Our expectations after that rather marvellous triumph in Marseille last Friday? They’re of the “giddy” variety, writes Gerry Thornley who, with the assistance of Josh van der Flier, tries to bring us back down a little bit closer to earth by pointing out that “history is against Ireland” in the quest for back-to-back Grand Slams, the feat having only been achieved five times since the turn of the millennium. “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, there’s still four big games left so we’ll take it step by step,” says van der Flier. But, as Gerry concedes, this Irish team is such a “well-oiled machine”, “anything less than a second Grand Slam might now seem like an anticlimax”.
The performances of the three young fellas, Joe McCarthy, Jack Crowley and Calvin Nash, only adds to the sense of optimism, Van der Flier paying tribute to all three, as well as McCarthy’s mullet. “It’s aspirational … he has worked hard on it in fairness to him and he’s very proud of it, as you can see.”
Farrell, as Gerry notes, wasted no time in fast-tracking players like McCarthy into the squad, understanding that an infusion of new blood “can also have an infectious effect on older teammates”. For Irish rugby, he concludes, “these are heady times”.
Paul Willemse’s red card in the game was well deserved, writes Owen Doyle. The French second row “can have no complaints, and may well miss the rest of the championship”. Rassie Erasmus spoke recently of the need to coach head-high hits out of the game, Owen hoping that all leading coaches will endorse his remarks. “Having coached it ‘in’ it is now time to coach it ‘out’. Maybe, just maybe, things are changing.”
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In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning reports on the hot water Justin McNulty found himself in at the weekend after the SDLP MLA left the first sitting of the new Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont to manage Laois in their League game against Wexford. And Gordon also takes a look at Cork and Kildare’s early season woes, the counties losing their opening two Division Two games of the campaign.
In his Different Strokes column, David Gorman writes about a frustrating few days for Rory McIlroy on and off the course, his 66th place finish at the Pebble Beach Pro Am followed by a “frank discussion” with Jordan Spieth over his comments regarding the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund’s involvement on the tour.
And Brian O’Connor reports on a record attendance at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival over the weekend, one that brought its own problems “in terms of toilets, bar facilities and access to ATMs”. And traffic management too.
TV Watch: Ten of the world’s top 20 players are in action this week at the WTA Abu Dhabi tennis Open, including Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur, with Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu both wild card entrants (Sky Sports Arena, 9am-5pm). And BBC1 has an FA Cup replay tonight, Plymouth Argyle at home to Leeds United (kick-off 7.45).
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