LEINSTER WILL HAVE home advantage in their Champions Cup semi-final on Sunday 21 April [KO 3.15pm] after 14-man Toulouse upset Racing 92 in a sensational quarter-final in Paris today. Toulouse pulled off a remarkable win in Paris. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO Toulouse overcame a 25th-minute red card for out-half Zack Holmes to deservedly beat a Racing…
WARREN GATLAND ACKNOWLEDGED fortune was on Wales’ side as they held off a fierce Scotland fightback to triumph 18-11 at Murrayfield and move to the brink of Grand Slam glory in the Six Nations. Tries from Josh Adams and Jonathan Davies put Gatland’s men in control on Saturday and they were 15-6 up at the interval, despite…
Wales 24Ireland 5 Alex Bywater reports from Cardiff Arms Park IRELAND HAD A St Patrick’s Day to forget as they ended an underwhelming Six Nations campaign with a 24-5 defeat to Wales. Just a day after Joe Schmidt’s senior men’s side was blown away in Cardiff, the women’s team suffered a similar fate. 17-year-old Beibhinn Parsons…
IT HAS BEEN a long and frustrating winter for Niyi Adeolokun but as spring turns to summer and Connacht enter the business end of the season, the winger is straining at the leash to make his injury comeback in tonight’s Challenge Cup quarter-final. Sidelined since sustaining an arm injury during the Pro14 win over Cheetahs…
NIGEL CAROLAN HAS included highly-rated Munster out-half Bill Johnston in his Ireland U20 squad for next month’s World Rugby U20 Championship in Manchester. The Clonmel native, who won the 2015 Munster Schools Senior Cup with Rockwell, has returned to action after recovering from the shoulder surgery that forced him to miss this year’s Six Nations….
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS SARACENS held off a thrilling rally from Exeter Chiefs to retain their Premiership title with a 28-20 victory and complete the first double by an English club since 2004. A fortnight on from their victory over Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final, Mark McCall’s men looked set to record an emphatic win…
WHILE MOST IRISH eyes are inevitably drawn to the Silver Fern looming in Ireland’s second game of the World Rugby under 20 championship, head coach Nigel Carolan has been keeping a firm focus on the opener. And with very good reason. Not only did Jason Strange’s Wales inflict defeat on Ireland in the opening fixture…
Rory Keane reports from Cape Town ROBBIE HENSHAW COULD not have asked for a better send-off. Having dispatched Leinster at Murrayfield to claim a maiden Pro12 title, Connacht returned home to Galway to scenes of hysteria, the likes of which no Connacht squad had ever experienced in the western province’s long and often traumatic history….
IRELAND ARE SET to be without the services of Robbie Henshaw for the third Test against South Africa after the Leinster-bound centre suffered knee cartilage damage in the dying minutes of Saturday’s defeat in Johannesburg. The injury leaves head coach Joe Schmidt with an important selection decision to make in midfield for the decisive clash…
DUANE VERMEULEN IS is among South Africa’s injury concerns that may be forced to sit out of ahead of the decisive third Test against Ireland on Saturday after Pat Lambie was ruled out due to concussion. The Springboks have confirmed that the out-half is not ready to return as he recovers from blow he took in a…