The last time Wales beat Ireland in Dublin, Leigh Halfpenny kicked three penalties and converted a Justin Tipuric try. That was almost 11 years ago, in a warm-up game before the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. Three years before that, in 2012, Wales beat Ireland in the Six Nations in Dublin and they haven’t … Read more
According to Opta, Ireland are the worst team in the Six Nations. Don’t shoot the messenger. Granted, just in one particular metric, one that is familiar to football fans. Rugby’s equivalent to expected goals (xG) – aptly named expected points (xP) – has Ireland bottom of the xP table after three rounds of this year’s … Read more
It was one of Irish rugby’s great Twickenham days, the performance and the result equally satisfactory. Everyone has their favourite memory, Simon Geoghegan’s try in 1994, or Ireland beating Clive Woodward’s world champions in 2004, spring to mind. The unexpected nature of the win for those outside the camp made it all the sweeter. England … Read more
Eddie Jones believes England’s dramatic collapse in the Six Nations can be explained by Steve Borthwick’s overconfidence in looking ahead to a title decider against France before the tournament had begun. Successive emphatic defeats to Scotland and Ireland have undone the progress made during a 12-Test winning run and turned the round four appointment against … Read more
James Ryan extricated himself from a tangle of limbs and words by planting his hand on Henry Pollock’s cheek, using a long lever to facilitate the disengagement. The last two revellers to leave what began as a meatier pile of bodies at a breakdown. It’s commonplace in rugby, a grapple and a chirp, before the … Read more
Strictly speaking, there’s no real midway point in the Six Nations, but this being the only fallow week it’s thus the only time to pause for breath and have a midterm report. Ireland Apocalypse not after all. Ireland are even back to third in the world rankings. As in 2021, we really should have listened … Read more
“If the greatest writer of the written word had written that story, nobody would have believed it.” Magical words conjured up by commentator Cliff Morgan to describe, perhaps, the try of the century when Gareth Edwards’ dived over the line for that famous Barbarians score against the All Blacks in 1973. That turn of phrase … Read more
James Lowe is likely to miss out on the remainder of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign after picking up a groin injury during Saturday’s 42-21 win over England at Twickenham. In a squad update on Monday, the IRFU said the Leinster winger will continue to be monitored. However, the likelihood is that he will be ruled … Read more
Think back to nearly all of Ireland’s great days in recent years and a common denominator is a quick start. By extension, as Scotland showed when racing into a 17-0 lead inside 14 minutes at Murrayfield last week, England may be fine front-runners, but they can become a little flummoxed when behind early on. As … Read more
Jamison Gibson-Park could probably outrun the superlatives if he was of a mind. Instead, the quietly spoken Ireland scrumhalf will ignore or shrug them off in much the same way that he did opponents at Twickenham, content to let others lead the eulogies regarding the majesty of his contribution. There are rare occasions when a … Read more