Andy Farrell, post Ireland’s defeat at Twickenham, dismissed suggestions that the meeting with Scotland in Dublin next Saturday would be anti-climactic, especially as securing an Irish victory would lead to consecutive Six Nations titles. He found resistance to this prospect surprising, given Ireland’s history of winning the Six Nations multiple times, making their position extremely desirable. As Gerry Thornley pointed out, the prospect of historic back-to-back Grand Slams should have garnered more enthusiasm.
Despite the disappointment, there were some worthy highlights including Josh van der Flier’s impressive performance analysed by John O’Sullivan. Johnny Watterson additionally awarded high ratings to two other Irish players. However, critique is expected from Farrell’s decision to split his bench 6-2, as highlighted in Johnny’s article titled ‘Five things we learned from Ireland’s defeat’. Nathan Johns also drew attention to two incidents involving Ellis Genge that were seemingly overlooked by officials.
In the realm of Gaelic games, Seán Moran summarises an important weekend that would largely decide the comprising counties of next year’s Division 1A of the hurling league. This includes Clare, who Moran witnessed defeating Kilkenny in a last-minute rally at their game in Cusack Park. Similarly, Denis Walsh observed Limerick’s narrow victory over Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and Gordon Manning saw Wexford secure a position in next year’s top league after a victory against Waterford.
Meanwhile, further competition unfurled in the English Premier League following Arsenal’s victory over Brentford and a draw match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield. In an unfortunate turn of events, the home team could have turned the tables, had referee Michael Oliver granted a penalty for the foul by Jérémy Doku on Alexis MacAllister in the last minute. Ken Early criticised this as potentially one of the worst officiating blunders of the season.
The Cheltenham races are set to begin tomorrow, with news coming in from Brian O’Connor that Willie Mullins has enlisted 20 participants for the inaugural races, comprising almost 22 percent of all competitors. Denis Walsh writes about an air of monotony characterized by Mullins’ consistent brilliance but acknowledges that it’s not his fault for being a “genius”.
In other news, Philip Reid offers an update on Shane Lowry’s third place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando. The golfer from Offaly had to acknowledge Scottie Scheffler, the world number one’s superior performance, which was nothing short of a masterclass that led him to victory. Despite this, Lowry didn’t leave empty-handed; he received a cheque for $1.4 million as a consolation prize.
On the television front, for those who can tolerate it, RTÉ2′s Against the Head will present a roundup of the weekend’s Six Nations rugby games at 8 pm, with TG4 offering a recap of the GAA league games happening over the weekend at the same time slot. Concurrently, a Premier League match between Chelsea and Newcastle will be featured on Sky Sports.
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