In his column this morning Gordon D'Arcy reflects on where Munster must go next, after another campaign which has ended without silverware and in semi-final defeat in both the Champions Cup and the Pro14. The province were well beaten by rivals Leinster in the Pro14 semis last weekend, outgunned physically as they fell to a 24-9 defeat at the RDS. Now, writes D'Arcy, it's time to think outside of the box: "Innovative coaching, as Irish rugby has learned to our enormous benefit under the guidance of Joe Schmidt and more recently Stuart Lancaster, is how Munster start winning trophies again. . . The summer recruitment of two specialist coaches - attack and the pack - is vital for Johann van Graan's time in charge to be deemed a success." D'Arcy also looks ahead to this weekend's Pro14 final at Celtic's Parkhead, with Leinster looking to end their season on a high before the eyes of the rugby world turn towards Japan. However, it won't be easy against Dave Rennie's flying Scots: "Glasgow have a real chance to leave Leinster trophyless. A stellar Johnny Sexton performance can turn that theory to dust. But something special will be needed at Celtic Park."
Another side in pursuit of glory are Dublin, whose bid for an unprecedented five All-Ireland SFC titles in a row begins in earnest on Saturday night as they take on Louth in Portlaoise. And in his column this morning Darragh Ó Sé suggests Jim Gavin's side must continue to evolve in order to stay hungry and make history this summer: "So the task for Dublin's players this summer is to keep finding new ways to improve." And he pays tribute to Gavin's ability to keep refreshing his playing panel while continuing to hoover up All-Irelands: "This is why Jim Gavin is so good. Go through his teams year by year and what jumps out at you? The freshness of the whole set-up. Every year, he has a couple of new lads in and a few older faces fall away. The team is getting younger as it's getting older, if that makes any sense. Gavin has very few sacred cows. Diarmuid Connolly wasn't one. Bernard Brogan isn't one. Gavin knows everyone has a sell-by date and you can see he prefers to clear the shelf too early rather than too late."
Arsenal will take on Chelsea in next week's Europa League final without attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, after the Armenian international pulled out of the match in Baku due to safety fears. The final is being held in Azerbaijan, who are currently in a conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. As a result the 30-year-old, who won the competition with Manchester United in 2017, has decided it is too risky to travel to Baku. Arsenal manager Unai Emery said: "It's bad news. But we cannot do anything for this issue. It's a very personal decision. We need to respect him. We don't understand, now, all the political problems. I spoke with Mkhitaryan. He wants to play and to help us. But they spoke, both family and him, and decided to not go."
Elsewhere Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has defended his selection of 18-year-old Bolton Wanderers midfielder Luca Connell for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Denmark and Gibralatar, denying the call up was a cynical move to fast track the player into the Irish set up. He said: "I'm not going to stick him on the pitch for a minute just to cap him. Not unless he rips it up here and we all go 'Wow!' Who knows? It's up to Luca if he wants to play for us. I'm not getting into that old routine again. I've not seen him first-hand but he's had a good season by playing 15 matches." Last night St Pat's edged out Derry City in Inchicore, Kevin Toner scoring the winner.
And World Rugby officials meet in Dublin today for crunch talks over the proposed Nations Championship. Yesterday the women's game took centre stage however, with a 'revolution' promised, writes Gavin Cummiskey.
