GAA Weekend Preview: As the small ball takes centre stage
Only eight games left in the Hurling All-Ireland, but will Limerick have it all their own way as Dublin face the might of Limerick on the expance of the Croke Park pitch
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RTÉ News
33 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Nadine Doherty: Vikki Wall being held to a 'different standard' by refereeing calls
Former Donegal footballer Nadine Doherty feels Meath's two-time All-Ireland winner Vikki Wall is held to a "different standard" to her peers when it comes to refereeing decisions. Speaking to RTÉ's Game On, Doherty highlighted Wall's sin-binning in Meath's 0-07 to 0-04 win over Kildare and felt the decision was harsh on the 27-year-old, with the yellow card incurred in the 44th minute when she was adjudged to have fouled Claire Sullivan. "The biggest talking point in that game was Vikki Wall's sin-bin. It wasn't a sin-bin for me," said Doherty. "I just felt that Vikki had the ball, she was at full pace which is a lot of pace but that's her strength, so she can't be punished for that. "And the Kildare player came across her, very clearly put two hands up to Vikki's chest. Vikki saw this late, turned her shoulder to protect herself as you would and straight away I knew she'd get a sin-bin, and you could see she was dumbfounded, as was everybody." Doherty feels that has not been an isolated occurrence and feels the player has been incurring more on-field punishment than has been warranted by the way she plays the game. "It just angers me to be honest because she's one of our top players," she said. "Look, Vikki is attritional, she has a lot of pace. Does she commit fouls? Of course she does. "But I just feel she's held to a higher standard. Not even a higher standard but a different standard when it comes to the majority of referees in this country. "I just think she's one of our top players, who has come home from AFL. She could easily have stayed out there (in Australia) for a year. "She has come home, back into that Meath team, she's upping the standard of our game and I just don't understand how week after week these calls are made against her." While she viewed Wall's sin-binning as "simply a bad call", Doherty did distinguish that from the wider issue of the charging rule in women's football. "I just think the charge rule is outdated. I don't know why it's in our game. Is it to keep our game and I put this in inverted commas, a 'non-contact sport' game? "The game isn't non-contact. It's full-contact, it's a physical game. I don't see the point of (the charge rule) because it actually puts refs in positions where sometimes I feel they don't actually know what the right call is. They might argue that. "Because it's such split-second tackles, it's all in the moment. But I just think at the weekend that Vikki was punished and shouldn't have been and I just think over the last few years, she's held to a different standard in that regard. "And teams also play into that. You can see it. When Vikki has the ball and she's at full tilt, teams play into it and sometimes that's the only way they can stop her is to draw a charge." Follow a live blog on the All-Ireland Football Championship on Saturday and Sunday on and the RTÉ News app. Listen to updates on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Saturday Game at 9.15pm and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Leinster's big hitters missing as Lions show kicks off with English-heavy side in Dublin
The ironies abound. Leinster had supposedly generated a degree of Aviva fatigue by earning five knock-out games at their temporary home this season before last Saturday's successful URC final segue in Croke Park. Now they are almost nowhere to be seen when the British & Irish Lions host Argentina this Friday at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 8pm, live on TG4 and Sky Sports). Only two of Leinster's dozen inclusions in the 38-man squad will feature, and both Rónan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong are on the bench, with Andy Farrell resting all eight starters in last Saturday's win over the Bulls, while the head coach gave positive updates on last week's other absentees Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan. So it is that the Lions' starting XV to be roared on by the 'home' crowd will feature nine English players. These include eight of the England starting XV which were beaten more soundly by Ireland on February 1st in this stadium than the 27-22 scoreline indicates , as well as the replacement outhalf that day, Fin Smith. There's still room for the Connacht duo of Finlay Bealham and Bundee Aki, as well as Mack Hansen on the bench, while the Munster captain Tadhg Beirne will partner captain Maro Itoje in the secondrow. There will also be two Scots in Duhan van der Merwe and Sione Tuipulotu and the tireless Welsh openside Jac Morgan, thereby ensuring all four countries are represented. READ MORE In another irony, through no fault of his own, Furlong has made the smallest contribution of any of their Lions contingent to the Leinster and Ireland campaigns, thanks to recurring calf and hamstring issues. His sole cap for Ireland was as a replacement in Rome on the final weekend of the Six Nations and, having been an unused replacement against Glasgow in round 18 of the URC, the last of his seven appearances and five starts for Leinster was in the Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton seven weeks ago. But after apparently training impressively with the Lions, the experienced 32-year-old from Wexford will have an opportunity to prove his wellbeing at some juncture against Los Pumas as a replacement for Bealham. A fit and strong Furlong would be a huge boost to the Lions given his pedigree as a starting tighthead in all six Tests against New Zealand in 2017 and South Africa four years ago, and his motivation to complete the southern hemisphere cycle with a series win. 'He's fit, he's fit,' asserted Andy Farrell ahead of his first game as Lions head coach, 'and ready to go and train well. And he's as keen as everyone else to get the show on the road.' The irony of leading the Lions on the eve of his third tour in Dublin wasn't loss on Itoje, whose first game as England captain had been that aforementioned loss to Ireland on February 1st. Tadhg Furlong and Ellis Genge. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho 'It's been very nice to be so warmly received in Dublin,' he revealed with a broad smile. 'That tends not to be the case. It's going to be a great spectacle. It's one the players can't wait for to be honest. We can't wait to get out there and show ourselves and others what we're about. We're looking forward to it.' Plenty of water, along with six matches, will pass under the bridge between now and the first Test in Brisbane in a month's time, but Itoje's partnership with Beirne – a replacement in the first and second Tests four years ago – could be a precursor of things to come. 