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Morning sports briefing: Provinces face up to problems ahead of difficult French exams

Gordon D’Arcy is worried about the ‘rugby IQ’ of players coming through, and we look back on the lives of two sporting revolutionaries

Munster training in the bowl at University of Limerick. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

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Mary Hannigan
Wed Jan 10 2024 - 10:32

On top of both their Champions Cup pool and the URC table at the turn of the year, Leinster would appear to be in fine fettle as they prepare for the visit of Stade Français on Saturday, but Gordon D’Arcy is worried. A lack of squad depth, he fears, will leave them ill equipped to carry on challenging in both competitions. Injuries, of course, haven’t helped, but Gordon’s deeper diagnosis raises “a few questions about the quality of players coming through the system”.

There is, he argues, “a genuine lack of individuality and flair” in the players arriving from their schools set-ups, the focus more on strength and conditioning than on the skills side of the game. By the time they move up the ranks, he writes, there is a notable “rugby IQ deficiency”.

Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast is hoping his men’s rugby IQ will help push them over the line when they travel to Toulon on Saturday. Is it an all-or-nothing contest? “Definitely. Absolutely,” Prendergast tells Gerry Thornley, both sides in danger of failing to advance to the round of 16.

Ulster could do with a win on Saturday too, but considering the mighty Toulouse are their opponents, and a certain Antoine Dupont might well feature for them, that won’t be easy. Michael Sadlier hears from coach Dan McFarland ahead of the challenge. And Linley MacKenzie talks to John Muldoon, buoyed by that recent victory over Munster, in advance of Connacht’s trip to Lyon.

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After the death of JPR Williams on Monday, Paul Rees reflects on the life and times of the “revolutionary” fullback who changed the dynamic of the role “and smoothed the way for the likes of Andy Irvine, Serge Blanco and John Gallagher”.

And Jonathan Wilson writes about the other sporting revolutionary who died on Monday, Franz Beckenbauer. “From his teens it was obvious he would be a player of the highest level. But in what position? Nobody could work it out. And so he effectively invented a role for himself.”

In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning talks to Kilkenny’s Walter Walsh as he prepares for another visit to Croke Park, this time with his club Tullogher Rosbercon for their All-Ireland junior hurling final against Cork’s St Catherine’s.

And Ian O’Riordan takes a look at the athletics year ahead, the indoor season likely to be left in the shade what with the small matter of an Olympic Games and European Championships to come. Ciara Mageean and Rhasidat Adeleke will only have eyes for Paris and Rome.

TV Watch: It’s day one of cycling’s European Track Championships in the Netherlands where Ireland have sent a five-strong team – Lara Gillespie, Mia Griffin, Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy and Erin Creighton (Eurosport 2, 6.0-8.30). And later in the evening there’s the first leg of the League Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Fulham (Sky Sports Football, kick-off 8.0).