Munster aim to build further momentum; Ryan Mullen relishing Irish double act with Sam Bennett

Just five days after their New Year’s Day smash and grab up in Belfast, Munster return to action in Cork on Friday night. The visit of the Bulls to Musgrave Park offers Graham Rowntree the chance to continue the province’s recovery, to secure back-to-back wins for just the second time since taking over as head coach. A strong team has been named, albeit without big names such as Peter O’Mahony and Tadhg Beirne ahead of the upcoming weekend of European action, but with the likes of Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes, Ben Healy and Mike Haley nonetheless in the fold, Munster will be looking to show that the bookies’ 16-point spread in their favour is no joke. John O’Sullivan previews the clash here. Up the M7 in Leinster, Jack Conan was on press duty yesterday and he has been speaking about the difficulty of getting a look-in to the side’s backrow this year give the continued excellence of Caelan Doris and Ryan Baird’s resurgence.

In last night’s golf action over in Hawaii, Séamus Power is four shots off the lead after the opening round of the Tournament of Champions. In a mixed bag of an opening round, the Waterford golfer carded eight birdies and three bogeys to finish on five-under in a tie for 17th. On a day of all-round low scoring, Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun and Jon Rahm are in a three-way tie for the lead at the top on nine-under.

“I don’t know how publicly I should admit this, but I think it’s one of the first seasons [like this]. Well, when every season rolls around again you are like, ‘oh, here we go again,’ but this year I am genuinely excited about what is potentially in store for us as a team.” Irish cyclist Ryan Mullen was in excellent form in an exclusive interview with Shane Stokes. After a brief taste of what the Irish double act of he and Sam Bennett could achieve with the German Bora-hansgrohe team when Mullen and other leadout riders helped Ireland’s fastest man on two wheels to a number of Vuelta stage wins, Mullen cannot hide his excitement at another year of working together. Of particular note was his reaction to playing a part in those massive stage wins that had Bennett in contention for the green jersey before Covid struck him down: “I just helped someone win a Grand Tour stage. I was like, ‘f**k yeah.’ I’d never done it before.”

“I felt it got to the stage where enough was enough. A lot of people were saying, ‘ignore the trolls’, but sometimes you do need to stand up.” Ursula Jacob has explained her thought process behind taking a stand last summer against social media backlash. The former Wexford camogie captain released a statement last July after a torrent of abusive comments made about her as an analyst on RTÉ's The Sunday Game. Elsewhere ahead of the coming weekend of club action, Gordon Manning offers some analysis of Kilmacud Crokes’ defence. For all the talk of Paul Mannion’s injuries and Dublin availability, Crokes have quietly shored up one of the country’s best defences, leading to a record of not having conceded a goal during their Leinster championship run