Ireland U-17 boss Colin O'Brien says LOI academy funding is vital
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Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Wallabies break South Africa's aura of invincibility in win that asks: is Australian rugby back?
For 18 minutes, everything was going according to script. The double world champions were running riot at Ellis Park, stomping over the gain line with every carry, shrugging off tacklers and hammering anyone unlucky enough to be wearing a gold jersey. Australia had touched the ball twice before Kurt-Lee Arendse scored the opening try; once when James O'Connor kicked off, then again when Tom Wright spilled a contestable kick. Twelve minutes later André Esterhuizen sliced through the right before Siya Kolisi bulldozed over under the posts. Manie Libbok kicked seven extra points to nudge the score to 22-0 in South Africa 's favour. We'd not yet reached the quarter mark of this one-sided contest. Ireland's World Cup: limping to the start line or a golden opportunity? Listen | 28:38 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii had his nose bloodied by Eben Etzebeth. Will Skelton was being bullied. O'Connor, parachuted in at outhalf, had been steamrollered on three occasions. The Wallabies had arrived in Johannesburg with reputations enhanced after their Lions series defeat. This felt like a reality check. And then Fraser McReight won a penalty on the ground in his own 22. 'Momentum' is an overused word in rugby, usually cited only in hindsight. Yet this was the spark. It was here that Australia turned around, dug their heels in and fired shots of their own. It was here that Australian rugby under Joe Schmidt ascended another level. Four consecutive penalties later and Dylan Pietsch was sliding over in the corner. READ MORE South Africa's failings compounded matters. 'We were really dogshit on the day,' their coach Rassie Erasmus said. Too often they overplayed and were inaccurate in the red zone. Their inability to secure the ball was a concern against Italy and Georgia during the July internationals. Now it is a glaring weakness. Any team with a back row as dynamic as the one under Schmidt's watch will cause the Boks a world of trouble. Australia's Harry Wilson evades a tackle from South Africa's Manie Libbok to score a try for the Wallabies. Photograph: Wikus de Wet/AFP via Getty Images Two minutes after the restart Nick Frost nicked a lineout. Then Angus Bell thumped Malcolm Marx before finding Harry Wilson on a superb line. Ellis Park was hushed, as if 60,000 people realised at once that the Springboks' aura of invincibility was just a story they'd been told. The players seemed to sense it too. Most of them lifted the Webb Ellis Cup two years ago after a hat-trick of one-point victories. They've made a habit of snatching triumphs from hopeless causes but momentum was fully against them. Perhaps this is why Libbok forced the issue from inside his own half with an ambitious floating pass only to see Suaalii pluck it from the thin Highveld air and dot it down for a try on the hour. Wilson had his second, sparked by the magnificent Wright who didn't put a foot wrong after that opening knock-on, to give Australia the lead. Mere seconds after the restart Max Jorgensen was flying down the right tramline to open up the advantage. And when McReight stooped low with just seven minutes left, getting his meaty frame over the ball with the Boks swarming inside Australia's 22, the game was won. Wright's cherry-on-the-top, counter-attacking, zigzagging try turned the result from a nail-biting upset to a bona fide shellacking. Make no mistake, this is the biggest hiding the world champions have copped since their fairytale run began in 2019. Australia head coach Joe Schmidt ahead of the game. Photograph: Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images 'I don't think it was about one moment,' Schmidt said when asked how his team pulled this off. 'It was about sticking to what we'd talked about all week. The boys showed a lot of courage, and when we got a foothold, we kept building.' That is the emerging story of Schmidt's Wallabies: a side that doesn't collapse but grows when written off. They stole a late win at Twickenham last year, rallied against the Lions after a poor first Test, and now turned a 22-point deficit into a first win in Johannesburg since 1963. Does all this put the Lions series result in context? Are South Africa's veterans now a step behind? Are they caught between two philosophies, one that trusts in traditional might while the other compels them to run it from deep? Can we declare that Aussie rugby is officially back? This always seems to happen when Australia flips the script and produces something special. But maybe this is the script. Maybe a team with a solid set-piece, a totem in the lineout, berserkers at the breakdown, ballers in the midfield and dazzlers in the backfield are simply a formidable outfit that deserve more respect than they've been shown. Maybe those players under the guidance of a coach who appreciates rugby's fundamentals and knows how to get the most out of his charges can be more than just a plucky side character. If this is indeed the redrafting of a story we thought we all knew, then the entire sport will be better for it. Not that Erasmus will be too bothered with all that. He'll already be plotting a way back in the sequel next week. – Guardian
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘Shutting them up' – Darts star blasts social media ‘haters' after losing to Luke Littler in New Zealand Masters final
