The Heir Apparent. But when does his reign start?
Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not? Continue reading
Dan Tuohy (26) takes on Simon Zebo (21) in an emblematic image that shows the differing age profile between the two teams.
The Mole has written before about how the failings of the Munster Academy in the second Declan Kidney era are now affecting the fortunes of the province. While Kidney handed over a hard-nosed championship team to Tony McGahan in June 2008, things weren’t quite so rosy under the surface. Continue reading
Ulster performed an astonishing smash-and-grab raid in the first half-hour at Thomond park, then stuck around to take an absolute walloping from the suddenly awakened and irate home-owners before finally staggering away with the spoils. Continue reading
Two thirds of Munster's front-row. Guess the odd one out.
Tony McGahan leaves Munster at the end of the season. Over the last couple of years he has seen the province through a particularly tricky rebuilding phase, and while it’s not yet complete, The Mole thinks that the body of the work has been done. Continue reading
An Irish derby quarter-final in Thomond Park really re-enforces the fact that Ulster have finally emerged from a decade-long slump. They fought their way through a difficult but fortunately timetabled group, and after a rocky start to the season are now on something of a run, having won their last four games. Continue reading
The Mole was pretty excited about what promised to be an entertaining, high octane game between Munster and Leinster, the biggest derby in the Pro 12 and a game that always has a natural spark. Continue reading
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
McGahan lost a serious chunk of the Munster fanbase in the course of eighty minutes. It mightn't have been fair, but it happened.
However, the arc of McGahan’s tenure, and the feeling with which he was regarded by Munster fans, changed unalterably over the space of eighty minutes. Continue reading
Declan Kidney giving the game away in a typically outspoken pre-match press conference. Somebody needs to put a zip on that guy's lip. He's all mouth.
Declan Kidney’s Rotund Shadow
Declan Kidney is basically George Smiley, firstly. Old Smiley has returned to prominence over the last year as a result of Tomas Alfredson’s cinematic reprise of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Gary Oldman plays him a little on the reptilian side compared to Alec Guinness’ ‘Declan Kidney in a British Warm’ portrayal from the BBC series of the late 1970s, so it mightn’t leap out at you if you’ve neither read the book nor seen the Guinness version. A highpoint in broadcasting. Continue reading
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
Digging Like a Demented Mole 