Category: Ireland Rugby

• Evening start will be first time for 12 years for England

• Ireland also host ‘Super Saturday’ finale against France

England will begin their Six Nations campaign on a Friday for the first time in 12 years in 2027 after they were handed an opening night trip to Dublin to face Ireland by tournament organisers.

Ireland will also host the final match of next year’s “Super Saturday” with organisers pitching Andy Farrell’s side against France in the 8.10pm kick-off. Ireland and France have won the last four editions of the Six Nations between them and both are in the hunt, along with Scotland, for the title this year with one round remaining.

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After their poorest pair of tournament performances in years, Steve Borthwick’s project is inevitably under scrutiny

The band on the stadium concourse were playing a familiar tune in the immediate aftermath of England’s latest debacle on Saturday. “Zombie! Zombie!” the vocalist sang, ostensibly in tribute to Ireland’s record 42-21 victory at Twickenham. Alternatively he might just have been riffing on the horribly listless, blank-eyed performance that ended England’s Six Nations title hopes for another year.

“In your he-ad, in your he-ad…” The old Cranberries anthem, synonymous with Ireland’s 2023 World Cup campaign in France, will be heard a few more times over the next month if Andy Farrell’s team maintain their revitalised excellence and no-nonsense physical intent. For England’s players, though, the past two weekends have been truly grim, a return to the bad old days they had dared to hope were over.

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• ‘We will see huge amount of damage from social media’

• England captain’s 100th cap in crunch clash with Ireland

The England captain, Maro Itoje, has warned of the corrosive effect of social media on professional athletes and wider society before the crucial Six Nations encounter with Ireland on Saturday.

Itoje will win his 100th England cap at Twickenham in what has become a must-win game for the hosts after last weekend’s deflating defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield. The buildup has been marred by racist abuse on social media of the Ireland second row Edwin Edogbo, after the 23-year-old made his debut from the replacements’ bench in their win against Italy in round two.

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Steve Borthwick’s response to stinging defeat in Scotland is to hand a first start to English rugby’s young tyro

A week can be a long time in the Six Nations, never mind in politics. One minute England are contemplating title showdowns in Paris, the next they face a must-win game against Ireland to remain in contention. A swift riposte to the defeat in Scotland last weekend is required urgently and Steve Borthwick’s team selection reflects the management’s desire for a significant gear change.

It has clearly played straight into the hands of Henry Pollock, whose ambition to start for England is about to be realised after seven caps off the bench. His promotion reflects the need to re-energise all involved in the Murrayfield meltdown, as does the starting return of Tom Curry and Ollie Lawrence, Tommy Freeman’s shift back to the wing and Marcus Smith’s bench resurrection.

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• Henry Pollock to make first Six Nations start on Saturday

• Coach hails player who can ‘thrive on’ commotion

Steve Borthwick has backed Henry Pollock to thrive in the face of any wind-up tactics from Ireland on his first England start on Saturday, tipping his rising star to bring “euphoria” to Twickenham.

Pollock comes into the side at No 8 as England seek to get their Six Nations campaign back on track. He will go up against a raft of players and coaches with whom he rubbed shoulders on the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia last summer. Borthwick, however, has challenged the 21‑year‑old player to express himself in front of the Twickenham crowd.

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• Northampton coaches eased post-Lions burden

• England back played 34 games last season

England’s Tommy Freeman has revealed the extent of his mental struggles after the victorious British & Irish Lions tour of Australia at the end of a season when he exceeded the player welfare limits for the number of appearances.

Freeman played in 34 games last season – 19 for Northampton, nine for England and six for the Lions – and has spoken of a “built-up anxiety” as a result of the workload. The mandated limit is 30, but players were given dispensation for the Lions tour on the proviso they were allowed five weeks off on returning from Australia and missed the first two rounds of the 2025-26 season.

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The former Ireland hooker on his rugby family, why Andy Farrell’s side need to rebuild and the physical toll of touring with the Lions

I have known Keith Wood for nearly 30 years and so it’s easy to talk about life and death long before we move on to rugby. But the game always provides context and, last Friday afternoon, the 54-year-old former Lions hooker and Irish captain drove to Cork to watch his youngest son, Tom, play for Ireland against Italy in the Under-20 Six Nations.

The previous weekend Tom made his first-team debut for Munster to match his dad and the grandfather he never met. Gordon Wood played for Munster, as well as Ireland and the Lions, before he died, aged 50, in 1982. Keith was only 10 when that first tragedy occurred but he went on to play for the same three teams as his dad.

