Has tinkering with the format of rugby’s Champions Cup worked? Gerry Thornley believes not – in fact, he feels last weekend’s round of matches “crystallised the waning appeal” of the competition. Too many “foregone conclusions” in the pool stages have robbed it of jeopardy and, most probably, the dramatic final weekends that were once its hallmark. Add in the loss of home-and-away return fixtures, which generated rivalries, and the inclusion of the South African sides, which is just not working, and there’s a lot to fix.
Jeremy Davidson, you’d imagine, has no complaints about the weekend after his Castres side beat Munster in the Champions Cup, Gerry talking to the former Irish international who, after 13 seasons coaching in France, would like, “eventually”, to work in Ireland again.
Munster’s woes were compounded on Friday by a lengthening injury list, the news on Craig Casey not good, but less awful than first feared – he suffered a meniscus injury in the game against Castres, and not an ACL injury. He will undergo knee surgery this week.
Owen Doyle, meanwhile, looks back at the weekend’s refereeing and felt no little relief when he saw Luke Pearce, who looked after Leinster’s game, “put a sock in it” having indulged in “needless waffle” the week before. “Maybe, at last, he realises that nobody, but nobody, has bought a ticket to watch or listen to him.” You just wish Owen would speak his mind.
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In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning hears from Diarmuid O’Sullivan after his Sarsfields side reached their first ever All-Ireland club hurling final by beating Slaughtneil last Sunday. That feat seemed unimaginable back in October when they lost the county final by nine points.
In golf, Philip Reid talks to Leona Maguire at the end of a season that was filled with ups and downs. “I feel like I worked harder this year than I have any other year, it just didn’t show in the results,” she says. But, she insists, she learnt plenty and will take “a lot of positives” in to 2025.
In racing, Brian O’Connor looks at The Wallpark’s chances of making an immediate impression for his new owner JP McManus in Saturday’s Grade One Howden Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot, and he has news of ex-trainer Ronan McNally readying a High Court action against the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board over his record disqualification from the sport.
TV Watch: It’s time for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards (7pm-9pm), 800m Olympic gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson the favourite to take the overall gong. You’d imagine, though, that Darts’ wonder boy Luke Littler has a fair old chance of going home with the shiny prize, cricketer Joe Root, triathlete Alex Yee, cyclist Sarah Storey and footballer Jude Bellingham the other contenders.
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