Thanks to heavy snow in Amsterdam, Ulster ended up as the only Irish province to enjoy a stress-free rugby weekend, their game against the Cheetahs postponed. But Leinster, Munster and Connacht endured every class of emotion in their contests against French opposition, Gerry Thornley rounding up what proved to be an eventful string of games.
Leinster’s one-point victory over La Rochelle was, he writes, both “titanic and slightly fortuitous”, Harry Byrne’s late penalty proving decisive. “I just said to Caelan ‘I want it’,” said Byrne after, explaining why he, rather than Sam Prendergast, was tasked with taking the kick. For Doris, the most pleasing aspect of the win was Leinster’s continuing “handy habit of simply finding a way”.
Munster thought they had achieved the same feat against Toulon, until a late penalty from Marius Domon left them with it all to do next weekend against Castres. It was a debatable penalty too, but there were no excuses from captain Tadhg Beirne or coach Clayton McMillan after the game.
For Connacht, it was a tale of frustration, writes Linley MacKenzie, after they gave up a 15-point lead to lose their Challenge Cup game away to Montpellier. No such woes for Bordeaux Bègles, though, the French side headlining our Champions Cup round-up after their eight-try victory over Northampton in a repeat of last season’s final.
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In Gaelic games, it was a heckuva weekend in Croke Park for Munster clubs – four finals, four triumphs. But the main event – An Ghaeltacht v Glenullin in the intermediate football final – proved to be a stinker, Gordon Manning reckoning it might already have sewn up the “Worst Croke Park game of 2026″ award. On top of that, his head will never stop buzzing from the incessant din of vuvuzelas throughout the game.
In his Tipping Point column, Denis Walsh concludes, based on the response to the sending off of Loughrea midfielder Cullen Killeen in the All-Ireland club hurling semi-final, that the GAA community has no stomach for the strict enforcement of rules. Instead, referees are often expected to “turn a blind eye” to incidents that merit punishment.
In football, Ken Early wonders how long Liam Rosenior will last as Chelsea manager. He “presents as a guy who would be more at home in the boardroom than in the dressing-room,” but the days of “unicorn” managers – “charismatic figures who personally incarnate the spirit of the club” – are fading fast.
Conor McEvoy, meanwhile, updates us on the fortunes of the Irish abroad, Evan Ferguson limping out of Roma’s game against Sassuolo not the most comforting of news for Heimir Hallgrímsson.
And in athletics, Ian O’Riordan reports on a heap of Irish records broken in Sunday’s Valencia 10km road race, among them Efrem Gidey’s national mark, which he lowered by five seconds. And over in Tallahassee, Brian Fay secured Ireland’s best result at the World Cross Country Championships in over a decade.
TV Watch: Snooker fans have unending live coverage of The Masters today on BBC2, BBC4 and TNT Sports 2, starting from 1pm this afternoon. At 7pm, Cork and Clare square up in the Munster Hurling League (TG4 YouTube) and at 7.45pm Liverpool host Barnsley in the FA Cup (TNT Sports 1).
