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Springboks watching Irish defeat; Klopp needs to lead Liverpool home

Morning Sports Briefing: Keep ahead of the game with ‘The Irish Times’ sports team

reland’s Devin Toner and England’s Maro Itoje. Photograph: Tom Honan/The Irish Times
reland’s Devin Toner and England’s Maro Itoje. Photograph: Tom Honan/The Irish Times
Mon Feb 04 2019 - 07:47

Ireland's humbling defeat to England in Saturday's Six Nations opener will leave not only mental scars, but according to Gerry Thornley, there's been plenty of physical damage left too. Medical updates on CJ Stander, Devin Toner, Keith Earls and Garry Ringrose are expected today. Liam Toland believes that England have come up with perfect blueprint to defeat Ireland, and South Africa, for one, would have the wherewithal to replicate their successful tactics in the World Cup: "Rassie Erasmus is an extremely intelligent rugby man with a deep knowledge of Irish rugby and will be plotting for the strong possibility of an Irish–Springbok quarter-final at the World Cup."

Manchester City maintained the pressure on league leaders Liverpool with a 3-1 win over Arsenal yesterday evening - thanks to a hat-trick from Sergio Aguero. The win leaves City two points ahead of Liverpool who play their game in hand against West Ham tonight. In his column this morning, Ken Early writes that manager Jurgen Klopp must exude the confidence which guides Liverpool and their struggling fans home: "Klopp's natural optimism would make him an oddity in the stands at Anfield, where the mood more often oscillates crazily between bullish overconfidence and depressive, paranoid fatalism, with slack-jawed interludes of glassy-eyed torpor."

In Sunday's GAA league action there were wins in Division 1A of the hurling for Clare over Kilkenny, and on a very poor Páirc Uí Chaoimh surface Wexford also got their first win of the campaign against Cork. In 1B Carlow provided the result of the weekend with a draw against 2017 All-Ireland champions and last year's finalists Galway. In the football, Roscommon brought Monaghan crashing back down to earth at Dr Hyde Park after last weekend's win over Dublin, Kerry free-taker Seán O'Shea kicked 12 points as the Kingdom edged Cavan late on for their second win from two, and Mayo had far too much for a hapless Tyrone side in Omagh.

Meanwhile The New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 on Sunday to capture a National Football League record-tying sixth Super Bowl title. The victory, which moves the Patriots into a share of the all-time mark with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was also a record sixth Super Bowl triumph for Tom Brady, who at 41 also became the oldest quarterback to win the championship game.