Sometimes it's not a bad thing to be a bit bullish about an upcoming game. The Mole recognizes that there's little good Declan Kidney can do by saying that we should go out there and feed the Italians thirty points, but at least one person in the meedja should make that point.
Ireland beat Italy 36-6 on in RWC11 about five months ago. Bear that in mind as the standard for the upcoming game between the two sides for three good reasons: Continue reading
Big moment for Tobes, and he let himself down. The Mole was thinking that the reintroduction of himself, Tuilagi and Lawes would give England a bit of pop in their upcoming showdown against Wales, but you'd be mad now to go with the Leicester fly-half after he didn't make himself known to the bottle-inspectors in the Saffacens vs Tigers endgame.
For all the occasions that sports commentators use hyperbole to describe moments of individual drama, probably less than 1% are truly accurate. However, the game just completed in the English Aviva Premiership contained one of those moments. Continue reading
Canal+ are reporting that Munster’s Tomás O’Leary has signed for Perpignan. This move has been rumoured for a couple of weeks, and while O’Leary’s agent has issued a typical non-denial denial, there are a number of factors which point toward it being as good as a done deal. While Donal Lenihan reckons that O’Leary has not yet signed on the line that is dotted [thank you, Glengarry Glen Ross], there’s every indication that O’Leary is off to the sunny sud-ouest. Continue reading
Fergus McFadden: has banged over 33 kicks this season for Leinster – 17 conversions, 15 penalties and 1 drop goal – but last night's match-winner was a big 'un
A lot of huffing and puffing and not a great deal of blowing your house down from Leinster last night at the RDS, when a misfiring home team took out a well-drilled, hardworking Scarlets outfit with the last kick of the game. Continue reading
Leinster lie waaay out in front in the RaboDirect 12 and seem assured of a home semi final and home final, should they win that match. Huge kudos must go to Joe Schmidt who, after an unimpressive start with the province, has his squad purring nicely. The whole Leinster organisation is operating smoothly at present, with the recruitment of Brad Thorn for the remainder of the season the latest piece of positive news. Continue reading
Blood and Guts Toland makes some fairly elementary mistakes in his column in the Irish Times. Most egregiously, he mistakes ‘the blazers’ for ‘the suits’ – not on, old boy. Not on at all!
Ancient gasworks, loss of face, TV executives, French rugby-club owners, mayors and presidents, committee members, corporate hospitality, local authorities, government grants, presidential elections, freezing temperatures, naked power, money and oh yes, we nearly forgot … rugby supporters. Continue reading
“Charles T. Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s vice-chairman, and I really have only two jobs. One is to attract and keep outstanding managers to run our various operations. The other is capital allocation.” – Warren Buffett
Foster Horan scored the only try of the game for Ireland U20s in a teak-tough 13-12 victory over their French counterparts in Grenoble. Check out this phenomenal effort from a kid who had been dropped after a lackluster outing against the Welsh last weekend. Now that’s some first grade moxie!
Nacewa collides with Brendan Williams, Treviso's creative spark - all the honours went to the Leinster man on the night, however.
A bunch of early tries generally leave people feeling that the game was over at half time or that it petered out; a bunch of late tries sends the people home happy. Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 