The forthcoming “one-off Railway Cup revival tournament” at Croke Park signals yet another attempt to further refine the game’s rules to boost its appeal for both audiences and players. This mindset isn’t new – as Seán Moran vividly remembers, a similar undertaking occurred four decades ago with an international series between Gaelic footballers and Australian Rules enthusiasts. As time repeats itself, this month will see Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster play under a novel set of rules formulated by the Football Review Committee led by Jim Gavin, as part of the temporary resurrection of the interprovincial series.
Leading the provinces will be high-profile managers Pádraic Joyce from Connacht, John Cleary, Dessie Dolan and Kieran Donnelly from Munster, Leinster and Ulster respectively. Gordon Manning charts the seven major rule modifications that both managers and players will have to master, one of which being a goal now being evaluated at four points instead of three.
Denis Leamy, in his rugby conversations with Johnny Watterson, voices his total agreement with Donncha O’Callaghan’s critical comment on Munster’s disappointing performance against Zebre over the weekend. Agreeing with his former colleague’s branding of the performance as “embarrassing” and “unacceptable” on RTÉ, Leamy, who is now Munster’s defence coach, anticipates an improved performance in their next game against Ospreys on Saturday. Concurrently, Connacht looks forward to Bundee Aki’s return for their intimidating trip to face Scarlets, a prospect that coach Pete Wilkins admits is not for the weak-hearted.
Emerging Ireland today commences its South African tour with a match against the Pumas in Bloemfontein. John O’Sullivan profiles the group of players looking to make the most of this opportunity and ascend to the senior squad – a feat already achieved by Sam Prendergast and Cormac Izuchukwu with Andy Farrell’s team in South Africa over the summer.
Television Update: Recording a historical T20 victory for the first time against South Africa this past Sunday, Ireland will now face them in a trilogy of one-day matches that initiates today in Abu Dhabi, airing on TNT Sports 4 from noon. Additionally, a fresh set of Champions League fixtures are on offer later, which include matches between Lille and Real Madrid (streaming on Virgin Media More), Aston Villa up against Bayern Munich (available on Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 1), and a Liverpool versus Bologna clash (telecast on RTÉ 2, Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 2), with all matches slated to commence at 8pm.