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Triple Crown beckons in Dublin; Tom Brady is back

The Morning Sports Briefing: Keep ahead of the game with ‘The Irish Times’ sports team

Victory in England sets up a home Triple Crown bid against Scotland. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho

Nathan Johns
Mon Mar 14 2022 - 06:48

For all the talk in the English press of a heroic defeat for England - yet still a record one to Ireland at Twickenham - the fact remains that the win secured by Andy Farrell's side leaves open the possibility of winning silverware at home next week, as Gerry Thornley points out. Victory against Scotland would see Johnny Sexton lifting the Triple Crown in Dublin. It may not be the Grand Slam Ireland wanted, but it's worth remembering that such honours in 2009 and 2018 were secured in Cardiff and London respectively, while the Six Nations titles in 2014 and 2015 were won in Paris and Edinburgh. Even if it is only a Triple Crown, winning a trophy at home is nothing to be sniffed at.

"Yesterday in Saudi Arabia 81 people were executed in the largest mass execution in years. There were a lot of Saudi flags fluttering in your section there today. What do you think of that as a fact when they are bankrolling your football team?" Now isn't that a question and a half. It was aimed at Newcastle boss Eddie Howe after his side went down to a late winner against Chelsea, but unsurprisingly the football itself was not the main talking point. Howe batted back question after question about his club's Saudi ownership structure, but Ken Early thinks a different tactic would be wise. In terms of the other football that took place yesterday, Arsenal continued to outline their top four credentials with a win over Leicester.

The weather has caused havoc on The Players Championship, to the point where they will only have completed the third round on Monday, but that didn't stop Shane Lowry from sparking the tournament into life with a hole in one on the 17th yesterday. The feat helped the Offaly man to a round of five under that has him four shots back of leader Anirban Lahiri. Rory McIlroy's hopes of winning look slim to say the least after scraping inside the cut but he will nonetheless be happy with an extra 36 holes to act as Masters preparation.

There is a new contender for the shortest retirement in the history of sports. Tom Brady announced he was leaving the NFL for good on February 1st. Just a month and 12 days later, the greatest quarterback of all time is back and will be returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season. He is 44. Was retired life that bad?