RTÉ Rugby podcast: URC whitewash for the provinces plus exclusive Linda Djougang interview
Neil Treacy is joined by Bernard Jackman and Jonny Holland to discuss the week's big news in Irish rugby.
We look back on Sunday's Energia All-Ireland League final, where Jonny's Cork Constitution side were edged out by Clontarf 22-21 in a gripping Aviva Stadium decider.
The panel then turn their attention to a chastening weekend for the Irish provinces in the BKT URC (12:55), with all four sides losing a regular season game on the same weekend for the first time since 2015.
Later, we look ahead to Leinster's Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton Saints on Saturday (43:21).
And Neil also sits down at the Aviva to chat to Ireland prop Linda Djougang (53:05), who looks back on the recent Guinness Women's Six Nations campaign, and discusses her journey through rugby, as well as Ireland's World Cup ambitions.
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Renewed James Ryan ready for final push for URC glory
Whether or not some Leinster players, management or, indeed, their fan base might be suffering a post-Champions Cup hangover, James Ryan is probably in a relatively better place than most. Due to a calf injury sustained when training ahead of the Round 16 tie against Harlequins, Ryan's five-week absence concluded with that painful defeat to Northampton. While that must have been a frustrating watch, Ryan's energy for their last two hard-earned wins has been striking. Further reflecting his mindset, Ryan puts a positive perspective on Leinster's season ahead of next Saturday's URC semi-final against the reigning champions Glasgow Warriors at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.45pm). 'Back in July, if you had told me we'd have a semi at home, I might have bitten your hand off.' READ MORE Not that Ryan was sugarcoating his team's quarter-final win over the Scarlets last Saturday . Leinster were 'loose with the ball,' he said, adding: 'We should be playing in the right areas in a knockout game and then discipline as well. I gave away two penos myself and access into the game. So, a bit of a mixed bag.' Yet he hopes that might be more beneficial than a Leinster walk-in-the-park. 'In knockout games more often than not things don't go your way, you know what I mean? Because the opposition have their own plans. They've got stuff up their sleeve. I think you get more out of a win when you have to grind it out then when it comes too easy, and it'll be the same this week. They'll have their own plans and it's not gonna be easy. 'With knockout rugby it's not about who scores four tries or who plays better, it's who wins the game. If you win it by point, great.' Ryan describes the Glasgow side which extended Leinster to a 13-5 win in the URC five weeks ago as 'a completely different team' from the one beaten 52-0 three weeks previously in the Champions Cup quarter-finals. 'The ruck and the physical parts of the game for me was like Test match standard,' said Ryan, also citing Glasgow's impressive win over the Stormers last Friday. 'I don't think they'll fear coming to Dublin. I think they like going away,' he added, pointing to last season's semi-final and final wins away to Munster and the Bulls. 'They'll be pumped and we'll have to be at our very best. Defensively, they looked like a team that want to play for each other whatever it takes. I think there is a good sense of identity in that club. We're excited, but we'll have to be very good to beat them,' said Ryan, also referencing Glasgow's lineout drive ('the best in the URC last season') and counter-attacking threat. James Ryan being announced as part of the Lions team. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho The day after Leinster's URC win the Leinster and Glasgow contingent travelled together to London for 'messy Monday', ie the Lions' administration day, which he admits was 'a weird dynamic' but also an enjoyable one. Being named in the Lions' squad, after missing out four years ago, had been a mighty relief. 'It was amazing, very surreal, to be honest; a bit of a dream come true. It felt a bit like making my first cap for Ireland all over again. 'I knew it was a big deal but I didn't expect to receive as many messages. It just struck me that: 'God, it's a bigger deal maybe than I even thought'.' He watched and waited as the names were read out alphabetically at home with his mother Clare and younger brother David. 'It was nice to share the moment with them, jumping up and down a bit, shouting and stuff.' His family will travel to Sydney. Back in the 1980s, Ryan's mum and her cousin Paula went to Australia where Paula stayed and married Mario Sindone, with whom she had three kids. 'I tried to sort of park it then for a while just because you owe it to the lads in here to be at your best and I always feel like I function best when I'm 'all in' wherever we are, whether it's in Leinster or it's Ireland 'It was amazing and it's great to know it's there, but I've sort of let it go a little bit as well.' Knowing Ryan, you believe him too.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Seán Moran: Leinster hurling final and the battle for relevance
There was a picture that prompted much agonising after the 1998 Leinster hurling final. It was of Kilkenny 's corner back and captain, Tom Hickey, trudging across an empty Croke Park pitch, the Bob O'Keeffe Cup dangling from his arm like a bag of groceries. The photograph was widely used to intuit Kilkenny's sense of the underwhelmed despite having just beaten Offaly to win their first provincial title in five years. In the perennial comparison between the provinces, Munster hurling finals always come with the blessings of posterity and tradition, whereas Leinster bear the burdens of pale comparison and, at times, faint praise. Back in 1998, this eternal truth was further endorsed by news that then president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, (currently wrangling the three associations as chairwoman of the integration group), would attend her first GAA match of the year, the following weekend in Thurles for the Clare-Waterford Munster final. It felt as if the bar for her presence had been appropriately raised. READ MORE For context, this was the second year of the new championship structure – in the vernacular, the back door – which notionally rendered the provincial finals less important. That was unlikely to be the reason for Kilkenny's lack of excitement, though. A year previously, when the back door was first put on the latch, Clare regained Munster and triggered Anthony Daly 's famous speech about his county's mission to show 'that we are no longer the whipping boys of Munster' before a capacity crowd in Páirc Uí Chaoimh . Closer to home, the 1997 Leinster finals had attracted record attendances for both the semi-finals and final. Wexford beat Kilkenny a week after the Munster final, encouraging Rod Guiney to deliver a swift homage to Daly by declaring his team to be no longer the whipping boys of Leinster – a curious reflection for the captain of the All-Ireland champions. 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Galway's distance from Dublin hasn't helped attendances in recent years, as crowds of only 25,951 and 24,483 turned up to the last two finals to feature Kilkenny and the Connacht county. Yet Galway 's clash with Wexford eight years ago created a new record for a provincial hurling final and broke the 60,000 barrier for the first time. Galway's arrival has not transformed the provincial championship. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho The missing ingredient is Wexford, whose last two appearances in the final in 2017 and '19 have attracted the century's highest attendances for Leinster hurling's biggest day. For all that Galway's arrival hasn't transformed the provincial championship, it's as well to ask where would it have been without them? They have provided opposition for Kilkenny in nine of the 11 finals they have contested since they crossed the Shannon. 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Kilkenny walked that path in 2012, having avenged a provincial final defeat by Galway, but hardly any counties in the province could aspire to a national target if beaten in Leinster. Last year, Clare were just the latest side to avail of a route to the All-Ireland after losing in Munster. They joined Cork (2004), Tipperary (2010) and Limerick (2018). Even after defeat, counties in the south can see the bigger picture. It is fair to suggest that whoever loses next Sunday in Croke Park is unlikely to have a realistically similar view.
Irish Independent
6 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Sligo's Lucie Cawley breaks Irish Schools Intermediate record at just fifteen years of age
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