Ireland will head for Twickenham on Sunday week with a new spring in their step after Saturday's Six Nations win over reigning champions Wales. With his team rebooted, revived and already seeking a Triple Crown, the clash will be a very special day for Andy Farrell, and another testing one for his wife, Colleen, given son Owen is the English captain. Looking back on the bonus-point win over Wales, Liam Toland (Subscriber Only) believes that denying Wales possession and kicking to gain distance were key to Ireland's victory: "there's a subtle difference over the week between Scotland and Wales, but a more obvious one over the year since Wales beat us to win the Grand Slam. Then Ireland (in the rain) ran 227 metres. They made an impressive 41 per cent increase last Saturday and once again, week on week, it is the Irish outside backs making the metres." Ireland moved to the summit of the Women's Six Nations Championship table after a 31-12 win over Wales in at times atrocious conditions at Donnybrook on Sunday.
Cathal McShane made his first appearance of 2020 as Tyrone overturned a four point half-time deficit, to edge Kerry by the minimum, in Sunday's Division 1 league clash in Edendork. They were assisted by a Darren McCurry scoring masterclass, a strong wind at their backs, and the loss of Kerry captain and top scorer David Clifford to a red card. Mayo conjured a late 1-2 to save a match they appeared for a long time to be comfortably controlling, and extend Meath's wait for a first win of the campaign. While in Letterkenny, Galway stormed back from the brink to overturn a seven-point deficit for a valuable away win over Donegal.
John Lundstram's late goal gave Sheffield United a 2-1 win against Bournemouth, moving the Blades up to fifth in the table and to within two points of Chelsea, who occupy the final Champions League spot. Manchester City's Premier League clash with West Ham was postponed due to the adverse weather brought by Storm Ciara - meaning Pep Guardiola's team will remain 22 points behind leaders Liverpool when the European champions travel to Norwich on Saturday. In his column this morning, Ken Early is writing about Guardiola's former club Barcelona, explaining how without unity of purpose, the Catalan club's great days aren't coming back: "Messi is the best footballer in history – that argument is over – and he continues to be the best player in nearly every game he plays. It's more that he has become the planet around which the whole club revolves. Everything is warped by his gravitational field. New signings must serve him first and they are measured in terms of how successfully they relate to him . . ."
Meanwhile Brian O'Connor's Tipping Point column is on Tiger Roll, and why racing will be the biggest loser if the record chasing horse doesn't line up at Aintree: "having taken the welfare genie out of the bottle there's no putting it back. If the Aintree challenge isn't fair for the greatest National champion of the last 40 years then the inevitable if misguided charge from opponents of the race will be that it is unfair to all runners . . ."
