Champions Cup round 3 and Ireland 2024 6 Nations squad selection…

The Franco-Irish Champion’s cup head to heads ended up 2-2 after some good matches between eight teams playing some champagne rugby. It was a great prelude to the main symphony, France vs. Ireland, in Marseilles on 2nd.February. Lyon 34 Connacht 20 Lyon, helped by Paddy Jackson, were too strong for a Connacht side without Aki, Hansen, Bealham. O’Halloran and Blade. However, Connacht came to play and scored two excellent tries by Jansen and Prendergast at the beginning and end of …

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The Leadership of lemmings…

person hand holding paper

A response to Andy Pollak’s book review of The Long Game: Inside Sinn Fein… I have now drafted two responses to Andy Pollak’s book review: The Long Game: Inside Sinn Fein… – Once, a couple of days ago on his own blog Two Irelands Together, and once on Slugger O’Toole. The first disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again, and I hadn’t the heart to try and re-write it. The second fell on deaf ears as the column …

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Planning for a better future…

person holding light bulb

Commentators here and elsewhere have been keen to emphasize all the things Ireland must do to make a united Ireland an attractive proposition for unionists. The presumption seems to be that if you want something badly enough, you have to be prepared to pay for it. Some exhibit an impatience that no one – not Sinn Féin nor the Irish government – has started the bidding. Conversely, opinion polls in the south, while supportive of Irish re-unification, generally show an …

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Irish rugby is in a good place heading into the new year…

In the past Irish rugby internationals like Johnny Sexton, Tommy Bowe or Geordan Murphy were able to ply their trade in France, Wales, or England without detriment to their Ireland careers. Now the assumption is your Irish international career is over if you move abroad, even if, like Simon Zebo, you come back.   Tadgh Beirne was only considered by Ireland when he moved to Munster, and I presume the same will apply to Oli Jager. Donnacha Ryan was never picked …

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European Cup Rugby: Opening round…

The first round of the European Cup took place this weekend with mixed results for the Irish provinces. Ulster and Connacht were hammered by Bath and Bordeaux in Bath and Galway respectively, and Munster could only draw with Bayonne in Thomond Park. Leinster redeemed themselves and Irish rugby, to a degree, with a fighting win against La Rochelle in La Rochelle. Given that Leinster had lost their last three matches against La Rochelle in the semi-final and last two finals …

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United Rugby Championship round 7 and our 2024 Six Nations squad…

Time was when the Home Countries Championship, then the 5 Nations, and then the 6 Nations was the be-all and end all of international rugby. It is still the bread and butter of the participating Unions, funding all their other activities. The World Cup has only been with us since the advent of professional rugby and cost the IRFU a net €9 Million this time around. Without the 6 Nations, professional Irish rugby could not survive.  Now the Captains of …

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United Rugby Championship Round 6 Review…

Last week I had the good fortune to see my prediction of a clean sweep for all the provinces come true but warned that tougher weekends lie ahead. This week my predictions (for the Irish Rugby Fan Forum) were altogether more pessimistic, and unfortunately came true again.  Leinster 21  Munster 16   Prediction: Leinster win, although they won’t have it all their own way.  Munster certainly put it up to a Leinster side containing 14 world cup players in their starting …

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Clean sweep for the provinces – United Rugby Championship Round 5…

It’s not often I get all my predictions right, so I’m going to blow my own trumpet a little here. In a preview of Round 5 of the URC, written for the Irish Rugby Fan Forum, I predicted not only four wins for the Irish provinces, but got the broad shape of those victories right.   Those results mean all four provinces are in the top 6 of the URC table (1. Leinster, 2. Glasgow, 3. Ulster, 4. Connacht, 5. Edinburgh, …

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Rugby: United Rugby Championship, Round Four Review…

man holding rugby ball

Round four of the URC was distinguished by a few notable events. Zebre Parma won their first match since April 2022 after a number of recent near misses. All the Welsh regions lost, and the South African sides continued to struggle in the absence of their World Cup heroes, with the one exception of the Bulls, who lead the table on 15 points, where they are joined by Leinster and Glasgow followed by Ulster and Connacht on 14 points, and …

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Rugby: United Rugby Championship Round 3 review and 6 Nations squad preview…

man holding rugby ball

Leinster 36 Edinburgh 27  Munster 45 Dragons 14  Connacht 22 Ulster 20  As the dust settles on a good, if ultimately unsuccessful, world cup campaign, the focus is once more on how the provinces are doing in the URC. Connacht lead the table on 13 points, having won three from three home matches, their latest being a highly competitive and entertaining 22-20 win over Ulster. Munster are in second place, on 12 points after two bonus point wins and a …

