Lions coaches to attend as Ulster and Leicester big guns get last shot
Warren Gatland will name his Lions squad next Thursday. By Murray Kinsella Thursday 29 Apr 2021, 5:24 PM Apr 29th 2021, 5:24 PM 6,491 Views 11 Comments
Cooney, Stockdale, and Henderson.
Cooney, Stockdale, and Henderson.
THE EUROPEAN SEMI-finals this weekend give the players involved one last shot at convincing Warren Gatland and his Lions coaches that they should be named to tour South Africa.
Gatland will announce his selection next Thursday, with the expectation being that he will confirm a 36-man group.
Gatland and co. will already have the vast majority of their decisions made but four semi-finals in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup could allow a handful of individuals to sway their thinking on any marginal decisions.
Mixed approach but still some drama over the Rainbow
Updated / Tuesday, 27 Apr 2021
06:46
Former Munster fly-half and current Cork Con assistant coach
After more doubt and uncertainty surrounding competitions last week, some version of the Rainbow Cup went ahead at the weekend.
We re still none the wiser about what it stands for, how it’s going to play out and if the teams are going to be getting excited about it, yet the opening round wasn’t short of drama and talking points.
It was a funny situation for the Irish provinces.
Two of them are still involved in European competitions this weekend and clearly approached the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup accordingly, either resting their front-line players or curtailing their game time.
Ulster 24 Connacht 26
The opening game in the Rainbow Cup proved a thoroughly entertaining affair that culminated in an injury time try for Connacht wing Peter Sullivan which claimed victory for the visitors. Connacht used the captainâs challenge, one of the laws adopted for the tournament, to facilitate their win.
Ulster looked to have secured victory with a late try from Dave Shanahan but when Michael Lowry was adjudged to have stripped Kieran Marmion illegally in a tackle, Connacht elected to kick the penalty to touch rather than go for the posts and were rewarded when television match official Brian MacNiece adjudicated that Sullivan had grounded the ball before the dead ball line.
Image: Billy Stickland/INPHO
NO SLEEPS to go. The day is finally here. Who needs a Super Cup when we have a mediocre alternative? The Rainbow Cup has arrived. Better still, we’ve got two for the price of one, a northern edition as well as a southern one.
It is a competition that can be added to a stellar list of names; the Celtic League, Magners League, Rabo-Direct; the Pro12; the Pro14 when there were 14 teams in it; the Pro14 when there were just the 12 clubs.
If you are not enthused by this brave new dawn then shame on you. Let’s get you in the mood by revisiting these uplifting words from a special general meeting of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) last September. The orator was Jurie Roux, CEO of South African Rugby, who called the meeting in reaction to ‘the unilateral decision by the New Zealand Rugby Union to proceed with a domestic or trans-Tasman competition’.
); You can only be where your feet are - in-form Jacob Stockdale taking trophy hunt one step at a time
The Ireland star is focused on the visit of Connacht to Belfast tonight. By Adam McKendry Friday 23 Apr 2021, 9:46 AM 5 hours ago 1,524 Views 0 Comments
Jacob Stockdale: has made an impression since return from injury.
Image: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
Image: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
WHEN HE LIMPED out of Ulster’s win over Munster just after the new year, Jacob Stockdale thought it would just be a short-term injury. At the very least, he’d be back for the Six Nations.
The initial prognosis was an ACL strain and a bit of bone bruising. A couple of weeks and it should all clear up and he’d be back on the pitch doing what he does best for Ireland.