What is Eddie Jones' greatest fear? What most worries the England manager, particularly as we head into the Six Nations? Well, according to Gordon D'Arcy it is the lack of leadership within his team, coupled with the fact that Ireland have one of the best. In his column this morning, D'Arcy pens an open letter to the England coach whose latest verbal volley at Johnny Sexton only proves that the South African is desperate for someone like him in his team. "I reckon you showed your hand a little too much," D'Arcy writes. "Come on, be honest, you'd give your right arm to have a captain who can speed dial a referee mid-game." It's certainly heating up now with Ireland's opening game against England just around the corner so it's time to get your thinking hat on and start putting together your Fantasy Rugby team to be in with a chance of winning €3,000. You can sign up and find all the details here. Meanwhile, Ireland will go into the under-20 Six Nations harbouring similar ambitions to those of the senior team and they will be captained by a man who has excelled not only on the rugby pitch but also with a hurl and a sliotar in his hand. David Hawkshaw was a Dublin minor hurler before switching full-time to rugby and John O'Sullivan spoke to him yesterday about choosing between the two sports and how his hurling has helped him when it comes to rugby.
On to soccer and Ruaidhrí Croke's latest instalment of the From The Back Pages series looks at a strange time in the Irish domestic game when players such as Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst and Rodney Marsh came over to play for League of Ireland teams but the greatest draw of them all was none other than the great George Best. Just seven and a half years after a 22-year-old Best helped Manchester United to winning the European Cup, the Belfast boy lined out for Cork Celtic as his superstar lifestyle was beginning to spiral out of control despite the fact that he was still just 29 years old. Meanwhile, the search for the plane on which missing Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala was travelling will resume at sunrise this morning. The Argentine forward was on his way from Nantes to Wales to begin his career at Cardiff when the plane carrying just him and the pilot disappeared over the English Channel.
In GAA, Seán Moran writes this morning that the organisation faces uncertainty the like of which it hasn't seen in over 100 years with experimental rule changes still creating questions, despite the fact that the change to the handpass rule has already been abandoned. "Has the GAA ever been in so much chaos: not in the catastrophic sense but simply existing at a time of so much uncertainty and in the midst of so many experimental challenges to the way it has conducted its affairs for so long?" he writes. Meanwhile, Tomás Ó Sé does not feel that Kerry will be a threat to Dublin this year, due to their leaky defence. Speaking yesterday, the Kingdom great questioned the solidity of Kerry's defence and also their work-rate around the pitch.
Moving on and Serena Williams saw her hopes of a record-equalling 24th grand slam title ended in the early hours of this morning when she blew a third-set 5-1 lead and four match points against Karolina Pliskova during their Australian Open women's singles semi-final. The American was hampered by a damaged ankle as she let the Czech back into the game. Pliskova will now face Naomi Osaka in the final after the Japanese player eased past Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1.
Finally, Ireland's Thomas Barr has decided to step into unknown waters by targeting qualification for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow on the first weekend in March. The bronze medalist from last year's European Championships is looking to further fine-tune his speed over the winter and break up an extra-long outdoor season that won't peak until the World Athletics Championships in September, as he told Ian O'Riordan yesterday.
