The last time Ireland entered a Six Nations campaign without Johnny Sexton, as Gerry Thornley notes, “Brian Cowen was Taoiseach, Barack Obama had just been elected US president, and Donald Trump wasn’t even a bad dream”. So, 15 years on and it’s the start of “life after Johnny”, with Jack Crowley “the man most likely to fill those sizeable boots”. “World Cups tend to mark a changing of the guard and nowhere is this more dramatic than at outhalf,” writes Gerry, with England and Wales having some boot-filling to do themselves in the absence of Dan Biggar and Owen Farrell.
While Ireland might have felt aggrieved by Wayne Barnes’ awarding of those three scrum penalties in the World Cup quarter final loss to New Zealand, scrum coach John Fogarty admits to Gerry that “the pictures which the Irish scrum are painting for referees is a concern”. So, some tidying up is needed in that area before the campaign kicks off in Marseille on Friday night.
Among Owen Doyle’s wishes for this year’s Six Nations is to see “dangerous head contacts avoided” – and on that front he was left bewildered by the rescinding of the red card Bristol’s Josh Caulfield received after his boot ‘made contact’ with Finlay Bealham’s head in their Champions Cup game against Connacht. If that was not considered a red card offence, “then the future vista for rugby is grim”.
On a happier note, Johnny Watterson reflects on the triumph of the Irish women’s Sevens in their World Series final against Australia in Perth on Sunday, that win firmly placing the team as “genuine contenders for a podium place” at this summer’s Olympic Games.
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In Gaelic games, Seán Moran brings news that the GAA is not expected to introduce the use of television match officials after the matter was discussed at their Central Council meeting at the weekend, the chief issue being the impact of lengthy delays in play on the flow of matches.
Malachy Clerkin, meanwhile, was surprised to see Dessie Farrell hand out just two Dublin debuts in Saturday’s League opener against Monaghan, one of them a late substitute. The bulk of his first-teamers are the wrong side of 30 and while “nobody’s saying they’re done or that Farrell needs to cut them loose en masse …. the clock is undefeated, always”. Time for a refresh?
In athletics, it will be 70 years in May since Roger Bannister made news around the world for running a mile in under four minutes, but as Ian O’Riordan points out, “his once heroic feat is not what it used to be” – last weekend alone, 48 men broke that “once-thought impossible barrier”. “What’s rare is wonderful,” says Dublin Track Club coach Feidhlim Kelly, “and when the thing isn’t rare any more, it does lose some wonder.”
TV Watch: There’s more round of 16 action from the Africa Cup of Nations today, Sky Sports showing Mali v Burkina Faso (5.0) and Morocco v South Africa (8.0). Chelsea’s women are away to Paris FC in the Champions League (TNT Sports 3, 5.45) and there are two Premier League games on your screens tonight, Nottingham Forest v Arsenal (TNT Sports 2, 7.30) and Aston Villa v Newcastle (TNT Sports 1, 8.15).
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