Good morning,
Leinster, you’ll have noticed, have been in fine fettle this season, but while Ulster and Leicester coaches Dan McFarland and Richard Wigglesworth doffed their caps to them after their recent Champions Cup defeats to Leo Cullen’s men, they suggested the playing field was less than level. Financial clout and demographics, they claimed, have given Leinster an advantage over their rivals.
Gordon D’Arcy takes issue with that assessment in his column today, arguing that improved coaching at academy and senior level has been the chief factor behind Leinster’s progress, and that, unlike many English clubs, they have “pursued a strategy of developing local players, to be complemented by a sprinkling of overseas talent”.
There’s a fair sprinkling of their youthful talent in the Leinster squad that set off for South Africa for two URC games, Jason Jenkins the only member of the match-day 23 that beat Leicester last Friday to make the trip. Gerry Thornley talks to the Springbok about his return home, his family living just 15 minutes away from the ground where Leinster will take on his former club the Bulls on Saturday.
And Daire Walsh speaks with scrum coach Denis Fogarty ahead of the Irish women’s Six Nations meeting with Italy in Parma on Saturday, the team badly in need of a pick-me-up after heavy defeats – to Wales and France – in the opening two rounds of the championship.
In Gaelic games, Sean Moran reflects on the GAA’s initial optimism after the signing of the Belfast Agreement 25 years ago, but he writes that while it has done admirable work in terms of outreach in the north, “there are few signs that entrenched positions have shifted”.
Gordon Manning, meanwhile, was at the media event ahead of the women’s football league finals and discovered that the players on duty were largely sticking to the script of that controversial memo sent to them by the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, which advised them how to answer questions about their transgender policy and the recent Cavan player strike. Gordon also talked to Kerry captain Síofra O’Shea ahead of her county’s meeting with Galway in the division one final.
And Joe Callaghan reports from St Louis where the Republic of Ireland lost 1-0 to the United States in the second of their friendlies against the World Cup holders, and he also talks to Sinead Farrelly after her “whirlwind” of a few days, the 33-year-old having made her Irish debut in the first of the two games.
Telly watch: There are two more Champions League quarterfinals on tonight’s menu, both kicking off at 8.0 – we have the all-Italian offering of AC Milan v Napoli (BT Sport 2) and Real Madrid v Chelsea (Virgin Media Two, BT Sport 1). Thoughts and prayers to the Londoners.
