RTÉ Rugby podcast: Leinster's siege mentality and inside the Irish RWC camp
We also react to Finlay Bealham's call-up to the Lions squad, as well as the Irish squad named for the summer Tests in Georgia and Portugal.
Later (55:20), Neil speaks to Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon, and back row Brittany Hogan, to find out how things are going in the early stages of Ireland's Rugby World Cup training camp.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'It was fairly surreal' - Irish dad and daughter ride in same race
The dust has settled on another hugely successful Tramore August Festival in Waterford where a record 26,000 racegoers attended over the four days. But one story has caught the attention of the racing public more than one in the past week - the remarkable tale of how one dad and his daughter took each other on in the same race. Sarah and Patrick Breen rode horses against each other in the closing Majestic Hotel Flat Race at Tramore last Friday — one of only a handful of times a father and daughter have ridden in the same race in the history of horse racing in Ireland. For the record Patrick won the battle of the Breens, finishing third on the 28/1 chance Lord Lackendarra, while daughter Sarah took sixth of the nine runners aboard fellow 28/1 chance Goodmancon. Both horses are trained by Patrick at the family's yard near Dungarvan in Waterford Sarah spoke to Horse Racing Ireland this week and reflected on what was one of the more unusual moments to happen on an Irish racecourse this year. 'It was fairly cool when we pulled up," she said. "I knew turning up the straight that I wasn't going to beat him this time. 'He was fairly happy, and I was as happy as I could be seeing as he finished in front of me! 'It was fairly surreal pulling into the parade ring together. What made the race even more unbelievable was dad Patrick hadn't ridden a horse in a race for 23 years - his last outing in the saddle coming at Gowran Park back in 2002. He also lost over three stone to make the 11st 7lbs weight that Lackendarra had to carry at Tramore. 'That was always dad's goal, he wanted to ride against me, so it was always the plan to ride against each other when he took out the license,' added 18-year-old Sarah. 'I didn't see it any different until we weighed out. We ride out together every day, so I didn't take any notice of him until we were both in the same colours, then it dawned on me that we were racing against each other in an actual race. 'We are fairly competitive at home, so it was a bit annoying now that he finished in front of me, but I'll definitely get him the next day. He's been soaking it up - I didn't hear the end of it on the way home!' Parents riding against their own children is very rare in Irish racing. Mrs Maureen Mullins, the late mother of Willie, famously rode one winner on the track when beating her daughter Sandra in a Gowran Park contest in 1982 while it's believed Rosemary Rooney competed against her dad Willie many years ago. Niall McCullagh and his son Scott have also competed against each other in recent times but a father and daughter is extraordinarly rare. 'I didn't really think it was going to happen, I thought it was an unrealistic goal but when we found a race in Tramore we thought it would be ideal because both horses had course form and it's our local track. We said it would be best to go there," added Sarah. "He had to do a lot of work to get back riding. He put in a lot of work at home as well as getting the horses ready. Getting both horses ready for the same race is not that easy.' Sarah played Ladies football for Waterford at underage level and still plays for her local club Clashmore, but it's a career as an amateur jockey that she's set her sights on now. 'I would have been point-to-pointing since I was about two weeks old, dad always had point-to-pointers at home. 'We have a schooling lane as well, so we would have a lot of jockeys coming riding. Seeing that growing up made me want to become a jockey. Dad supported me and pushed me to be as good as I could be and to get my license. 'The goal is to be an amateur jockey. I always wanted to be a jockey, growing up being surrounded by it. We come from a racing family, on both sides of my family we had horses involved.'
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Archie Ryan excited to make Grand Tour debut at Vuelta a Espana: ‘There are going to be loads of opportunities'
Irish riders Eddie Dunbar and Archie Ryan will be on the start line for the Vuelta a Espana when it starts this Saturday in Piedmont, Italy. Ryan, the 23-year-old from Wicklow, will be racing in his first Grand Tour after being selected by his team, EF Education-EasyPost, on a young squad that lacks an obvious leader after the withdrawal of Richard Carapaz due to illness. With 11 summit finishes across the 21 stages, the mountainous Spanish Grand Tour should suit the young Irish rider who goes into the race on the back of a solid week at the Vuelta a Burgos earlier this month and having finished second overall at the Tour of Austria in July. 'I'm super, super excited,' said Ryan. 'I think it is going to be a great three weeks. I haven't done a Grand Tour before, so I'm excited for the experience. We've got a super young squad. It'll be pretty exciting and hopefully Poppy Chaves [Esteban Chaves] can guide us through it nicely. 'I want to try and get in the break in some of the harder stages and fight for a stage win or two. That's the goal. There are going to be loads of opportunities. 'That is why I'm just really excited to go there. It is the grand tour that has the stages that suit me the best.' Ryan is one of four EF debutants alongside Markel Beloki, Lukas Nerurkar, and Jardi van der Lee while Esteban Chaves, James Shaw, Madis Mihkels and Sean Quinn have also been selected Dunbar will return to the Vuelta with happy memories after winning two stages of last year's race and forms part of a three-pronged leadership for Jayco-Alula alongside Ben O'Connor and Chris Harper. The Wicklow-born Danish rider Chris Juul Jensen is also on the eight-rider team. The confirmation of Dunbar's selection comes a day after it was announced he will leave the Australian team at the end of the season and move to Swiss team Q36.5 Pro Cycling. The 28-year-old Corkman warmed up for the Vuelta by racing in the Arctic Race of Norway last week after he was forced to withdraw from his first Tour de France on stage 8 following a crash. The race features 3,151km of racing across four countries, with 53,914m of elevation gain.
Irish Examiner
5 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Galway teenager John Shortt storms into world final
Ireland's John Shortt has stormed into the 100m backstroke final at the World Aquatics Junior Championships in Otopenia, Romania. The 18-year-old, Ireland's only representative at the championships, set a new Irish junior record in qualifying. Shortt, the 2025 European junior champion in the event, is now the second fastest Irishman ever over the distance after a swim of 53.80 in Tuesday's semi-final. Only Shane Ryan's 2019 Irish record of 53.73 is faster. The Galway native cruised through the heats in 54.39 in fourth overall. Tuesday's first semi-final saw Shortt, and American Gavin Keogh (53.52) take the top two spots for Wednesday's final, the second semi-final won by neutral athlete Georgii Iokevlev in 53.90. "I am very very happy with that swim, a PB which is nice," said Shortt. "You know since trials (in April) I haven't been 53 in that event, so to be 53.8 there I'm absolutely delighted with that. It's going to be a really really close final tomorrow, three of us going 53's and the Aussie going 54.0. It's going to be a very very packed final (on Wednesday), but I've just got to keep doing my own thing and I'll be ok. "I was very surprised as well with that swim, because coming off the back of (the world senior championships) it's been - to be completely honest - a very lonely ten days in between. So just want to give massive credit to (my coach) John Szaranek for keeping me going these past ten days or so because it's just been the two of us really. It's been great and I've loved it and I really want to end the season on a big high." The final will take place at 4:02pm on Wednesday.
