“The strength of Irish rugby lies not just in the talent on display but also in the people who support, guide, and inspire it.” So writes Gordon D’Arcy in his tribute to Dave Fagan, his first strength and conditioning coach in adult rugby, who was laid to rest in Edenderry on Monday. Almost everyone who has represented Leinster rugby came under Fagan’s tutelage at some point, the huge turnout at his funeral highlighting “the esteem in which he was held”.
Gordon also looks back at the provinces’ outings in Europe last weekend, and looks ahead to their next challenges, Leinster aiming to follow up their victory over Bristol Bears with another against Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Jordie Barrett made an “ultra-assured 40-minute, try-scoring debut” against Bristol, Gerry Thornley hearing from the All Black who is settling in nicely at Leinster. Barrett believes “most of my value is at 12″, but his versatility will be a huge plus for Leo Cullen, not least if the injuries mount up – as they are already for the Clermont Auvergne game, Ciarán Frawley, James Lowe and Hugo Keenan all ruled out.
Munster are, though, boosted by Irish props Dave Kilcoyne and Oli Jager being cleared to play against Castres on Friday night, good news for Mike Prendergast who has confirmed that his name is in the hat to take over the top job vacated by Graham Rowntree at the end of October.
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After their crushing defeat by Toulouse last weekend, it won’t get much easier for Ulster on Saturday when they host another formidable French side, Bordeaux-Bègles the visitors to Belfast. Connacht face French opposition too in the Challenge Cup – they’re away to Perpignan on Sunday.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran looks at the thorny matter of the tax status and compliance of county boards. The issue goes beyond players’ expenses and “into all kinds of casual tasks for which payment may have changed hands”, while it has been speculated that GAA president Jarlath Burns’s recent raising of the possibility of formalising contractually the role of intercounty managers may have been partly pitched at tax compliance.
TV Watch: There’s yet another mountain of Champions League action on your screens today, Borussia Dortmund hosting Barcelona (Virgin Media More and TNT Sports 4, 8.0), Manchester City away to Juventus (RTÉ 2, Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 2, 8.0) and Arsenal at home to Monaco (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 1, 8.0). And in the women’s competition, Caitlin Hayes and Saoirse Noonan’s Celtic are likely to find Real Madrid (DAZN, 8.0) a somewhat tougher opponent than Glasgow Women proved to be in the cup at the weekend – Celtic won 13-0.
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