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- All Black centre Malakai Fekitoa has been handed a one-week ban for his high hit on Simon Zebo last Saturday after the disciplinary committee ruled he should have been shown a red card for the tackle. However, Sam Cane will face no further action over his tackle on Robbie Henshaw.
- Katie Taylor is set to fight on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin’s next world title defence at New York’s Madison Square Garden on St Patrick’s weekend next year.
- Tipperary defender Paddy Stapleton has announced he is retiring from inter-county hurling with immediate effect, ending his career with two All-Ireland medals.
- Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson believes Conor McGregor would be making a mistake if he tried to conquer the UFC’s 170-pound division.
- Cork’s Christina Desmond has won a bronze medal at the European Elite Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria after losing her semi-final on a split decision today.
- Ireland wing Simon Zebo will have to wait until Thursday to get a full training session under his belt as he continues his recovery from an injury sustained last Saturday.
- Robbie Keane‘s wife Claudine has dismissed talk that Ireland’s record goalscorer will be returning home to play for Shamrock Rovers.
- Autobiographies by Paul O’Connell, Cathal McCarron and Robert Heffernan have been included on the five-strong shortlist for the eir Sport Sports Book of the Year.
- St Patrick’s Athletic have completed the signing of midfielder Patrick Cregg from Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers.
Away
- The United States have appointed Bruce Arena as Jurgen Klinsmann’s replacement, which will be the former LA Galaxy manager’s second spell in charge of the national team.
- Paris Saint-Germain have expressed their fury after being told that Serge Aurier will not be allowed to travel to England due to his criminal record.
- Two Manchester United fans slept in an Old Trafford toilet on Friday night in the hope that they could gain entry to the Red Devils’ Premier League game against Arsenal on Saturday.
- Jamie Carragher has blasted England’s Football Association in the wake of the furore that surrounded Wayne Rooney’s late-night antics while on international duty.
- Five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman has been charged with driving on the wrong way on a motorway and causing a crash in the US.
The Best Thing We Shared
This is about as bad as it gets — check out this sitter from the fourth tier of Serbian football.
On The Record
I would go as far as saying that this current Kilcoo panel is equal to if not above what a lot of county teams are. It comes down to the players, the management, and the mindset and commitment of the group as a whole. They are a very driven bunch of players.
Conor Laverty certainly doesn’t lack confidence in his Kilcoo team-mates as they prepare for an Ulster football final with Derry champions Slaughtneil this weekend.
Where We Were Today
Fintan O’Toole was at Croke Park for the launch of the the GRMA (go raibh maith agat) scheme — a GAA membership programme providing benefits and rewards to GAA members. Also in attendance were Tipperary hurler Cathal Barrett and Tyrone footballer Sean Cavanagh.
Ryan Bailey was at Katie Taylor’s press conference in Dublin this afternoon where she was promoting her professional debut in London this weekend.
Sean Farrell was back out at Carton House with the Ireland squad ahead of their final November Test this weekend.
Murray Kinsella was at a press conference for the Australian rugby team this morning where he caught up with Leinster old boy Kane Douglas.
The Fixture List
- It’s another big night of Champions League football tomorrow with Arsenal, Celtic and Manchester City among the sides in action. Fixtures (19.45 kick-off unless stated) – Group A: Arsenal v Paris Saint-Germain, Ludogorets v FC Basel. Group B: Besiktas v Benfica (17.45), Napoli v Dynamo Kiev. Group C: Borussia Monchengladbach v Manchester City, Celtic v Barcelona. Group D: FC Rostov v Bayern Munich (17.00), Atletico Madrid v PSV Eindhoven.
- It’s also Game 1 of the MLS Conference finals early tomorrow morning. Montreal Impact take on Toronto FC in the Eastern Conference final (1am) before Seattle Sounders and Kevin Doyle’s Colorado Rapids do battle in the Western Conference final (3am).
Showbiz, Baby!
Thirty years ago today, 20-year-old Mike Tyson knocked out Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight champion of the world.
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Fantastic result. Looking forward to watching it later.
Ruddock form 6 in ireland the past 6 months – he probably on form deserves to start v SA but wd be a big call from Schmidt.
Much like Munster winning there last year, shutting up those horrible, horrible Scottish fans was very sweet.
@Peter Brophy: They booed at literally everything
@John Boyle: I think they have a large contingent of Glasgow Rangers supporters ..Nuff said..
Super win!!
A great win. I can relax now and enjoy the rest of the weekend matches.
@Gary: I concur
It’s a mystery how Rhys Ruddock isn’t Ireland’s first-choice blindside flanker. At this stage, I think it might best if Peter O’Mahony and C.J. Stander got injured so Schmidt would have no option but to select Ruddock.
@beni gabor: what an odd thing to say
@beni gabor: I think Heaslip may have played his last international. Ruddock will definitely be involved in November internationals
@Darren Byrne: how does Heaslip come into this?
