It's over six weeks since Ireland's disastrous failure at the Rugby World Cup and we now look to be getting a clearer picture of just what went wrong in Japan. The IRFU's review into the campaign was revealed yesterday with performance director David Nucifora explaining to Gerry Thornley and other journalists that there were a number of mistakes made, most notably a failure to develop Ireland's game, an overt focus on the opening pool match against Scotland while underestimating Japan and a failure to cope with the anxiety that increasingly afflicted staff and players from the Six Nations through to the tournament itself. The findings shine a harsh light on what was a hugely underwhelming performance from Ireland and former captain Rory Best has gone a further in his thoughts by saying that there was "too much detail and too much tension" and that a newly-adopted player-led approach was abandoned between the win over Scotland and the defeat to Japan. Now retired, Best perhaps felt he could speak a bit more freely yesterday and he did exactly that. Meanwhile, in his stats column this morning, John O'Sullivan looks at the impact Ireland under-20s are making at senior level with the Celtic Cup and All-Ireland League proving to be perfect breeding grounds.
On to soccer and there was more misery for Everton last night as they succumbed to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of a relentless Liverpool side who made it 43 points from a possible 45 in their first 15 matches. On a dramatic night in Anfield the visitors threatened to fight back a number of times but Liverpool always had too much and the defeat now leaves Marco Silva's job hanging by a string. Indeed the Portuguese manager looks set to be sacked as early as today with Everton, who are now in the relegation zone, lining up a return for former manager David Moyes. At the King Power Stadium Leicester maintained their pursuit of Liverpool with a 2-0 win over Watford in what was a seventh consecutive victory. Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, there were no happy returns for José Mourinho as he saw his Tottenham side succumb to an impressive Manchester United performance as Marcus Rashford netted twice to secure a 2-1 win and send Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side above Spurs and in to sixth place.
In domestic matters the FAI drama continued apace yesterday with main sponsor – Three – choosing not to renew its deal in what was a fresh financial blow for the financially troubled organisation. The long-awaited publishing of the association's accounts for 2018, which are due to reveal the payoff made to John Delaney as well as a number of other interesting figures, was due to take place today at midday but a statement late last night confirmed that it would now be postponed 24 hours until midday on Friday.
In GAA, a potentially league-based football championship plus a choice of options for how additional club weekends might fit into the county season are the main ideas in the long-awaited report of the GAA's Fixtures Calendar Review Task Force. In the now seemingly annual meetings over how to change the format of the championship yet again, this potential new option will involve more inter-county matches being played but within a smaller period of time.
Finally to our women in sport pages today where Sonia O'Sullivan writes that now is the perfect time to start planning for Ireland's hosting of next year's European Cross-Country Championships while Joanne O'Riordan says that Ballon d'Or winner Megan Rapinoe may be the biggest name off the pitch but she is not the best footballer on it.