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World Rugby Cup Final: South Africa 12, New Zealand 11…

Once again, the pundits are ascribing huge significance to the Springboks world cup victory when it could just as easily be described as a random event occasioned by small margins. The Boks won three matches by one point (and lost to Ireland by four) and had the rub of the green last night. The All Blacks were denied a brilliant try by an almost imperceptible knock on (itself occasioned by an illegal playing of their man in the air) and …

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Rugby Preview: Ulster, Connacht, Munster and Leinster back in action…

a rugby ball laying on the ground surrounded by leaves

United Rugby Championship: Round I  Zebre vs. Ulster Sat. Oct. 21st. 13.00  Connacht vs. Ospreys Sat. Oct. 21st. 15.00  Munster vs. Sharks Sat. Oct. 21st. 17.15  Glasgow vs. Leinster Sun. Oct. 22nd. 16.00  Right on cue, the URC makes it’s seasonal bow this week-end just as Ireland are knocked out of the World cup. Our world cup players will doubtless be afforded a few weeks rest, so these earlier rounds are an opportunity for the other squad players to stake …

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The Rugby World Cup End Game: New Zealand 28, Ireland 24…

A million words have been written about this match and my policy as a blogger is never to repeat any of them: Unless you have something original to say, the best policy is to say nothing. And the truth is: there is not much left to say. As expected, the match was a tight 50:50 contest which could have gone either way, but Ireland simply left themselves with too much to do when they went 13-0 down early on. Once …

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Rugby World Cup – Ireland 36 Scotland 14…

The first hour of this match was the best I have ever seen Ireland play. Not only were they absolutely clinical in taking nearly all their chances, but they defended as if their lives depended on it. 36-0 and 6 tries to nil after an hour against a very good side like Scotland is the stuff that dreams are made of. Ireland had a dream start scoring an excellent try off their first real attack thanks to Garry Ringrose doing …

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Rugby World Cup – Ireland 13 South African 8…

There is an old rugby aphorism that it is the forwards who decide who wins a match, and the backs decide by how much. The Irish backs decided they weren’t having any of that, dealing with the Springboks kicking game and providing an almost impregnatable wall in defence. Faf De Klerk and Mannie Libbok are a wonderful pair of half backs, but their place kicking can be iffy, and on the night, it was their lack of place kicking accuracy …

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Rugby World Cup 2023 Week 1 review and looking forward to Tonga…

The world Cup has kicked off with some fantastic matches, great play, and some intriguing results. France 27 New Zealand 13 Italy 52 Namibia 8 Ireland 82 Romania 8 Australia 35 Georgia 15 England 27 Argentina 10 Japan 42 Chile 12 South Africa 18 Scotland 3 Wales 32 Fiji 26 The opening encounter between the hosts, France, and three time winners and perennial contenders, New Zealand, did not disappoint. After some typically cagey opening kick ping pong they were sliced …

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New Book. Sovereignty 2040 – How Irish reunification took place and what happened afterwards…

My first book (and venture into fiction writing) has been published and is now available in hardback, paperback, and Kindle formats here. If you have Kindle Unlimited (and maybe Amazon Prime?) you can even read it for free. The book is a future history written from the perspective of 2040, 15 years after Irish reunification. It is written as a memoir by a young English journalist who falls in love with an Irishwoman, Ireland, its people, and its politics. It …

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Ireland 2023 Rugby World Cup Squad…

Andy Farrell is due to announce his final 33-man world cup squad next Monday after Ireland’s final warm up match against Samoa on Saturday. No doubt some fringe players will get another chance to impress on Saturday, but the vast bulk of the squad will have been pencilled in on his World Rugby squad notification form. Ireland plays at least one less warm up match than most other nations in the belief that the risk of injury to key players …

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Sovereignty 2045, Chapter 5: A Draft New British Irish Treaty…

people walking on street heading towards church

Keir Starmer was in a tricky position. With 290 seats he was 36 short of an overall majority and only two ahead of the Lib Dems and the Tories combined. Only the SNP could give him an overall majority, and they refused all entreaties to support his government unless he would agree to a second independence referendum to be carried out within 12 months. He might even have been agreeable to that if they not also insisted on a Treaty …

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Sovereignty 2045 – Chapter 4: Election Night!

I was out and about at various voting centres in Belfast on election day being careful to divide my time between protestant, Catholic, middle class and working-class areas. Most people were happy enough to chat though some gave me the middle finger. Reactions were sharply divided with many unionists saying they were protesting against “Sunak selling out our country when it isn’t even his to sell!” This chapter follows on from: Chapter 1: My private meeting with Rishi Sunak Chapter …

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