Freddie’s back at No10 and Les Bleus have scored 94 points in three games in front of clamourous home crowds, hammering the Wallabies 33-6 before gutting the Pumas 39-19, then breaking down a super-physical Samoan challenge to ride out 22-14 winners and end their series undefeated. Something is very, very right with French rugby at the moment. That isn’t a good advent for Ireland, but it does wonders for the rugby world as a whole. Continue reading
Tommy Bowe: with five tries in three matches so far, he's giving Ryle Nugent every chance to roll that name out with abandon.
The first one may have been a gift, but Bowe’s second try was a thing of beauty born of a turnover in the Irish half and two key attacking decisions. It certainly qualifies as playing rugby in your own half … but probably ‘just enough’, rather than ‘too much’. Continue reading
Now THAT's a failure!
There’s a bit of a mope to the papers today. Journalists can’t wait to tell us that it’s the end of an era, and that Ireland’s World Cup has ended in failure. Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 