The 2019 Six Nations is looming and yesterday Joe Schmidt announced his 31-man squad for the tournament, as Ireland look to defend their Championship title in the Kiwi's final year in charge. And there are three new call-ups - with the uncapped Connacht trio of Jack Carty, Tom Farrell and Caolin Blade all selected. Outhalf Carty's inclusion comes at the expense of Leinster counterpart Ross Byrne, who missed out in what Schmidt called, "an incredibly tight call." There are also places for Iain Henderson and Sean O'Brien fitness depending, while the absent Dan Leavy is likely to be called into the squad once he has recovered from a calf injury. Ireland begin the defence of their crown against England at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday February 2nd.
Before the Six Nations can begin the final round of Heineken Champions Cup pool games take place this weekend, with Leinster, Munster and Ulster all knowing a victory would see them progress into the knockout stages. And in this morning's rugby statistic column John O'Sullivan has looked at each province's record in their final pool fixture since the inception of the tournament in 1995. He writes: "Indeed Munster are on a run of 11 straight victories in their final pool game, eight at home as well as victories over Montauban, Northampton Saints and Benetton on the road, a hugely impressive sequence of results. . . In contrast Leinster have played away in 16 of their 23 matches in the final pool game, winning 12, losing eight and drawing three." Johann van Graan's side welcome Exeter to Thomond Park on Saturday, while Leinster travel to play Wasps on Sunday. Ulster meanwhile have won 11 of their 23 round six fixtures - six of these coming away from home. They travel to Leicester this weekend.
In her column today Sonia O'Sullivan has looked at how difficult it is for an athlete to secure their dream ending, with injury seemingly bringing Andy Murray's career to a premature end following his first round defeat in the Australian Open. She writes: "All great athletes have the ability to rise above what they do in training. Sometimes you get to 'borrow' a performance that seems so out of reach, only because you've been there before, and instinct kicks in. . . As the years go on, however, do you have to pay back some interest, and most of these seemingly impossible achievements, the ability to back up and return, gets even more difficult each time."
Elsewhere Derby County are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup after they came from two goals down to beat Premier League Southampton on penalties at St Mary's last night. Earlier Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa held a press conference to discuss 'spygate' and admitted watching other teams train was a regular occurrence: "I observed all the rivals we played against and watched the training sessions of all opponents," he said. "So why did I send someone to watch them? Just because I thought I wasn't violating the norm."
And Shane Lowry made a stunning start to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship yesterday, matching the course record with a faultless opening round of 62, which included 10 birdies. His second round gets underway at 8.25am this morning (Irish time).
