Leinster set up to make it hot for Clermont at freezing AvivaRUGBY: CONDITIONS ARE liable to be far from feverish given the arctic forecast, but, fittingly, the Aviva has under-soil heating…Sat Dec 18 2010 - 00:00
O'Connell likely to appeal banRUGBY NEWS: MUNSTER ARE expected to appeal the four-week suspension handed down to Paul O’Connell yesterday by an ERC-appointed…Fri Dec 17 2010 - 00:00
Heaslip just the latest Leinster unlikely ladLEINSTER’S INJURY crisis worsens by the day and coach Joe Schmidt is pretty much resigned to being without Jamie Heaslip and …Wed Dec 15 2010 - 00:00
If Leinster thought last weekend was tough...ON RUGBY: AS HEINEKEN Cup weekends go, that was quite unusualTue Dec 14 2010 - 00:00
O'Connell set to learn his fateMUNSTER WILL learn Paul O’Connell’s fate on Thursday, when the Munster and Lions captain will attend an independent Disciplinary…Tue Dec 14 2010 - 00:00
Leinster and Schmidt don't expect any giftsRUGBY: ALL FOUR Irish provinces return to European action this weekend, and such is the nature of the group stages three of …Sat Dec 11 2010 - 00:00
Thomond Park factor can give Munster the X FactorRUGBY: THOMOND PARK has often spooked visiting teams from almost the moment they step into the Munster citadel, and even though…Sat Dec 11 2010 - 00:00
Knock-out aspect to back-to-back encountersRUGBY HEINEKEN CUP: IT’S BACK and, as ever with the Heineken Cup, never a moment too soonFri Dec 10 2010 - 00:00
Rugby authorities urged to tackle concussion head-onRUGBY AUTHORITIES have been urged to adopt stricter guidelines to safeguard players from the risks of concussion.Sat Dec 04 2010 - 00:00
New tiered price structure in placeSIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP AVIVA STADIUM TICKETS: THE IRFU have moved swiftly to atone for the errors in their ticketing strategy…Tue Nov 30 2010 - 00:00
The equator remains an impossibly broad divideON RUGBY: How is it that, when the European teams head south they seem to be running on empty, whereas when Southern Hemisphere…Tue Nov 30 2010 - 00:00
Autumn draws to satisfying closeRUGBY: IRELAND WRAPPED up the Guinness Series in satisfactory fashion and, after their most gruelling November, were entitled…Mon Nov 29 2010 - 00:00
Irish must front up then open upRUGBY: THE AVIVA’S under-soil heating has been switched on since yesterday, though come kick-off we may all be wishing it had…Sat Nov 27 2010 - 00:00
Friendship and mutual respectRUGBY: THE MUTUAL loathing may for once be dimmedSat Nov 27 2010 - 00:00
Stringer gets call to face ArgentinaRUGBY: PETER STRINGER and Geordan Murphy are set to be recalled to the Irish team when it is announced today for Sunday’s last…Fri Nov 26 2010 - 00:00
So much to learn from an encouraging performanceON RUGBY: Yes, the All Blacks are a superior force and Ireland have a lot of catching up to do, but the IRFU are operating on…Tue Nov 23 2010 - 00:00
Henry unveils strong selectionIRELAND v NEW ZEALAND: SAVE FOR one or two exceptions, Graham Henry pretty much unveiled his strongest selection for the third…Fri Nov 19 2010 - 00:00
Kidney to go with Leinster halfbacksIRELANDTEAM SELECTION: EOIN REDDAN is set for a slightly surprising recall when the Ireland team is confirmed at lunchtime today…Thu Nov 18 2010 - 00:00
Munster past always presentRUGBY: PERFORMANCES SUCH as Munster’s in their 15-6 win over Australia on Tuesday in Thomond Park don’t come about by accident…Thu Nov 18 2010 - 00:00
IRB have statistics to back scrum sequenceIN FOCUS REFEREEING: LAST TUESDAY in Lensbury, a conference centre cum tennis complex in London, the IRB referee manager Paddy…Wed Nov 17 2010 - 00:00
Springboks rocked as duo fail drug testsAUTUMN INTERNATIONALS NEWS: THE SPRINGBOKS Grand Slam tour has been rocked by the news two of their players tested positive …Tue Nov 16 2010 - 00:00
Boss on the bench as back-up to StringerRUGBY: ISAAC BOSS has been preferred to Eoin Reddan as back-up to Peter Stringer after the Ireland management yesterday finalised…Fri Nov 12 2010 - 00:00
Tickets for Argentina game even more expensive when purchased individuallyRUGBY: SUPPORTERS CONSIDERING buying individual tickets for the last match of the Guinness Series, Ireland v Argentina on Sunday…Fri Nov 12 2010 - 00:00
Ireland come up short on and off pitchRUGBY: NOT SO much a fortress, more a library. As homecomings go this was the wettest of damp squibsMon Nov 08 2010 - 00:00