'I'm really enjoying spending time with Tadhg,' said Itoje. 'I spent a bit of time with him on the last tour. We built a good relationship and it's been amazing we've been able to continue that. He's a fantastic player. He has a level of physicality that's really impressive. I've been impressed with his leadership and how he is around the boys in a very calm and mature way.' The absence of the rest of the Leinster contingent along with the Bath duo of Finn Russell and Will Stuart, and Leicester's Ollie Chessum, forced Farrell's hand, and they will have some catching up to do after the squad lands in Perth next Sunday. But Farrell provided encouraging updates on Gibson-Park and Keenan, as well as the Glasgow and Scotland outside centre Huw Jones. 'They are all a week or so away from being fit. We didn't quite know until Jamison got another scan on Monday night which was pretty positive. Jack [van Poortvliet] comes over as cover for this game, Jamison should be up and running for the week after. 'Huw Jones has trained with us this week, and he's been back into full training, so that's great. Hugo Keenan ran for the first time a couple of days ago. Everything's going pretty well as far as that's concerned. And there's always one or two bumps and bruises that you're trying to nurse but the nature of rugby within itself. So, we're in good shape.' So, what did he want to see from this team in this non-Test warm-up match? 'Cohesion, connection. An ability to attack the game from the off and be the best version of themselves individually and collectively. You can give yourself any excuse in terms of time together. But we've had good preparation. If you want to be a good Lions player, you have to hit your straps straight from the off. We want to see these players compete.' British & Irish Lions : Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Finlay Bealham; Maro Itoje (capt), Tadhg Beirne; Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Earl Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Hansen Argentina: Santiago Carreras; Rodrigo Isgró, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy; Tomás Albornoz, Gonzalo García; Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (capt), Joel Sclavi; Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo; Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin Oviedo. Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simón Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, Santiago Cordero.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘We're talking about the best of the best': Tadhg Beirne up for the challenge of being a Lion
Tadhg Beirne didn't express any emotion when he uttered the words but the suggestion was that the Munster and Ireland lock was mildly fascinated by Lions captain Maro Itoje . 'I'm very impressed, he speaks incredibly well. He doesn't curse,' said Beirne. There is not much Itoje doesn't do but not swearing on a Lions tour may well be a first and well, there's a long way to go. Still Beirne expressed excitement that he will start with the England captain against Argentina on Friday night at the Aviva Stadium, hoping that their stint in Portugal and the last number of days in Ireland will have given them some cohesion for the first examination. READ MORE Cohesion came up several times. But Beirne is confident that the rugby IQ within the squad and the innate ability of the players will overcome any cohesive shortcomings they might have from being together for such a short time. 'Yeah, but you're talking about world-class players here. We're talking about the best of the best,' said Beirne. 'The expectation we would have of each other is that you can adapt to any system you're given and that's the challenge laid in front of us. That's the challenge of being a Lion. 'Every four years there's going to be a new system, the coach is going to want to play a certain way and if you want to be a Lion, you're going to have to adapt, or you'll get left behind. 'I would say if you came in here thinking that you could just play your club system or your country system, then you're probably already at a loss.' Argentina under coach Felipe Contepomi have both the advantage of knowing their system and the coach having a deep knowledge of the Irish players, having left the Leinster backs coaching job for Argentina at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season. British and Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA 'I think everyone comes into these things with a massive open mind and looking forward to getting to play these new systems and eager to learn,' said Beirne. 'If you're not floating ideas of players in your position, you're already at a loss as well. We're in such a privileged position to come into these environments and learn from one another and get better as rugby players. Adaptation is a big part of that. We all want to be on the same page. 'I think that's what we'll be chasing is, that cohesion and connection.' Beirne believes his own game has evolved since he played with the Lions in the Covid-hit South African tour of 2021. Playing like a blindside flanker more than secondrow, it was still enough to earn him two Lions caps. In his non-Test debut for the Lions, Beirne scored a try in their 28–10 warm-up victory against Japan. He made his Lions debut as a replacement in the first Test win over the Springboks and came on again in the second Test, which was won by South Africa. But he didn't play in the third Test, which the Lions lost. 'If anything, I've probably become more settled in the secondrow over the last couple of months, particularly with Munster,' said Beirne. 'I like to think, or I've convinced myself anyway, that my game has improved a bit over the last four years, just in terms of understanding the game and being a smarter rugby player. And particularly in the secondrow, because I've been playing there a lot more, what's expected of me in that role, whether it be for Munster or Ireland. I've definitely got a better understanding of it.' During the Six Nations , Beirne spoke to Jack Conan about the weirdness of the Warren Gatland-led last tour, the result of which was that players didn't get the full Lions experience with a disrupted schedule and matches played in empty stadiums. Although not yet sold out, a big crowd is still expected to turn out at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night. And with Finlay Bealham and Bundee Aki starting alongside him and three more Irish players ‐ Rónan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong and Mack Hansen ‐ hopeful to be sprung from the bench, it will be far from the Covid experience. 'Me and Jack Conan had spoken about it very briefly, So when we both got the name called out, that's what I was thinking in my head, that we're going to get the actual experience of what the Lions is actually meant to be about, full crowds, having the fans come over, experiencing that wave of red coming into each city and I'm really, really excited about it.'
