A night of pure Munster theatre! Munster saw off South Africa A 28-14 in front of a record crowd of more than 40,000 fans in Cork last night. In the first rugby match ever held at Pairc Ui Chaoimh – the home of Cork GAA – Munster registered their maiden victory over a touring South Africa outfit. Check out Denis Walsh’s report here. Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has made nine changes for the visit of Fiji to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 1pm) with Jeremy Loughman to win his first cap after being named in the frontrow. The uncapped duo of Cian Prendergast and Jack Crowley are set to follow suit off the bench.
Manchester United are into the fourth round of the League Cup after a thrilling comeback win at Old Trafford last night, avoiding back to back defeats to Aston Villa after twice coming from behind. All six goals in a 4-2 win came in the second half, first Ollie Watkins for Villa before the hosts went straight down the other end to level through Anthony Martial. Diogo Dalot then inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net, only for Marcus Rashford to quickly equalise again. Bruno Fernandes put United ahead 12 minutes from time and Scott McTominay added a late fourth. Gareth Southgate has announced his England squad for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, with the headline news being the inclusion of James Maddison.
In her column this morning Lisa Fallon explains why it’s time to kick out referee abuse in our game. She writes: “The truth is, many people are guilty of abusing referees but don’t think they are. It’s like that parent or coach on the sideline roaring at the children. Why is it different when it’s the referee you’re shouting abuse at?”
Meanwhile, Alex Hales and captain Jos Buttler shone in an unbroken opening partnership as a ruthless England humiliated India by 10 wickets at Adelaide Oval on Thursday to storm into cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup final. The final, against Pakistan, will be shown live on free-to-air TV on Sunday after Sky agreed to share rights to the game with Channel 4.
