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Mary Hannigan: ‘Open-minded’ Andy Farrell to give squad hopefuls a fair chance

‘Obnoxiously talented’ Colm Basquel; Germany crash out of World Cup; Shane Lowry makes solid start

Jacob Stockdale. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Fri Aug 4 2023 - 09:38

Good morning,

As Andy Farrell noted, “42 doesn’t fit into 33″, so tomorrow’s game against Italy in Dublin offers a chance for several of his players to stake a claim to a place in his World Cup squad when he trims his current training panel.

Gerry Thornley heard the coach insist that he is “open-minded” and will give his players “a fair opportunity” to make that cut, Jacob Stockdale, Keith Earls and Joe McCarthy among those who will start against Italy and for whom “opportunity would appear to knock in a major way”.

While Farrell’s charges are building up to the World Cup, Vera Pauw’s crew are winding down from theirs after their exit from the tournament, Nathan Johns on hand in Dublin to witness their homecoming in front of a crowd of 8,000. Incredibly, two-time World Cup winners Germany are on their way home too after failing to reach the knock-out stages for the first time in their history. Our weekly rugby newsletter, The Counter Ruck, returns this afternoon, as Thornley looks ahead to the World Cup. You can sign up here to get it straight to your inbox.

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In Gaelic games, Seán Moran takes us through a newly published study entitled “Exposing force: the Covid-19 pandemic and women’s sport in Ireland during 2020–2021″ in which 194 sportswomen were surveyed on a range of issues. The findings aren’t encouraging.

Paul Keane, meanwhile, hears from Tipperary’s Claire Stakelum ahead of her county’s All-Ireland junior camogie final against Clare on Sunday, and he also talks to Dublin selector Mick Galvin about the “obnoxiously talented” Colm Basquel who had a memorable championship, finishing up as the leading scorer from play.

In racing, Brian O’Connor looks at the status of the Racing Academy and Centre of Education in Kildare town which, since it opened in 1973, “has provided a route into racing that, in all probability, wouldn’t have existed otherwise for generations of young people”. After having to close its student accommodation last month, though, there is now “some conjecture about the future of RACE overall”.

Brian also looks ahead to a busy Friday for trainer Joseph O’Brien who has horses running in meetings “from Galway to Goodwood and on to upstate New York”, and he reflects on Zarak The Brave’s Galway Hurdle triumph yesterday, one of his owners travelling a heck of a distance to witness his success: he came from Alaska.

And Philip Reid brings news of Shane Lowry’s efforts to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. “I certainly don’t want to be sitting home on my couch watching them,” he said. If he can put together three more rounds to match his opener at the Wyndham Championship (a 68), there’ll be a fair chance he won’t be on that couch.

Telly-watch: Eurosport, BBC 2 and BBC Three bring coverage through the day and evening from cycling’s World Championships in Glasgow, while TG4 takes over from RTÉ in beaming the Galway Races in to your livingroom (4.50-7.0). Sligo Rovers and St Pat’s square up in the Airtricity League this evening (RTÉ 2, kick-off 7.45) while the English Championship season gets under way with the meeting of Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton (Sky Sports Football, kick-off 8.0).