Rugby fans might have done a double-take when the fixtures for the 2026 Six Nations were released on Monday. Ireland opening their campaign away to France on . . . a Thursday night? The reason for the first Thursday game in the championship’s history? The broadcasters didn’t want a clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on the Friday.
Gerry Thornley, to put it mildly, is not impressed. “Supporters wishing to attend this game will have to take at least two days off work. That is a huge imposition and is bound to affect the number of Irish supporters who will attend the game.” The scheduling simply underlines the fact that the powers-that-be “don’t give a damn” about the paying fans.
Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen won’t be giving too much thought to that Thursday night in February just yet, they have Lions’ matters to consider first. The quartet are among seven players in the Lions squad “who grew up playing rugby outside of Lions nations”, a fact that has stirred no little comment of late. Nathan Johns talked to Gibson-Park, Lowe and Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu about the issue. “Everyone’s got a different story and mine just didn’t start in Ireland,” said Lowe. “I can see it ending in Ireland.”
Owen Doyle, meanwhile, gives his thoughts on the refereeing in Munster’s URC game against Benetton, and he salutes Hollie Davidson and Nika Amashukeli for being appointed to referee the European Challenge and Champions Cup finals, respectively. “If anybody had suggested a few years ago that a Georgian man and a Scottish woman would referee the two European finals in 2025, they would have been scoffed at. It’s a terrific achievement.”
In Gaelic games, Conor McManus looks back on “a rough weekend for Connacht football”, with defeats for Mayo, Galway and Roscommon. “I know we’ve seen Mayo bounce back over the years, but it’s hard to know where this leaves them,” he says of their first championship loss to Cavan since 1948. Malachy Clerkin wonders too where Mayo can go from here. The one saving grace for them, he writes, is that almost nobody saw their defeat - it wasn’t televised, and only 7,387 turned up for the game in Castlebar.
In soccer, Paul Buttner was at Tallaght Stadium on Monday evening to see Shamrock Rovers extend their lead at the top of the Premier Division table to five points with a 4-0 win over St Patrick’s Athletic.
And in golf, Denis Walsh reflects on Scottie Scheffler’s US PGA Championship triumph, one that is moving him in to Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods territory in terms of the records he’s stacking up. And Philip Reid looks at Leona Maguire’s season so far. It hasn’t been her best, with just one top 10 finish to date, but she’ll hope to sharpen up at this week’s Riviera Maya Open in Mexico ahead of next week’s $12 million US Women’s Open.
TV Watch: After Monday’s rest day, the Giro d’Italia resumes with a Lucca to Pisa time trial (TNT Sports, from noon). And this evening, Manchester City will have to dust themselves down after that FA Cup final defeat if they are to boost their Champions League qualifying hopes - they play Bournemouth at home (Sky Sports, 8.0).
