A classic ‘game of two halves’ started with two prominent absentees. Warren Gatland’s appointment as Lions coach has left his Welsh team without their galvanising force and they looked shorn of purpose for much of the first half. Justin Tipuric’s omission amazed the Mole, particularly in light of Ryan Jones’ thumb injury. Continue reading
Hey Kirwan, call yourself the best winger in the world?
The memories of end of season trips to the Southern Hemisphere have proven hard wired for Irish rugby supporters, with 1992 a particular reference point for the Mole. Perhaps in that light, I see shadows where none exist but the overseas’ view of Irish rugby 16 years into professionalism and six European Cups later still tends toward “great passion at the start; contain for one hour; run out of steam; pints of the black stuff”. Continue reading
Ireland are facing into a tough test match a long way from home on Saturday. They should park it at that and forget about everything else surrounding the game. It doesn’t really matter that the Kiwis are world champions: they always turn out top quality teams … and besides, they’re missing a significant number of the team that won the trophy. Continue reading
The Mole was fortunate enough to do a postgrad with a number of interesting, well-rounded people. At the weekends, they would pursue pleasant, sociable activities. The Mole would play matches of a Saturday and spend most Sundays hungover, like a good ol’ stereotype. What would it be like to pursue pleasant, sociable activities with well-rounded people? Where would the nerves come into play? That blood pumping, stomach churning switched-on feeling of a Saturday morning that served as a precursor to the main event. You’d miss it. Continue reading
Vern Cotter and Joe Schmidt know each other well and have worked together in the past. If they had a 'good cop/bad cop' routine, I'd imagine that Vern was the 'bad cop'.
One month ago, Vern Cotter took les Jaunards to the South West of France for a dress rehearsal of their Heineken Cup semi-final against Leinster. Continue reading
With all focus on this weekend’s Six Nations, it was no surprise that Leinster’s mid-week press conference didn’t grab much attention. Continue reading
Nice barnet
Gordon D’Arcy: Fell asleep on the blindside of a ruck and created an uphill struggle. Nuff said. D’Arce rolled back the years against the Italians but that’s not a cast iron midfield. Continue reading
Don't worry little fella, in twenty minutes time I'll be doing the same thing to your replacement
It’d be labouring a point to say that Gorgeous George’s outhalf policy backfired; it just didn’t work out quite as effectively as he had planned. Continue reading
46 international tries from centre. Outstanding.
Apart from the breakfast time start, there was something different about this game and its aftermath. It was the realisation that this had gone as well as you might have wished. Over the years, Ireland have sometimes failed to deliver and have sometimes got the result but with caveats and qualifications attached. This result ensured qualification and suggested more. Continue reading
The phrase ‘men against boys’ carries with it certain connotations, and not all of them were borne out by performances of the Irish and Australian teams. Continue reading
