Category Archives: Opinion

Match Reaction #1: Rory Best’s Try

Posted on by
1

Chunk Jacobsen has gotten past the Healy-Ross contain, but it's too little and too late: Best has smashed through Mike Blair and is about to dot down Ireland's first try of the day.

The Mole enjoyed Liam Toland’s early morning article in today’s Irish Times – a good read all the way through, and you can tell that he enjoyed the technicality of Rory Best’s opening score, a well-contrived lineout move that created a potent mismatch of running a big forward at a small back over a short distance. Continue reading →

The Backrow Debate

Posted on by
9

When is this guy going to get his Radio Oscar for services to humanity? He should have been Pope, Ted. Or at least president.

How do I love Off The Ball? Let me count the ways: a lot.

It really is a highwater mark for Irish sports broadcasting, a one-program golden age. As a man who turns off an awful lot of radio programming in double-quick time, Off The Ball is the one regular transmission which not only escapes the cull, but is [occasionally] actively sought out on the morning after.  Continue reading →

Territorial Army

Posted on by
17

You might say that this is a one-off incident, but it betrays all the hallmarks of a team that are not thinking on the pitch, or don't understand what they're doing, or are badly coached.

It seems from his post-match comments after both games that Kidney is very, very big on establishing position on the pitch before every attack. No shit, eh? Well, sometimes it’s interesting to hear the coach talking about how Ireland are trying to play the game, because it can be difficult to make out from the action on the pitch.  Continue reading →

Dumper Dumps/Dumped – Part The Fourth

Posted on by
1

The Munster bootroom: throw another coach on the barbie, Skippy!

Where was I? Fingers pointing at McGahan? Maybe there were a few too many fingers pointing at him when some of them should have been pointing at his colleagues … and who knows if their appointments were even his call. Continue reading →

Provincial Success ≠ International Success

Posted on by
7

While Irish fans [in particular] might be a little bit too much in love with the Heineken Cup as a format – I’d argue that they’re not, and that it’s a brilliant, hard-fought competition of an extremely high standard – the fact remains that it is the second tier of professional rugby in the northern hemisphere, below only international competition. Continue reading →

Murphy Saves Flood Plain

Posted on by
3

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 →

Tomás O’Leary To Perpignan?

Posted on by
4

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 →

Debacle In Paris

Posted on by
4

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 →