@Conor Paddington: as he has been the most consistent back row in the irish set up for years but being out injured means someone else will move in to the 23. Ruddock will definitely be involved. With the likes of Conan leavey jdv all playing so well its going to be hard enough getting back in to the leinster team regularly let alone the irish set up by the time of the 6 nations.
@beni gabor: awful thing to say. I’d rather they were fit and he had to make a choice across 6 or 7 fit world class backrows.
@Elma Phudd: There’s no way Ireland have 6 or 7 world class backrowers. Maybe two or three at a stretch. There are a lot of good players out there who could be brought into the fold and introduced to international rugby to see where they stand. Stander and O’Mahony are very limited players
@Darren Byrne: He should have played his last international years ago, as should Rob Kearney and we all know it.
@beni gabor: Jesus, I’m a Leinster fan, but can’t agree with them being limited. Christ You don’t get picked to lead the Lions in a test match by being average joe.
@Elma Phudd: Gatland realised the error of his ways and dumped O’Mahony out of the side in favour of an out-of-position Sam Warburton. O’Mahony’s line-out work is sometimes to the fore, and you’re glad he’s in the team. His game is unremarkable outside the line-out, so when that’s not a centrepoint of the game, he’s largely ineffective.
Stander isn’t nimble enough to wrong-foot tacklers, and his decision-making when it comes to choosing whether to pass or run is sometimes quite poor. He’s not a cerebral player.
I don’t mean like serious injuries. Just a dislocated shoulder or something like that to keep them away from the team and unable to corrupt Ireland’s play with their backward mindset
@newbie: yet I’m here 4 years. Must have been in my blind spot up to now! I’ll put him back there.
@Rochelle: Rubbish, just your usual Leinster hating vitriol Rochelle.
@beni gabor: You do realise Ruddock captained the last tour, yeah?
@Rochelle: One of our very best players in a successful Autumn internal series less than 12 months ago.
@David Supple: pure poison laced with incredible ignorance
@Paddy O’Brien: *International. Jaysus.
Lots if us might been happy to leave with a LBP but to come away with 5 is amazing. Great performerance despite the bad conditions.
Serious contenders. Outside of the back 3 maybe, their combinations could match almost any team in Europe at this stage. Add Seanie, Isa Ringrose and Heaslip (if he can get back in the line up) and there is a legitimate claim to knocking Sarries off their perch.
@Johnny 5: I’d say Saracens would beat Leinster easily
@Johnny 5: don’t forget Lowe is yet to arrive
@Matt F: Carberry FB, Nacewa on one wing (or one of the younger guys if the improve) and Lowe on the other is pretty décent I would have thought. Irish centre partnership, and best 10 in Europe. All in all a potentially excellent backline.
@Andrew Hurley: I wouldn’t like to see 2 NIQ players in the back 3 at the same time when we have loads of young talent there in Carbery, Byrne, OLaughlin, Larmour and Daly. Those 5 players could have big futures in the green jersey, so it would be poor form if their development was blocked
@Rudiger McMonihan: they’d develop a lot better if Leinster go on a serious run in both the pro 14 and Europe. A successful Leinster side will be good for all the young players. Have a team of 23 young Irish players getting beat is no good for anyone.
A good win masking a lot of weaknesses
Especially midfield,huge amount of missed tackles again, needs to addressed to proceed.
@Martin McKenna: A great win
@Martin McKenna: Ringrose will help leaps and bounds, don’t worry too much.
Hope Daly’s injury isn’t anything too serious. Have been enjoying watching him play.
@Ciara Baines: he reminds me of the old French wingers..
It’s possible a long trip back from SA affected Glasgow in the first two rounds, all that being said I thought we managed the conditions superbly, especially in the first half. Delighted for Cian Healy to get them tries. MOTM was never in doubt for Ruddock. Hopefully we’ll have Ringrose and Isa back for the Chief’s games and James Lowe bedded in, I think player management may well become a problem, making sure everyone gets game time!!
@David Lawlor: When is Lowe due in?
@Dave Murray: His team in the Mitre cup have proceeded on to the next round, so he could be a while yet.
10pts after only 2 games means Leinster will almost certainly go through to the knockouts. Last year you needed 16 and the year before that 19. It’s hard to see them not making up that difference. I think today’s weather really helped them given the superiority of their pack and the injuries of Byrne, OLaughlin, Ringrose and Nacewa
@Rudiger McMonihan: need to rack up the points as we saw going to France in the semi was very very tough. The more the merrier
Why use two words when you can use one. The eastern province is called Leinster!
@Reg: you’ve obviously never had much interest i writing…?
@Conor Paddington: I’m not reading a novel or some great work of literature, it’s a match report and I know where Leinster is!
@Reg: Don’t let something so trivial get to you so much, it can’t be good for you.
@Reg: not as annoying as the indo who only refer to Leinster and Munster as the blues and the reds.
Great win today and 10 points is excellent from their first two matches. I’d worry about the high amount of missed tackles though.
“Finn Russell dissected the posts from the tee” … there’s a howler I haven’t seen in a while! “Bisected” is cliche you were thinking of perhaps?