Andy Farrell’s made seven changes from the side that saw off Argentina for tomorrow’s Nations Championship game against Fiji, but the Ireland head coach has retained a strong core to his side. That, Gerry Thornley says in his preview, is an indication of his respect for the opposition. Among those who will start are Mack Hansen and Rob Baloucoune – add in the rested Hugo Keenan and you have the three players Conor Murray picks out from the Argentina game. The trio, he believes, are “essential to Ireland’s World Cup ambitions”.
John O’Sullivan hears from James Ryan ahead of the game, the Leinster man well aware of the danger Fiji can pose: “They love to throw the ball around, they’ve got real X-factor, real pace”. John also profiles Fiji’s side, former Toulon Champions Cup winner Josua Tuisova among their standout players. An indication of his physical power? They call him “the Bus”. A double-decker one, too.
In football, Gavin Cooney picks out a few talking points ahead of Ireland’s Nations League meeting with Austria in Linz on Saturday evening, among them whether Troy Parrott can maintain his remarkable scoring rate for his country, the Real Betis man having helped himself to 10 goals in his last seven competitive games.
And Paul O’Hehir previews a huge game for our under-21 side, who are away to Finland this afternoon in the first leg of their European Championship playoff.
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Meanwhile, Thursday brought possibly the least surprising occurrence in the history of association football: Michael Carrick’s sacking by Manchester United. Mauricio Pochettino, God love him, is poised to take over.
In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning talks to Liam Sammon about the 19-season intercounty career of Galway’s Paul Conroy, who announced his retirement earlier this week, and in golf, Rory McIlroy made a strong start to the DP World Tour Championship on Thursday, his round of 69 leaving him just two shots off leader Joost Luiten.
Gavin Cooney also has a look at a new report released by the Parliamentary Budget Office on Ireland’s “costly love affair with greyhounds”, one that lays bare “the extent to which greyhound racing is a profound waste of taxpayers’ money”.
Finally, it’s that time of year again, when The Irish Times sports department has to pretend to be chuffed for yet another colleague who has won the sportswriter of the year award. Twelve months ago it was our Ian O’Riordan, now our Malachy Clerkin has picked up the gong (not for the first time). But like any good Monaghan man, he’s humble about it, in an “ah sure, look it” kind of way. Congratulations Mal.
TV Watch: Sky Sport Golf’s coverage of the DP World Tour Championship began at 7am and continues until 1pm. There’s racing from Cheltenham on Virgin Media One and UTV from 1.30pm, and at 4.15pm Virgin Media Two has live coverage of the first leg of the Republic of Ireland’s under-21 side’s European Championship playoff away to Finland. At 8.10pm, Virgin Media One and UTV bring us what looks might be a half decent encounter in the Nations Championship: France v South Africa.
