IN A SQUAD as competitive as Leinster’s, it pays to be versatile. Jimmy O’Brien is a case in point. O’Brien has started 14 games for the province this season – nine at fullback, three at centre and two on the wing, while also offering cover at out-half. Despite a couple of frustrating injury setbacks, it’s…
ANY INITIAL IDEAS about a ‘winners and losers’-themed article after the Lions’ clash with Japan yesterday veered very much in one direction after just seven minutes of the action at Murrayfield. Alun Wyn Jones’ resigned expression told a tale as he departed with what proved to be a shoulder dislocation that ended the captain’s tour…
Updated 15 hours ago THERE WERE CONGRATULATIONS aplenty for Conor Murray in Lions camp on Saturday night as his team-mates found out that Warren Gatland had appointed the scrum-half as the new tour captain. As ever in rugby circles, it wasn’t long until the slagging get underway. No one is referring to the Limerick man…
MUNSTER BACK ROW Alex Kendellen has been named captain of the 34-man Ireland U20 squad for the upcoming 2021 Six Nations in Cardiff. Head coach Richie Murphy has confirmed his group for the tournament, with Ireland kicking off their campaign against Scotland on 19 June. Kendellen has been capped by Munster at senior level this season,…
IT HAS BEEN just over 15 months since the world changed and the rugby world shut down. For some, moments have been lost forever, the cessation of last season’s Under 20 Six Nations campaign having a seismic impact on the Irish players involved. Having already collected a Triple Crown, they were rightly looking at the…
ROBBIE HENSHAW HAS backed his Leinster and Ireland team-mate Andrew Porter to return stronger than ever from the disappointment of missing out on the forthcoming Lions tour to South Africa. One of eight Irish internationals to make the initial squad of 37 selected by Warren Gatland for the series, Porter was subsequently ruled out due…
WITH THEIR PRE-tour camp in Jersey getting now in full swing, Warren Gatland and his Lions coaching staff will continue to mull over the selection options in their 37-man squad ahead of the tour to South Africa. The Lions’ first game against Japan in Edinburgh is in just 10 days’ time, so we at The42 will use…
ALMOST FOURS AGO to the day, Warren Gatland took a seat in Auckland’s QBE Stadium and explained to a room full of journalists, microphones and cameras why he was handing a Lions Test start to a relatively inexperienced 24-year-old prop from Wexford. “He’s still pretty green but he’s got something about him,” Gatland explained, clearly…