Manchester United's fixture away to Brentford has been postponed due to a Covid outbreak in Ralf Ragnick's first team squad. United closed their Carrington training ground for 24 hours yesterday due to the outbreak, with the Premier League finally confirming the decision to cancel the fixture late last night. The Premier League also confirmed a record 42 players had tested positive during the latest round of testing, as fears over the stability of the winter calendar and the possibility of further postponements grow. Two top flight fixtures are set to go ahead tonight, with Aston Villa travelling to Dean Smith's Norwich (7.45pm) and Man City hosting Leeds (8pm). Elsewhere yesterday the draw for the last-16 of the Champions League descended into a farce, with the first knockout round needing to be redrawn due to an error. The problems started as Manchester United were drawn to play Villarreal - a tie which couldn't take place as the two sides finished first and second in the same group. Further issues ensued leading to Uefa later confirming the draw would take place again. United - who had been pitted against PSG in the void draw - will now play Atletico Madrid in the last-16. Manchester City have been handed another favourable tie against Sporting, Liverpool will play Internazionale and Chelsea will play Lille, having drawn them twice in the same day.
Shockwaves were sent through Irish rugby yesterday, as 62 current and former women's players sent a letter to Government expressing their complete loss of trust and confidence in the IRFU after "historic failings." Among those to sign the letter are current players such as Eimear Considine, Sene Naoupu, Linda Djougang and Cliodhna Moloney, and they have been backed by legendary figures Fiona Coughlan, Lynne Cantwell and Ciara, in what Gerry Thornley has called a "damning indictment of the Union's governance of Irish women's rugby." The IRFU later released a statement, strongly rejecting the claims made in the letter. However, as Johnny Watterson writes this morning, the Union's standing is tarnished either way: "It is more important than money. The grievances are about respect and attitude, personal and collective esteem and consideration. It is about faith and assurance. It is about the union's opacity when it comes to the reviews they are currently conducting into the failure to qualify for the World Cup, and the implementation of the current Women in Rugby Action Plan which was due to run until 2023 and covers all aspects of the game across Ireland."
Elsewhere this morning Gerry Thornley has reflected on a fine weekend's work for the Irish provinces, with all four sides victorious in the opening round of Champions Cup fixtures. Ulster's win away to Clermont and Connacht's thrashing of Stade Francais in Galway caught the eye, but it was Munster who really stole the show as they routed Wasps, a side made up of senior pros and academy players running out 35-14 winners away from home. Peter O'Mahony was among those who stood up to be counted as Munster added another famous European win to their long list: "Inspired by the novelty of the occasion, by Munster digging deep into their roots, O'Mahony took the powerful Daniel Okeke under his wing for a fortnight and a day. (What's with the conveyor belt of number 8s? Maybe CJ didn't retire so prematurely after all.) But O'Mahony didn't overplay his mentor/coaching role for this game. He knew his best contribution was to deliver a performance. And he did just that."
In his column today Owen Doyle has also reflected on the weekend's European action - particularly Ulster's 29-23 win away to Clermont. And he has questioned the performance of referee, who be believes rode his luck at times at the Stade Marcel-Michelin: "The commentators were effusive in their praise of referee Wayne Barnes and I can go along with some of that, but certainly not all of it. There are questions to be asked of the officiating."
And new Formula One world champion Max Verstappen paid tribute to the sportsmanship of Lewis Hamilton yesterday, as the dust continued to settle on the controversial ending to Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He said: "Of course we had our tough times throughout the season, but in the end, you know, we respect what we were doing and we're pushing each other to the limit the whole season. So it has been really enjoyable racing against them."
