Do you know how many years is it since Brian O’Driscoll scored that hat-trick in Paris, “galloping down the pitch, his oversized shirt rippling like a flag on a sunny March afternoon”? Are you sitting comfortably? It will, Johnny Watterson reminds us, be 25 years next month. But O’Driscoll is convinced that Ireland can make more sweet memories when they meet France on Saturday week, despite his admiration for today’s French team. “But we are a great side too,” he says, among those to have impressed him the most in the Six Nations so far Jamison Gibson-Park. “He’s gone to the next level”, he says.
On the provincial front, Munster will have themselves a new head coach come July, New Zealander Clayton McMillan’s appointment, on a three-year contract, announced on Wednesday. “His arrival,” writes Gerry Thornley, “underlines that Munster, with their rich history, retain a huge cache in world rugby.”
And Gerry previews the latest chapter in the rivalry of Terenure and Clontarf, their league meeting at Lakelands Park on Saturday. With four rounds to go, Clontarf lead the table, Terenure five points back in fourth - the scramble for the playoffs and coveted home semi-finals is on.
In Gaelic games, Ciarán Murphy turns his thoughts to “the number one bone of contention” people have with goalkeepers currently – “their presence in the opposition half, creating 12 v 11 overlaps”. And Gordon Manning hears from Offaly hurling legend Johnny Pilkington about the county building up “a head of steam” - if they beat Westmeath on Sunday, they’ll take a major step towards top-flight league hurling.
Karen Duggan: Carla Ward set the team up wrong against Slovenia, but the players lacked desire, urgency and passion
Cognizant Classic lowdown: The purse, the field, the course as Shane Lowry and Séamus Power tee off on PGA Tour
Ireland’s limitations laid bare in Slovenia as poor Nations League start continues
Le Bombe Equipe and the French 7-1 split promises Ireland a battle of collisions
In soccer, “a reality check” is how Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward described Tuesday’s 4-0 drubbing by Slovenia, Karen Duggan not quite sure where to start when analysing the Irish display. The worst of it, she writes, was the absence of “desire” and “fire in the belly”.
And in his America at Large column, Dave Hannigan tells us about the New York Yankees holding a press conference last week to announce some monumental news: the ban on players being allowed to have beards, which dated back to 1976, has been lifted. “For a team with one World Series victory in a quarter of a century, nothing better encapsulates the pomposity with which this outfit conducts its business,” he writes.
TV Watch: Shane Lowry and Séamus Power are in action at the Cognizant Classic in Florida which gets under way today (Sky Sports Golf, 4pm-11pm), Lowry 16th in the FedEx Cup standings after a strong start to the season, but Power in need of a big performance if he is to earn a late exemption into next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. And at 8.00 this evening, West Ham meet Leicester in the Premier League (TNT Sports 1).
