Features

With the Rugby World Cup taking a rest day, attention turns to the Guinness PRO 14 which kicks off tonight with the meeting of Ulster and Ospreys. Excitement is building in Belfast ahead of the new season with Friday night rugby at the Kingspan Stadium set to return for another year of thrills and spills. The atmosphere at the ground …

Mick McCarthy suffered a significant blow on Thursday afternoon when it emerged that he may have to take on Georgia and Switzerland in less than three weeks time with a completely new central defensive pairing. The Irish boss has started all of his competitive games with the duo of Richard Keogh and Shane Duffy. However, Derby County confirmed that the …

This is the best version of Rory Best we’ve ever witnessed, writes long-time teammate Darren Cave. Rory Best being ‘past it’ is a great narrative for when you’re chatting with your mates in the pub after a few pints, but it’s just not factually correct. Forget about leadership, he’s the best hooker in Ireland and he has been for a …

The club is a mess but Solskjaer isn’t the cause of or the solution to Man United’s problems. There were two moments that suggested that it wasn’t going to work out for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United manager. The first was when it was reported that the Norwegian was refusing to park in the manager’s designated parking spot at …

I should put this disclaimer in early; if I had a clue as to how 23-year-old James Ryan has developed into a world-class player so quickly, I would have done it myself at his age. Back in the summer of 2017, the Ireland squad announced for the summer tour of the USA And Japan included an unfamiliar name. 20-year-old uncapped …

In the space of six months, Mark McDermott went from working in the telecommunications industry in the Caribbean to coaching his first rugby session in over six years in the incredibly contrasting environment of Siberia.  A 2016 phone call would change everything. Three years later, he’s coaching at the 2019 Rugby World Cup with Russia. “It’s funny how things materialise. …

That Ireland victory over Scotland on Sunday was an impressive performance and Irish fans can start to get excited about this team’s prospects in Japan. I don’t ever remember an Ireland team coming into a World Cup under as much scrutiny as Schmidt’s current charges, and they reacted in the best possible manner on Sunday. The public scrutiny was unwarranted, …

Given what would follow, it wasn’t what David Campese was best remembered for that day. However, it may have been his finest moment throughout the entire afternoon. The date was 27 October 1991. The location was the old and haunting concrete sarcophagus of Lansdowne Road. New Zealand were just inside their own half doing the Haka in the moments leading …

Sean McMahon reporting from Yokohama.  With 27 minutes on the clock, Ireland were 19-3 up in their toughest pool match of the World Cup, against opposition which have troubled them in the past and amid a backdrop which has questioned this squad’s mentality and ability on the field.  To be so on top so early on in this game was …

For the second game this Premier League season, Irish defender Shane Duffy found himself as an unused substitute for his club Brighton. Against Manchester City last month, Duffy was named on the Brighton bench, the first time the defender had ever been dropped for a league game since his arrival at the Amex from Blackburn in August of 2016. Graham …

People have been trying to expose a hidden doping culture in Irish rugby for years and there is a reason they have come up empty-handed. Don’t get me wrong, there is the odd anti-inflammatory or painkiller issued by the team doctor before a game, but to class that as a ‘performance-enhancing drug’ is absolute nonsense. Throughout my thirteen-year career as …

I love the game of rugby and I owe it a lot, but if I thought that a problem existed, I would not be one to defend it blindly. I should start by saying I do not know the full extent of what has occurred with Rob Howley and his much-publicised dismissal from the Welsh Rugby camp, and I know …

October 12th, 2018: Capetown –  The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS), in their annual report, announces that six schoolboys at the 2018 Craven Week tested positive for steroids. SAIDS CEO, Khalid Galant, dubbed the findings “alarming”. August 13th, 2019: Capetown – SAIDS inform 25-year-old South African winger, Aphiwe Dyanti, that he has tested positive for anabolic steroids and …

Thirty years on from Antrim’s last appearance in an All-Ireland final, Terrance ‘Sambo’ McNaughton was honoured as one of six inductees into the GAA Hall of Fame earlier this week. Having qualified for just two finals in their history, Antrim’s presence in the All-Ireland decider following a 46-year absence sent the county and indeed, the country, into a frenzy. However, …

With the looming threat of a no-deal Brexit, people on both sides of the community in the North of Ireland are in the dark as to what’s coming around the corner. The main issue surrounding Brexit on these shores is the possibility of a hard border and what impact that may have on travel, trade and tensions within Ulster. Having …