After a thoroughly deflating few days for Irish rugby, inevitably we’re all now wondering “whether this is a lull or something deeper”. Gerry Thornley gives his thoughts on where we stand after surveying the wreckage of those heavy defeats for Andy Farrell’s crew, the XV that were hammered by England and the under-20s who were put to the sword by France. There weren’t too many signs of “green shoots”.
“One of the most under-appreciated ingredients in sport is confidence,” says Ronan O’Gara, Farrell’s biggest challenge now, he says, lifting his players in time for the visit of an Italian side high on that very quality after their win over Scotland.
Hollie Davidson will make history in that game in Dublin when she will become the first woman to referee a men’s Six Nations game. Donald McRae talks to the 33-year-old Scot about her journey in the sport, which has featured no end of abuse from the sidelines.
Another referee gets high marks for his performance in Paris, Owen Doyle saluting Karl Dickson’s handling of the France v Ireland game. “He was much quieter than usual and was the better for it,” he said, warmly welcoming the reduction in chat.
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In Gaelic games, there’s no end of chat out of Cork hurling manager Ben O’Connor this weather: “spiky, pungent, blunt, opinionated, divisive, compelling,” as Denis Walsh describes it. Hurling fans will, largely, agree with O’Connor’s view that the game is being refereed “by numbers” these days, but might not be at one with his take on head-high tackles.
O’Connor’s thoughts feature too in our round-up of ‘what we learnt from the weekend’s GAA’, Gordon Manning concluding that “whether you agree with his points or not, it is hard not to admire his willingness to play the role of truculent fox in the hurling henhouse”.
In golf, who’s the “hottest player on the planet right now?” No contest, it is, writes Philip Reid, Patrick Reed (no relation). The American has gone 1-2-1 in his last three events and is “a viable challenger” to Rory McIlroy’s tilt for a record-equalling eighth spot at the top of the DP World Tour’s order of merit.
And on the Winter Olympics front, we learnt last week about the eye-watering lengths some ski jumpers travel to gain an edge in their sport. As Andy Bull tells us, “the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency found himself fielding questions about jumpers injecting hyaluronic acid into their penises to make them bigger”. Just when you think you’ve heard it all.
TV Watch: On the Winter Olympics rumbles, live coverage continuing through the day on BBC1, BBC2 and TNT Sports until 10.30 tonight. And TNT Sports also has a bunch of Premier League games to choose from this evening - Spurs v Newcastle, Chelsea v Leeds and Everton v Bournemouth kick off at 7.30, and West Ham v Manchester United at 8.15pm.
