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Mary Hannigan: Plenty to enjoy, once you remove the green-tinged glasses

England’s performance in victory over Ireland is worthy of praise; Limerick look ready to steamroll opposition; Shane Lowry has a spring in his step

England’s Marcus Smith celebrates kicking a drop goal to win the game against Ireland. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Tue Mar 12 2024 - 10:42

While Irish rugby fans might still be in mourning after events at Twickenham on Saturday, Gerry Thornley is urging them to “cast off the green-tinged glasses” while reviewing what was “a darned good weekend for the Six Nations”, even if it wasn’t a fruitful one for Andy Farrell’s men. “There was no shame in this defeat and it does not make this Irish team a bad one,” he writes, England’s performance was their best, he reckons, since they beat the All Blacks in the 2019 World Cup semi-final. Owen Doyle shares that view, regarding both of Saturday’s encounters, the other Italy’s victory over Scotland, as “thundering, enthralling matches that have saved this year’s championship”.

Owen gives his verdict on last weekend’s officiating, reserving special praise for Nika Amashukeli who refereed Ireland’s game, but finding Angus Gardner, who was on duty in Rome, a bit over-chatty. “He needs to realise that nobody has paid to listen to him talk so much,” he says. That’s Angus told.

Nathan Johns, meanwhile, analyses an England performance that succeeded in doing “what very few sides have been able to do to Ireland: carve their defence open”. Irish errors, “particularly in the kicking game”, didn’t exactly help the cause, but “England took Ireland’s own attacking blueprint and used it against them. To devastating effect”.

Limerick’s hurlers have had a pretty devastating effect on most of their opponents these last few years, but Seán Moran suggests that “the relevance of the league to winning All-Irelands may be entirely at Limerick’s discretion”, although going in to the Championship with a league title under your belt certainly “enhances moods”.

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Shane Lowry is in a decidedly good mood this weather after back-to-back top five finishes and a return to the world’s top 50, the Offaly man now in 37th place in the rankings. He is, writes Philip Reid, “playing the best golf he has played in a long time” and will go in this week’s Players at Sawgrass with a spring in his step.

And ahead of the start of the Cheltenham Festival today, Brian O’Connor hears from jockey Danny Mullins who has “learned that picking up the discards from his uncle Wille’s number one rider Paul Townend can prove very profitable consolation indeed”. “If Townend has first pick, having second dibs on the most powerful team of horses in the sport is an enviable position to be in too,” he writes. He reminds us of what Buzz Aldrin said in The Simpsons – second is good as well, it comes “right after first!”

TV Watch: After Saturday’s one-day international against Afghanistan was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain, Ireland will hope for kinder weather in Sharjah this morning for the last of the nations’ three-match series (Premier Sports 1 from 11.30am). Virgin Media One and UTV bring coverage of the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival (1pm-4.30pm) and this evening there are two Champions League games – Arsenal are a goal down to Porto going in to the second leg of their round of 16 meeting (RTÉ 2 & TNT Sports 1, 8.0), while Barcelona and Napoli are all square after their first leg (TNT Sports 2, 8.0).

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