He did not hold back! While the Lions were comfortable winners on Saturday, beating the Western Force 54-7, there was a particular element of their game that was not up to scratch. They struggled hugely with the Australian side’s restarts, which gave them field position and put the Lions under massive pressure straight after their […]

9 months ago

A tweet he’ll want to forget….. After the news that Lions head coach Andy Farrell had ‘left the door open’ for his son Owen to be called up, Sunday Times writer Stuart Barnes was not particularly pleased. He took to X to write: “Shame….no form and as for Lions `experience’, SCW belief in past it […]

11 months ago

“It’s effectively the Ireland team.” Before Gregory Alldritt and his La Rochelle teammates left Leinster battered and beaten again – by the narrowest or margins, again – former England and Lions star Lawrence Dallaglio made an astute observation. Our Jason Hennessy caught up with Dallaglio pitch-side at Aviva Stadium, on Saturday, as he was preparing […]

3 years ago

A sizeable chunk of French rugby fans would wildly contest this call. “We got the job done in the end, which is the main thing,” Jamison Gibson Park reflected after his Leinster side’s win over Leicester, “but there’s definitely stuff to work on before next week.” With Leinster taking a shadow squad to South Africa […]

4 years ago

Four Irish picks from the former England and Lions star. Ireland may have fallen short at the second Grand Slam hurdle, but they are still in the championship hunt. Stuart Barnes was impressed enough with four Ireland stars to include them in his Six Nations XV after round two. France beat Ireland 30-24 in Paris […]

4 years ago

One would swear Warren Gatland had selected a club rugby trundler, instead of a 31-times capped Test player and Grand Slam winner. “Did we ever think that the name Bundee Aki would appear in a Lions tour party?” Let us say here that we were surprised when Bundee Aki, after Josh Adams, became the second […]

5 years ago