Lions team has a ‘distinctly emerald tinge’

Just one more sleep until the Lions get their tour of Australia under way, Western Force their opponents in Perth on Saturday morning. And, as John O’Sullivan tells us, it’ll be a heck of a day for Dan Sheehan who, in the absence of Maro Itoje, will captain the side, the first Irish player to be given that honour since Conor Murray in South Africa four years ago. And Sheehan is promising Western Force that the Lions will be as hungry for a victory as themselves, not least because “this will be the first time I will be putting on the jersey, along with a few other lads”.

There is, as Robert Kitson notes, “a distinctly emerald tinge” to the Lions teamsheet for the game, but “the most striking selection is the squad’s uncut English diamond”, Henry Pollock. “His character is infectious to everyone,” said Andy Farrell of the 20-year-old, “he’s certainly not overawed”.

Gerry Thornley, meanwhile, talks to David Humphreys a year in to his role as IRFU high-performance manager, his chief challenge helping Munster, Connacht and Ulster close the gap on Leinster who, he says, “are incredibly good at nearly everything”.

Tommy O’Brien played no small part in Leinster’s successful URC campaign, John hearing from the 27-year-old winger ahead of Ireland’s test matches against Georgia and Portugal.

Paddy Christie on Owen Mulligan’s memorable 2005 goal: ‘To this day I would say it was great play... it changed everything’

No line judges at Wimbledon: you cannot be serious

The reckless New Zealand tackle that ended Brian O’Driscoll’s Lions tour and changed rugby

In Gaelic games, there’s been quite the backlash over the manner in which Mayo parted company with Kevin McStay and his management team. They were, writes Malachy Clerkin, perfectly within their rights to come to their decision, but the way they did it was “classless”.

If Mayo have some soul-searching to do, so too do Limerick and Galway’s hurlers after their championship exits, Joe Canning still struggling to make sense of Limerick’s defeat by Dublin. They will, he writes, “spend a long winter trying to work it out”, while Galway “have a lot of thinking to do as well”.

In soccer, the Republic of Ireland had a torrid time of it against the United States in Denver, their 4-0 defeat making it 16 losses in 16 games against the world’s top ranked nation. And back home, Paul Buttner talks to Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley who is expecting his players to put Monday night’s chastening 2-0 defeat to Bohemians behind them when Waterford visit Tallaght this evening.

In racing, ahead of Sunday’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, Brian O’Connor looks at the “fading grandeur” of Ireland’s premier classic, “the underlying problem commercial breeding prejudice against middle-distance ability”, and wonders if cutting it to 1¼ miles would help its cause.

And in tennis, “Like Bob Dylan almost 60 years ago, Wimbledon is going electric”. As Johnny Watterson tells us, “you cannot be serious” was the most common reaction when it was announced that “artificial intelligence would be taking over from the Homo sapiens” - for the first time in the tournament’s 148-year history, there will be no line judges. The pity is that John McEnroe isn’t still playing. Oh to see him argue with a machine.

TV Watch: Sky continues its golf coverage from the Italian Open (from 12.30 this afternoon), the LPGA Dow Championship (from 4.0) and the Rocket Mortgage Classic (from 5.30) where Conor Purcell, Leona Maguire and Séamus Power are, respectively, in action. From 5.10, TG4 brings coverage from The Curragh, and at 7.45 Virgin Media Two has the Premier Division meeting of Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic.