The fire still burns. Munster have some of that old fighting spirit left in them, especially when backed into a corner. Beaten 45-0 the week before at sea level, admittedly after a delayed and prolonged flight to Durban, Munster extracted two bonus points from last Saturday’s 34-31 defeat against the Bulls in the altitude of … Read more
Ulster captain Iain Henderson was delighted that his side came away with a 28-12 bonus-point win against Zebre Parma in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday. The province are in third place after claiming the only away win of the weekend as tries from Tom McAlister, Rob Herring, Zac Ward and Werner Kok secured the … Read more
Munster and Ireland great Donncha O’Callaghan has labelled Leinster’s decision to sign Rieko Ioane as ‘bizarre’ but believes that he has been ‘harshly’ criticised during his stint at the Irish club. The All Blacks veteran joined Leo Cullen’s men on a short-term deal until the end of the season before linking back up with the … Read more
Following the Bulls’ 34-31 victory over Munster at Loftus Versfeld, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria. Top line Johan Ackermann’s Bulls picked up five league points on Saturday, whilst Munster leave South Africa with two points after a spirited performance following a challenging week for the team. The … Read more
Donncha O’Callaghan is desperately hoping that Glasgow Warriors get their comeuppance following their antics in the victory over Leinster last weekend. The former Ireland lock went on an epic rant on The Offload podcast about the behaviour of the Glasgow players in the United Rugby Championship clash. Despite it being almost a week after the … Read more
Coaches and players are feeling the heat as they seek to avoid a hit to the coffers of cash-strapped province amid staff redundancies Munster players react at full-time in their United Rugby Championship defeat to the Sharks in Durban. Photo: Shaun Roy/Sportsfile At the end of a very difficult week for Munster – on and … Read more
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
Bernard Jackman believes that Rieko Ioane must improve or else he faces the prospect of not being part of the Leinster team for their big knockout matches. The 88-times capped All Black was their big-name addition for this season, effectively replacing Test team-mate Jordie Barrett, who took his six-month sabbatical in Dublin during the 2024/25 … Read more
Coming in the wake of a vintage Six Nations, last weekend seemed a little anticlimactic, in the United Rugby Championship (URC) anyway, if not so much the All-Ireland League (AIL). Coming amid Ireland’s World Cup football qualifier(s), next weekend’s URC matches are unlikely to dominate the sporting firmament either, yet these will heavily affect the … Read more
URC: Glasgow Warriors 38 Leinster 17 A second consecutive URC defeat for Leinster and their fifth of the season overall has left Leo Cullen’s side facing a battle to finish in the top two for the playoffs. After Ulster’s defeat to Connacht on Friday night, Leinster had the opportunity to leapfrog Glasgow at the top … Read more