The World Cup countdown is officially on. Andy Farrell has named his first Ireland team of the season, on Thursday, and started down the road to the World Cup, in France. Farrell has mixed up his starting XV and give new combinations a go, when Italy visit Aviva Stadium this Saturday. There will be plenty […]

2 years ago

‘Not seeing Johnny Sexton in the warm-up… ‘ So began the murmurs and tweets at Aviva Stadium, on Saturday evening, as kick-off against Australia drew closer. Jack Crowley, for a lad that was supposed to be on the replacements bench, was suddenly getting a lot of quiet words and back-slaps. Sexton had been out, earlier […]

3 years ago

“He’s back up and running again.” Bundee Aki would have been hating the fact that he had to miss out on all the final training drills, captain’s runs and the match-day experiences for Ireland, in the Autumn Nations Series. A poor clear-out attempt on Stormers’ winger Seabelo Senatla, followed by an on-pitch rant at the […]

3 years ago

The Munster outhalf ended up wearing Johnny Sexton’s actual No.10 jersey. There was concern at Aviva Stadium, about 25 minutes before kick-off in the Bank of Ireland Nations Series clash between Ireland and Australia. Johnny Sexton, the Ireland captain, was nowhere to be seen, and Paul O’Connell was grabbing Jack Crowley and Ross Byrne for […]

3 years ago

IRELAND 13-10 AUSTRALIA Ireland welcomed a Wallabies side to Dublin that are desperate for a victory after pushing France close, only to lose to Italy. Our Ireland player ratings show how tough a night it was for the world No.1 side. In the end, it took a late penalty from Ross Byrne – a guy […]

3 years ago

Ireland are looking to end their Test year on a high. Andy Farrell has named his Ireland team to face Australia, on Thursday afternoon, as he seeks to end the calendar year as World No.1. Ireland have followed out on their summer series win over the All Blacks by defeating South Africa and Fiji, in […]

3 years ago