All of a sudden Ireland's loss to Luxembourg doesn't look quite as bad when you check last night's results and see that North Macedonia beat Germany 2-1. Granted, it was the Germans first World Cup qualifying loss at home in 20 years which is quite a record but there's certainly no doubt now as to what the biggest shock of the international break was. On the subject of Ireland, Stephen Kenny will have two summer friendlies to assess his options before the next qualifier away to Portugal on September 1st but, as Emmet Malone writes, the lack of a goalscorer will continue to be an issue for this Ireland team. Elsewhere last night Northern Ireland could only manage a 0-0 draw with Bulgaria while Harry Maguire scored a late winner for England against Poland.
Moving on to rugby and JJ Hanrahan has no regrets about swapping Munster's Red Army for the yellow of Clermont Auvergne, he tells Gerry Thornley. "I'm only 28. Lads often slag me that I've been around a long time but I feel there's a good bit of rugby in me yet. So that was tough to take. There were a few nervous weeks, I won't lie, after I heard the news on March 1st, to get things sorted but thankfully it turned out to be Clermont," he said. Meanwhile, in his stats column this morning John O'Sullivan looks at how much better away teams have fared in empty stadiums as Covid-19 keeps home crowds at bay. Across the Pro14, the Champions Cup and the Six Nations the evidence is clear to see. In the Champions Cup this weekend Leinster will look to continue their march to a potential double and yesterday Josh van der Flier spoke of how he wants to keep adding variety to his game.
In golf, the first women's Major of the year gets underway in California today with Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow in action at the ANA Inspiration. Meanwhile, police say they have concluded their investigation into the car crash which left Tiger Woods seriously injured last month but they say they cannot release findings until they have the golfer's permission. Woods was released from hospital earlier this month after sustaining a number of serious injuries when his SUV overturned in Los Angeles on February 23rd.
In GAA, the Association has warned teams that any lockdown breaches will jeopardise all plans for a return to activity. The reported incidence of a possible breach of level 5 Covid-19 restrictions by a GAA club in west Cork earlier this month is currently being investigated by the Garda and only intercounty teams are permitted to resume training from April 19th.
Finally, Joanne O'Riordan writes in her column this morning that Football Beyond Borders has taken a rounded approach to changing girl's lives while Dave Hannigan remembers Rev Aloysius Travers, the only Catholic priest ever to play in Major League Baseball.
