Player welfare is a clarion call of long standing for rugby’s constituents – the governing body World Rugby, unions, federations, clubs and tournament organisers. The IRFU’s model had long been the envy of its global peers, and sport’s hierarchy in several countries have followed suit to varying degrees in adopting a version of a central … Read more
Jumping off the Luas, I bumped into the mother of an old team-mate, Stephen Grissing. She was still energised after watching St Mary’s College win the Leinster Schools Senior Cup for the first time in 24 years, having beaten Blackrock College after a replay. It offered an instant reminder of the place that schools rugby … Read more
Retired Test referee Owen Doyle has revisited the controversial Oscar Jegou Six Nations incident in Scotland that left a sour taste. The match officials did not punish the French flanker during the round four match for eye-gouging a Scottish rival at a Murrayfield ruck. Instead, the March 7 incident was cited by the match commissioner, … Read more
The French call it une fourchette, a fork. It is an extremely visual word to describe eye gouging, which landed France’s Oscar Jegou in hot water following their dramatic Six Nations defeat to Scotland. Regrettably, Jegou was not dealt with on the day by the match officials as referee Angus Gardner and TMO Brett Cronan … Read more
Former Test referee Nigel Owens has stated that the television match official was incorrect to intervene in the incident which led to Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s fourth try during the Six Nations finale. England were leading 39-38 and had a scrum just inside the France half when Jack van Poortvliet threw the ball out. It touched Francois … Read more
Rob Baloucoune will undergo surgery on an elbow injury sustained while trying to make a tackle in Ireland’s Triple Crown-winning victory over Scotland in the Aviva Stadium last weekend. Ulster confirmed the 28-year-old right wing will be sidelined for 12 weeks and is, therefore, likely to miss the remainder of the province’s season. The URC … Read more
No better time to check the temperature. The state of Irish rugby – and the sport itself – is on an upward curve after an enormously entertaining Six Nations. Andy Farrell gave a good line last weekend about there being a story in every position. I’d go further and say there are three, even four … Read more
Following the conclusion of the 2026 Six Nations, we are looking at every player’s performance across the Championship. Here’s how we rated Andy Farrell’s 35 Ireland charges. Full-back (1 player) Jamie Osborne (5 starts, 383 minutes): There was a media panic when it emerged at Ireland’s pre-tournament camp in Portugal that Hugo Keenan had again … Read more
Steve Borthwick has received backing from England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning head coach Sir Clive Woodward, who insists that he should take them into the 2027 global tournament. The current boss finds himself under severe pressure following a dreadful Six Nations campaign which saw them suffer four successive defeats to finish in fifth position. That … Read more
In 2007, I sat in a hotel in the centre of Rome watching a title-chasing France struggle past Scotland on the final night of the Six Nations. Earlier that day, we had played some cracking rugby in beating Italy. Denis Hickie’s prematch speech provided the catalyst for our bells and whistles performance. We thought France’s … Read more