Gordon D’Arcy
The Six Nations has gone to bed for the weekend and when it returns in 10 days Ireland must negotiate their way past a rejuvenated France in Dublin.
And Gordon D’Arcy believes Ireland will have too much for Guy Noves’s side if they consistently play on the front foot at the Aviva Stadium.
In his column today, he writes: “An important process in beating France is to force them into constant defending, as Ireland did to Scotland and Italy, because after two or three minutes they will run out of energy...
“...If we play at a high-enough tempo France will be forced into making earlier substitutions, so come the hour mark, when they seek to slow matters down, they will have huge bodies out on the field with little energy.”
D’Arcy also believes there is no debate to be had over who should start at outhalf, despite Paddy Jackson’s good start to the tournament: “When France come to Dublin on Saturday week, a sufficiently recovered Sexton wears number 10.”
PSG thrash Barca
Elsewhere Barcelona are all but out of the Champions League after they were embarrassed by Paris Saint-Germain last night, losing 4-0 at the Parc des Princes after a miserable showing.
Angel Di Maria scored twice with Julian Draxler and Edison Cavani also on target to leave Luis Enrique’s side with a mountain to climb to reach the last-eight. In the night’s other fixture Benfica beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in Lisbon.
Tonight Arsenal face a daunting trip to play Bayern Munich, while Real Madrid welcome Napoli to the Bernabeu in one of the most intriguing ties of the round.
Impossible world of third-level GAA
In his column today Sean Moran looks at the importance of third-level colleges to the GAA and the difficulties students face balancing college, club and inter-county commitments in an already packed calendar.
No Champion Hurdle for Yorkhill
And Willie Mullins has confirmed Yorkhill will not be supplemented for the Champion Hurdle at next month’s Cheltenham Festival but will stay over fences and target either the JLT or the Arkle.
