Granted, Ireland’s ambitions going in to last year’s rugby World Cup were somewhat loftier than those of Italy, but still, if they felt deflated after that quarter-final defeat, it was nothing compared to the mood in the Italian camp after “two of the more dispiriting performances” at the tournament - their 96-17 and 60-7 maulings by New Zealand and France, respectively. “They made for as demoralising a World Cup as any Italian team ever experienced,” writes Gerry Thornley. Which made their display against England last weekend in their Six Nations opener all the more impressive. Mike Catt was certainly impressed. Ahead of their visit to Dublin on Sunday, Andy Farrell’s assistant, who spent four years as Italy’s attack coach, saluted the Italians’ performance in that 27-24 defeat to England. “For them to come back under a new coach and perform like they did, and still have that ambition and be brave in what they did in attack, and score some brilliant tries, I think it’s all credit to the players,” he said. They are, writes Johnny Watterson, “certain to throw some junk and try to disrupt” when they come up against an Irish lineout that was nigh on flawless in Marseille last Friday, “13 secured balls from 13 throws by the two Irish hookers, Dan Sheehan and later Rónan Kelleher”. “No revamp or anything, very much just tweaks,” said Kelleher of the work put in to the lineout after it proved less than successful at the World Cup.
In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning talks to John O’Mahony about the challenges of combining a political career with football management in light of Laois manager Justin McNulty getting in to a spot of bother with his SDLP bosses for trying to do the same. Ciarán Murphy, meanwhile, reflects on a damp squib of an opening weekend in the hurling league.
In soccer, David Gorman brings you a guide to today’s Nations League draw, while Gavin Cummiskey reports on the mystery of who exactly owns Waterford FC. The man who took a 100 per cent stake in the club in 2022 is now somewhat indisposed - he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in a Preston court last July after being found guilty of a multimillion pound fraud.
Speaking of mysteries. Dave Hannigan writes about a truly bizarre one, three Kansas City Chiefs fans found dead in the back garden of a Missouri house after gathering to watch the Chiefs play their final game of the regular season.
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TV Watch: Tom McKibbin lines up in the Qatar Masters which gets under way this morning (Sky Sports Golf, 9am-2pm), while Shane Lowry is in a field headed by world number one Scottie Scheffler later in the day at the Phoenix Open (Sky Sports Golf, 3pm-1am). And in between, Irish cyclist Megan Armitage will be part of the EF Education-Cannondale team that takes part in the opening stage of the UAE Tour (Eurosport 2, 10.30am-12.30pm).
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