A time for Ireland to be daring and braveRUGBY: IT’S A shame the Palindrome won’t be bursting at the seams on this homecoming for the boys in green, but aside from the…Sat Nov 06 2010 - 00:00
Springboks team still packs quite a punchRUGBY IRELAND v SOUTH AFRICA: THEY ARRIVE supposedly jet-lagged and weary, and riddled by injuries and in-fightingFri Nov 05 2010 - 00:00
Kidney has strong hand for a kind of homecomingTHE IRELAND team to play South Africa in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday in the first Test of the season and the first international…Wed Nov 03 2010 - 00:00
Clubs breathe sigh of relief over ticketsNOBODY, NOT even anyone in the IRFU, can accurately gauge how many tickets have actually been sold at this juncture for Saturday…Wed Nov 03 2010 - 00:00
IRFU climb down over ticketing 'error'INTERNATIONAL SERIES: IN WHAT may well be the biggest climbdown in its 131-year history, the IRFU late last night conceded that…Tue Nov 02 2010 - 00:00
Kidney and his men still operating at elite levelON RUGBY: LIES, DAMNED lies and statisticsTue Nov 02 2010 - 00:00
Growing injury list suggests something's not rightON RUGBY: WHAT HAS happened to the injury ratio among Irish players? Time was when the IRFU’s medical care and back-up were …Tue Oct 26 2010 - 01:00
Connacht's ambition costs them a pointConnacht 6 Leinster 18: SOMETIMES in rugby, as in life, you don’t get what you deserveMon Oct 25 2010 - 01:00
Connacht's fortress in danger of breachingRUGBY: ON HIS final trek to the Sportsground and a second successive defeat there, Michael Cheika lamented that he could not…Sat Oct 23 2010 - 01:00
Munster revive feeding-time-at-the-zoo daysThe Wembley Stadium hoopla on Saturday evening was as far from a Thomond Park experience as you could possibly imagineTue Oct 19 2010 - 01:00
Sexton stresses value of away winJONATHAN SEXTON’S importance to Leinster grows by the weekMon Oct 18 2010 - 01:00
Blanco still helps call the shots as Les Biarrots increasingly look to new cropHEINEKEN CUP FOCUS ON BIARRITZ: ON THE surface, Biarritz are the same as they ever wereWed Oct 13 2010 - 01:00
Leinster come into their own as serious stuff beginsON RUGBY: With likely lads slipping down the pecking order and unlikely ones rising, the Ireland team to play South Africa mightn…Tue Oct 12 2010 - 01:00
'We were probably creators of our own downfall'REACTION : MUNSTER WEREN’T doing cartwheels after another defeat on English soil on opening weekend but psychologically, their…Mon Oct 11 2010 - 01:00
Late bonus may yet mean so much morePOOL THREE LONDON IRISH v MUNSTER: London Irish 23, Munster 17: IN SUCH a dog-eat-dog group, any bones or scraps might well …Mon Oct 11 2010 - 01:00
Depleted Munster have it all to doRUGBY: THE SCALE of the task facing Munster in Reading appears to have grown by the day this past weekSat Oct 09 2010 - 01:00
Betting suggests it's wide openRUGBY: IT DOESN’T get any easier, this Heineken Cup; Leinster and Munster being obvious cases in pointFri Oct 08 2010 - 01:00
McGahan hoping Earls will be ready to return to actionRUGBY: KEITH EARLS is expected to be in the Munster squad for their opening Heineken Cup assignment against Premiership pacesetters…Tue Oct 05 2010 - 01:00
Leinster must rue lack of full-time defensive coachON RUGBY: If Leinster lose their next three games their season will already look somewhat goosed by the third week of October…Tue Sept 28 2010 - 01:00
Draw shows just how far Connacht have comeRUGBY: THIS HARDLY flowed like honey but in its own way this taut, titanic, tryless encounter was evidence of both teams’ progress…Mon Sept 27 2010 - 01:00
Form book favours UlsterRUGBY/Connacht v Ulster: ON ONE of those wild, wild nights in the west, three-quarters empty and the pitch ringed by a dog track…Sat Sept 25 2010 - 01:00
Time for Leinster to deliverRUGBY/MAGNERS LEAGUE/Edinburgh v Leinster: BACK WHEN the season started, a trip to Edinburgh in round four of the league would…Fri Sept 24 2010 - 01:00
Wallace and Mafi set for their first startsRUGBY: PARTIALLY OFFSETTING the triple whammy of injuries they suffered in overcoming the Ospreys at Thomond Park last Saturday…Wed Sept 22 2010 - 01:00
Knee injury puts Jones out until new yearRUGBY NEWS: MUNSTER’S WIN over the Ospreys last Saturday has come at a high price, with the cruelly unlucky Felix Jones and …Tue Sept 21 2010 - 01:00
Leinster must show respectRUGBY/Treviso v Leinster: WHEN TREVISO head coach Franco Smith was asked before the season what his main ambition for their …Sat Sept 18 2010 - 01:00
