Keenan embracing the extra action at fullback ahead of first Cardiff experience
The Leinster back has featured at both wing and fullback for Ireland. By Ciarán Kennedy Saturday 6 Feb 2021, 7:30 AM Feb 6th 2021, 7:30 AM 7,309 Views 17 Comments
Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan.
Image: Billy Stickland/INPHO
HUGO KEENAN SEEMS remarkably calm given the week that’s in it. Tomorrow the 24-year-old will line out at fullback for Ireland in a Six Nations game against Wales in Cardiff. It’s less than four months since he won his first cap.
Yet in a short period of time Keenan has amassed an impressive body of work. He already has six caps and three tries to his name. Some of those caps have come on the wing, some at fullback. In either position he’s looked confident, assured, and in control. He carried that impressive form over th
When World Cup winning Nick Farr-Jones hung up his boots in 1993 it freed him to indulge in the kind of overseas experience denied him when he was playing for the Wallabies.
OE as the Aussies call it. He went to Paris, where he settled into a nice gig with the French multinational finance house, Société Genérale.
One of the delights Farr-Jones enjoyed in that city was the crack in the James Joyce pub on Boulevard Gouvion-Saint-Cyr. Spoof was a popular guessing game at the time, especially if you were sitting on a high stool. Tuesday night was spoof night in the James Joyce, and Farr-Jones was a devotee, pitting his wits against his new pals to see who would get lumbered with the next round of drinks. So, as it happens, was a buddy of ours from school, who worked in Bank of America’s Paris office.
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Andy Farrell says criticism of Welsh team is unfair. By Garry Doyle Friday 5 Feb 2021, 8:01 PM Feb 5th 2021, 8:01 PM 26,397 Views 23 Comments
Farrell is expecting a war of attrition.
Image: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
Image: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
ANDY FARRELL HAS expressed bemusement at the criticism delivered to the Welsh rugby team. Ahead of Sunday’s Six Nations opener, a number of pundits – both in Ireland and the UK – have downplayed Wales’s chances of rediscovering their 2019 form in time for this tournament.
“It pisses me off, it is disrespectful,” was former Welsh prop, Adam Jones’s reaction to some of the more hysterical commentary. Farrell, meanwhile, could not have been more diplomatic about Sunday’s opponents when he spoke to the media this afternoon. Asked if he thought the Welsh were a spent force, he
O Connell the coach looks to move past aura of his playing career
Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell hopes Andy Farrell’s squad will see beyond any preconceived notions of him. By Ciarán Kennedy Wednesday 3 Feb 2021, 6:00 AM Feb 3rd 2021, 6:00 AM 12,546 Views 17 Comments
Ireland forwards coach Paul O Connell.
Image: Billy Stickland/INPHO
Image: Billy Stickland/INPHO
IT IS NOT harsh to say that the standout achievement on Paul O’Connell’s rather limited coaching CV is being Paul O’Connell.
He has not been brought into Andy Farrell’s coaching team on the back of an impressive body of work accumulated since hanging up his playing boots, like the one Ronan O’Gara is currently adding to in France with La Rochelle.
Kelleher – Dillane: 1
Herring had to highest lineout throw success of Ireland’s hookers last year at 93.5%, with Dave Heffernan at 90.5% and Ronan Kelleher at 73.5%.
With second row Iain Henderson having missed much of Farrell’s first year in charge, it will be interesting to note whether the Ulsterman now resumes leadership of the lineout calling. Ryan often took on that duty last year.
As well as leaning on their lineout, Ireland also frequently struck for tries off close-range scrums, eight of them in total and all inside the opposition 22.
That means a whopping 32% of Ireland’s tries started with their own feed into a scrum [average 19%].