De Decker and a darts rival were subjected to brutal trolling WHAT THE DECK 'Shutting them up' – Darts star blasts social media 'haters' after losing to Luke Littler in New Zealand Masters final MIKE DE DECKER blasted social media 'haters' during the New Zealand Masters. The World No.19 reached the final of the Australian Darts Masters last week before losing out to Luke Littler in Auckland. 2 Mike De Decker has endured a difficult few months Credit: Getty 2 De Decker congratulates Luke Littler after their Australian Darts Masters clash Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Advertisement De Decker's place at the World Series events had come under scrutiny following a challenging few months on the oche since his World Grand Prix triumph. The Belgian thrower admitted the online abuse from trolls can be harsh on everyone in the sport but he isn't letting it derail his focus. He said: 'When I reached the final in Australia and I lost to Luke (Littler) I opened up social media and I didn't see one bad comment. 'I was thinking 'where are all the haters now?' Advertisement 'Everyone is slagging you off when you have a bad performance and forgetting what you've done before. 'It's not only with me but it is with everyone. They have been slagging off Luke Humphries as well. 'Look at what he's done the last two years. 'So, it was a big confidence boost to reach the finals and shutting them up to be honest.' Advertisement BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK The 29-year-old was dumped out at the first hurdle in the World Cup and exited the Matchplay in round two which led to a bombardment of 'cruel' messages from online trolls. He added: 'Social media is a hard world to live in. 'After the World Cup as well when me and Dimitri (Van den Bergh) lost in the group stages, social media was a really tough place to be on. 'It's how you cope with it, but some reactions and messages are just too cruel to be left out.' Advertisement
RTÉ News
7 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Ballinasloe's best ready to take Rugby World Cup by storm
As the club celebrates its 150th anniversary, Ballinasloe's Béibhinn Parsons, Aoibheann Reilly and Méabh Deely are excited to take on the challenge of Rugby World Cup 2025 and to make the local area proud. For some towns or villages, to produce one inter-county player is a big moment. For Ballinasloe, after a few barren years that preceded it, the sky has become the limit. Since 2021 they have produced an Olympian, three senior women's rugby internationals and five Ireland Under-20 men's rugby internationals, all of whom have gone on to represent Connacht. It is a remarkable feat for a club that has a long and complex, but unique backstory; but it is even more impressive for a town hampered by Ireland's post Celtic Tiger urbanisation. As the IRFU wanted to make clear in their social media content; everyone has a back story. For these three, the opening chapter kicks into gear in October of 2013. The east Galway club started the 2012/13 season without ever fielding a full women's team before, youths or senior; but that was soon to change. "It was Aoibheann's dad Stephen who started it all," says Deely. "He kind of got them to round up the troops in first year in Ard Scoil Mhuire and that's how we started." Reilly adds: "When the girl's team was set up in 2013, so many girls from the school, and also from the neighbouring GAA areas of Pearses, Ballinasloe and Aughrim, decided to pick it up. "As a lot of the girls had played other sports before, they picked rugby up so easily and we just did so well. It was very enjoyable." Familial ties are the norm in underage sport, but especially for this watershed team. Reilly's dad, Stephen, was their coach, while Deely's mother, Ann, was the team manager. Neighbours and friends came onboard en masse, and over a decade later, their group became the catalyst for years of success. "I remember at one point my mam told me there's over 90 girls playing in the club," Deely says. "When I was there it was just our team for a while and then we got to two teams eventually. "It is pretty cool and it's nice to know that we started something there with our group of girls that's still there and hopefully will stay there forever." "To see the growth of the girl's section in the club now, it's amazing." The road to Northampton has been a winding one for the three girls in green. An untimely knee injury curtailed Reilly's Olympics aspirations and could have hampered her World Cup quest. Parsons did feature at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but she and the squad had to settle for an eighth-place finish, winning just one of their six games. As for Deely, she missed the 2025 Six Nations through injury, but a consistent 80-minute showing in the warm-up clash with Scotland secured her plane ticket. Now, with the squad's feet firmly on the ground, the excitement is mixed with a steely focus. "There's lots of excitement. The start of summer, we were like, 'oh, it's ages away', but the nine weeks of pre-season and then a few weeks in between, it flew by", says scrum-half Reilly. "As soon as I got that injury before the Olympics, I had my sights set on getting back in form for the World Cup. "I got back for the opening game of the Six Nations and I'm glad I have the pre-season under my belt now and I'm ready to go. "For me, it's just also just getting confidence again and back in playing with different combinations and getting that gel." The aim is clear, get to the latter stages and set foot on the hallowed Twickenham turf in a final ideally, but a third place play-off would not be sniffed at either.. "As a team, we have this motto that we want to get to London," confirms Deely. Reilly says: "[If we] get to the quarters, you try to go all the way. That's why every team goes there to do. "We know we have the talent in the squad if we can just put our best performances out there." One of the most prominent names in Ballinasloe folklore is that of Noel Mannion. The former Ireland number 8 is most famous for his thrilling try in Cardiff back in 1989 and is now the club's director of rugby. After over 50 years with the club, he could not be prouder of the recent resurgence. "It's no accident that this talent arrived, it's a combination of good coaching as well talented young players. You can't take it for granted," said Mannion. Noel and others are heroes of the past but now comes a new generation of unbridled talent. From Ballinasloe underage to the top billing of international stages, one of the oldest clubs in Ireland has fast become one of the biggest suppliers in the club route. "It is quite unique and it's only when you look around that you see most junior clubs don't produce provincial or international players," said the former Ireland forward. "If you went to bigger clubs in Leinster, they wouldn't be anywhere near this level of production." With 18 counties represented in the 32-player squad, this is an Irish rugby team that represents every corner of the island, and within it, Connacht's oldest club of Ballinasloe RFC are well and truly punching above their weight.
