When the “one-off Railway Cup revival tournament” takes place in Croke Park later this month, it will be far from the first time that the game’s rules have been tweaked in the hope of making it a more attractive spectacle. It was 40 years ago this month, Seán Moran recalls, that another experiment was launched, namely an international series between Gaelic footballers and Australian Rules players, the goal then too to provide “greater enjoyment for spectators and players”. Four decades on, Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster will try out another set of new rules, as produced by Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee, in the temporary revival of the interprovincial series.
Connacht’s Pádraic Joyce will be one of four high-profile managers taking charge of the provinces, John Cleary, Dessie Dolan and Kieran Donnelly taking charge of Munster, Leinster and Ulster, respectively. Gordon Manning takes you through the seven core rule changes that the managers and players will have to grapple with, among them a goal being worth four points instead of three.
In rugby, Denis Leamy tells Johnny Watterson that he had no problem at all with Donncha O’Callaghan’s criticism of Munster after their horror show against Zebre at the weekend. “He was completely on the money,” he said of his former team-mate describing the performance as “embarrassing” and “unacceptable” on RTÉ. Leamy, Munster’s defence coach, will expect considerably better when they take on Ospreys on Saturday. Connacht, meanwhile, hope to welcome back Bundee Aki for their daunting away trip to Scarlets, Linley MacKenzie hearing coach Pete Wilkins describe it as a challenge “not for the faint-hearted”.
And later today, Emerging Ireland open their tour of South Africa with a game against the Pumas in Bloemfontein. John O’Sullivan has a look at the group of players who will aim to make this a springboard in to the senior squad, Sam Prendergast and Cormac Izuchukwu having already toured with Andy Farrell’s crew in South Africa in the summer.
TV Watch: After recording their first ever T20 win over South Africa on Sunday, Ireland now take them on in a three-match one day series, starting today in Abu Dhabi (TNT Sports 4 from 12pm). Later, there’s another batch of Champions League matches to choose from, including Lille v Real Madrid (Virgin Media More), Aston Villa v Bayern Munich (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 1) and Liverpool v Bologna (RTÉ 2, Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 2), all kicking off at 8pm.
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