27 February 2016 By Tadhg Peavoy Defeat hurts. It always hurts. In life, in sport, in rugby: always. And the Irish men will have been pained in the visitors’ dressing room at Twickenham after their 21-10 loss, but this game showed so much more than an 11-point defeat to England. Ireland gave a performance of…

26 February 2016 By Tadhg Peavoy Nobody has given Ireland a hope this weekend at Twickenham; and that is just the way Joe Schmidt and his army will want it. Despite protestations to the contrary, the concept that Ireland are now a team that prosper as favourites does not always ring true, and the debunking…

18 February 2016 By Tadhg Peavoy Johnny Sexton’s game against France came to an end last Saturday due to whiplash suffered in collision, or repeated collisions, at Stade de France. A continuation of the same injury he suffered initially against Wales in Dublin six days beforehand. The out-half will be relieved to have avoided concussion,…

16 February 2016 By Tadhg Peavoy The dust has settled on Ireland’s defeat to France in Paris. Just one point collected from four on offer leaves Ireland all but out of the Six Nations title race. Mathematically they are still in the hunt. But results would need to go their way in a multitude of…

12 February 2016 By Tadhg Peavoy There can be no escaping the fact that Ireland are chasing an incredible reward in this season’s Six Nations. Taking home the title once more would make Joe Schmidt’s team the first in history to win European rugby’s top prize outright three times in succession. It’s been talked about…

12 February 2016 Italy’s Six Nations struggles are well documented and discussed. The Guardian’s Gerard Meagher takes an interesting look at them in this piece. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/feb/11/italy-six-nations-sergio-parisse-jacques-brunel-wooden-spoon

11 February 2016  By Tadhg Peavoy Away trips to France are never easy for any team. For Ireland, since the turn of the century, they have only claimed two wins out of ten battles against Les Bleus on French soil. In very recent times, the general record against France, it must be said, has been…

10 February 2016 By Tadhg Peavoy At 32-years-old, with 211 Leinster caps, 81 Ireland caps, three European Cups, three Pro12s, one European Challenge Cup, three Six Nations, two Triple Crowns, one Grand Slam and one Lions Series victory, Jamie Heaslip is one of the most decorated Irish rugby players of all time. No doubt. Lash…