Hats off to Andy Farrell and Ireland Above all the memorable moments during Ireland’s defeat of England, one stood out. Stuart McCloskey’s chase down of Marcus Smith, after the England back intercepted a pass in his own half, has already become an iconic moment in Irish rugby. It showed incredible hunger, given that Ireland were […]

6 days ago

“Nobody stops him from two yards out.” Following Connacht’s 20-19 defeat to Ulster, seeing two players from the rival team managed to pick up the spirits of Bundee Aki. The Connacht centre put in a fine effort, like many of his teammates, but they left themselves with too much to do, going into the second […]

2 years ago

The Johnny Sexton ban scuppered one warm-up tactical plan. Following Ireland’s weekend win over England, the RTE panel of Jerry Flannery, Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip all make an underlined note of Jack Crowley slipping back to play a bit of 12 for a while. Crowley came on to replace Bundee Aki after 58 minutes […]

2 years ago

If this was his final game for Ireland, Keith Earls has passed the baton in style. Even though Ireland, and even World Cup side, have two extra squad places to allocate, there are set to be some tough calls for Andy Farrell. Keith Earls got his dream send-off at Lansdowne Road, on Saturday, but will […]

2 years ago

“Oh, sorry.” It’s hard to miss Stuart McCloskey, all 6-foot-4 of him, especially when he walks in on two debutants talking excitedly about their first ever Test outings for Ireland. The Ulster centre is fresh off another Test start for Ireland, with a solid performance and a fourth international try the reasons for pep in […]

2 years ago

It looked as if it would never happen for the big man. The answer you would often be met with when you bemoaned the lack of Test minutes for Stuart McCloskey would be one of the following names: Garry Ringrose Robbie Henshaw Bundee Aki Jared Payne James Hume With each one, the person would have […]

2 years ago