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Ireland fought back to earn a narrow victory in Dublin after a resurgent Italy had threatened a major upset

The Opta supercomputer has crunched the numbers and chucked out a predicted result.

Drumroll please….

Hi Daniel.

I am REALLY looking forward to this match. I’ve been “with” Italy ever since they made it a 6 Nations but obviously reasons to be cheerful have been thin on the ground. Until now. Sergio Parisse was world class and was surely only a question of time before other high class Italians emerged.

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• France 36-14 Ireland

• Bielle-Biarrey scores twice in dazzling display

The Six Nations is under way and already a couple of things are ­crystal clear. It is going to take a seriously good team to beat France in Paris in this year’s championship and ­watching them attack will be an ­absolute treat. Ireland were not so much beaten as outplayed by ­opponents who will be even more dangerous with a dry ball at their disposal.

Never mind the argument about brief in-game adverts during ITV’s coverage. Irish fans would probably have preferred a total 80-minute blackout or, failing that, an entire evening of cookery programming. Instead those back at home had to watch the visitors being repeatedly sliced and diced by seemingly ravenous hosts. Talk about eating your greens.

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Les Bleus opened the tournament with a dominant victory in Paris

7 mins. The attack is contained by France and a forced pass in midfield is spilled by a green hand. France will have a scrum in their own 22.

5 mins. The Ireland scrum creaks, but holds enough for Gibson-Park to clear their lines. This but of solid work is followed soon after by Osborne banging a MASSIVE 50:22 to give his side their first attacking platform of the game.

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England have the squad depth, but France have a returning hero and hosting duties for the potentially decisive finale

What are you most looking forward to? Let’s hope it stops raining at some stage. Because if Matthieu Jalibert, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Henry Arundell, Manny Feyi-Waboso, Louis Rees-Zammit et al have a licence to thrill with a dry ball this could be an eye-catching championship.

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England are bullish, France are in flux, while Wales will be hoping just to beat Italy and avoid the wooden spoon

Fixtures: 7 Feb, Wales (h); 14 Feb, Scotland (a); 21 Feb, Ireland (h); 7 Mar, Italy (a); 14 Mar, France (a)
Last year’s finish: 2nd

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In the professional era, there is a common denominator that suggests France and Ireland might be worth backing

All that performance data, all those fixture permutations. All the gym sessions and marginal selections. Not to mention all those finger-in-the-wind tournament previews. But what if identifying the winner of the 2026 Six Nations basically involves overlooking all of that – and is shaped by an underlying factor so simple that it is staring everybody in the face?

Interested in finding out what this magic bullet might be? OK, here goes. Without cheating (or consulting your new friend Monsieur AI), spot the common link in the following sequence of years: 2022, 2018, 2014, 2010, 2006, 2002, 1998, 1994, 1990, 1984, 1981, 1978, 1975, 1972, 1969 and 1967? Tricky, isn’t it? Even years, odd years, irregular gaps … if you were a statistician seeking a mathematical pattern you would be sat there gazing at the numbers for a long time.

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We may know the sport’s future is bright when trendsetters worldwide are wearing Fabien Galthié-style shades

On the surface it was business at usual at this year’s Six Nations launch in a chilly Edinburgh. Had the city’s most famous literary sleuth poked his nose into the venue at the top of the Royal Mile, Inspector Rebus would have clocked the usual suspects: head coaches trying not to divulge any secrets, captains quietly studying their opposite numbers and content creators seeking to “jazz up” their tournament previews.

This year’s booby prize went to the “influencer” who asked Caelan Doris, Ireland’s captain, whether or not he liked Fabien Galthié’s thick-rimmed glasses. It was almost on a par with the Breakdown’s all-time classic: the day someone asked Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, to pick his favourite motorway service station. “Taunton Deane,” came the instant reply. “Because it means we’re almost home.” Brilliant.

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• Joe Schmidt says 46-19 defeat to Ireland is ‘a tough one to take’

• Australia on brink of first winless Europe trip in 67 years

The beleaguered Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has ruefully admitted that the best Australian player on the pitch in his side’s latest calamitous defeat was playing in Irish green.

Mack Hansen, the ex-Brumby who grew up in Canberra and was snapped up by his mother’s home country, scored his hat-trick of tries within the first half-hour to kickstart Ireland’s record 46-19 win over Australia in Dublin on Saturday.

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