stalwart of the Irish team.

The clock put a stop to show jumper Denis Lynch’s challenge in the €285,000 Longines Global Champions Tour class in Wiesbaden, Germany, on Saturday, a single time fault in the second round with the stallion All Star 5 denying him a place in the third-round decider.

Robert Splaine is hoping the team that placed second in last year’s US nations cup will get his new term as manager off to a good start today when they line out in Florida.

The recently-formed Irish Event Riders’ Club has “disassociated” itself from its own survey of riders regarding their experiences with the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) high-performance programme.

With just over a month to go on his contract, Robert Splaine received a glowing endorsement from the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) chief executive yesterday.

Next month’s Johnson & Perrott Land Rover International Horse Trials in Ballindenisk is gearing up to be one of the best as the Cork venue again attracts the cream of international and national riders.

The temperature in Rome was high yesterday, matched by the spirit in the Irish camp, if Billy Twomey is any sort of barometer.

Tipperary's Denis Lynch took the honours in this afternoon's Derby at the five-star show in La Baule, France, riding Flaminia Straumann's 13 year-old gelding Night Train.

Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine’s prediction that yesterday’s French Nations Cup would be a difficult test proved accurate, as Ireland finished joint fifth of the eight teams.

The FEI Nations Cup Series begins today in La Baule, France, and, important as it is, it will play second fiddle to the Olympics.

Ireland failed to make it past the first round in yesterday’s second-division Belgian Nations Cup at Lummen.

The RDS and other historic show jumping venues could face serious competition in remaining in the top-level Nations Cup series if proposals for a revamp proceed next year.

JAYNE DOHERTY’S dressage performance yesterday saw her the Irish standard bearer in the CCI three-star class at Tattersalls Horse Trials.

AN Italian job is not beyond the bounds of possibility in the second leg of the FEI Nations Cup League next week, according to Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine, who has nominated the same quartet that won last weekend’s French Nations Cup in his Rome squad.

EQUESTRIAN: By John Tynan

CIAN O’Connor is confident Larkhill Cruiser can rise to the occasion when he makes his nations cup debut in today’s FEI Top League opener in La Baule, France.

SHOW jumper Billy Twomey danced to his first Global Champions Tour win at the weekend in Valencia, Spain, on the appropriately named Je t’Aime Flamenco.

DENIS LYNCH will be aiming to further repair his “dented pride” this weekend when he lines out in the second leg of the Global Champions Tour (GCT) in Valencia, Spain.

IRELAND will contest this year’s Meydan Nations Cup Series, despite a 60% cut in funding by its affiliate, ShowjumpingIreland, coupled with a reduction in the Irish Sports Council contribution to high performance.

You can’t keep a good thing down. It is an aphorism that, as 2010 came to a close, seemed apt for Cameron Hanley, as he returned to winning ways, notably at the four-star shows in Salzburg, Austria and Dresden, Germany.

CLEAR rounds from show jumpers Billy Twomey, Cian O’Connor and Cameron Hanley saw Ireland finish equal third yesterday in a highly competitive second leg of the Meydan FEI Nations Cup Series in Rome, Italy.

IRELAND show jumping manager Robert Splaine says the coming outdoor season will be “tough”, as he tries to balance the demands put on resources by the Meydan FEI Nations Cup Series and September’s Alltech World Equestrian Games.

AS expected, Denis Lynch has been named as Ireland’s individual show jumper at next month’s Olympics.

JESSICA KÜRTEN yesterday filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the two-month suspension imposed by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) as a result of the banned medication found in the horse Castle Forbes Maike.

IRELAND’S joint second place in the opening leg of the Samsung Super League was as good as could be hoped for, but the fact it was shared with Switzerland and the US dented the value of the performance in terms of points gained.

Tipperary-born Denis Lynch rounded off a superb Irish weekend at the five-star show in La Baule, France with a decisive win in the Grand Prix this afternoon, taking the winner's prize purse of

The Irish Nations' Cup team were expected to struggle on their return to the Samsung Super League after a year's absence, but managed to finish a very creditable equal second at La Baule, France this afternoon.

IRELAND show jumping team manager Robert Splaine set out his stall for this year’s Samsung Super League, saying his aim was firstly to maintain our place among the world’s elite.

DENIS LYNCH will saddle up his Qatar Global Champions Tour winner (GCT) Lantinus for the Samsung Nations Cup Super League opener in La Baule, France on May 8-11.

IT should come as no surprise that plans for Ireland’s nations cup participation are to be revised following ShowjumpingIreland’s re-negotiation last week of its financial input.

JESSICA KÜRTEN went on the offensive again this week in her battle with the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) over the drugs case involving Castle Forbes Maike.

Wales fly-half Stephen Jones looks set to miss next Saturday’s World Cup warm-up clash with England after pulling a groin muscle.

IRELAND show jumping team manager Robert Splaine is not one for bombast, so it was not surprising yesterday to learn that his aims in today’s French nations cup are modest.