Leinster can rightly feel hard done by after the decision to award Montpellier a walkover for last weekend's Champions Cup clash. But life, and especially sport, is unfair quite a lot of the time, and despite the apparent inconsistencies between how Leinster were treated and how a side like Wasps, who had two positive test results on the morning of their clash with Munster, were allowed to still play, Leinster are unlikely to have the decision overturned. According to Gerry Thornley in his column this morning, parallels can be drawn between Leinster here and Toulon last year who were told they weren't playing despite travelling to the RDS. It's tough, but them's the rules. The respect of match officials is slowly being chipped away, as Owen Doyle sees it. Yes, Matthew Carley was right in joining Luke Pearce in recently marching players back after further chat, but the fact Carley had to do that during Munster's Castres win is a worrying trend. Last week's bombshell letter from 62 current and former women's international that heavily criticised the IRFU's handling of the game has led to action as Minster Catherine Martin and Minister of State Jack Chambers met with four representatives of those who signed the letter. The four yesterday released a statement saying that talks had been "constructive."
On the day it emerged that 16 per cent of top flight players are unvaccinated, the Premier League yesterday opted against suspending upcoming matches en masse but it does appear that those who do not get the jab will face a separate set of rules, including ones that cordon them off from vaccinated players during meal times. Bristol City are one of the few clubs approaching near a 100 per cent vaccination rate. This comes after their own manager Nigel Pearson suffered with Covid, and they are looking to be an example to the rest of the clubs in the Football League.
Kellie Harrington and Katie Taylor are the joint most admired Irish athletes. According to the Teneo Sport and Sponsorship Index, Harrington's Olympic gold medal win during the summer was seen as the nation's greatest sporting achievement this year. Fresh off winning the BBC World Sports Star award, jockey Rachael Blackmore joins the two boxers in the top end of this poll as three of the top five places were taken up by women.
Ballyhale Shamrocks are only six and a half years removed from winning an All-Ireland with Henry Shefflin, Michael Fennelly and Cha Fitzpatrick as their beating heart, and yet they somehow look even more dominant now than they did then. Malachy Clerkin today argues that their end-point is of their own choosing, if their indeed is an end-point and their dominance of both the Leinster and All-Ireland hurling competitions simply does not indefinitely continue. Over in Abu Dhabi, Monday saw Mona McSharry win a historic bronze in the 100m breastroke final at the World Short Course Championships. In the process of securing her medal, McSharry also broke the Irish record in the event.
