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At lunchtime this afternoon Andy Farrell will name his team for Sunday’s opening Six Nations encounter with Wales and the Ireland head coach, despite missing the likes of Caelan Doris and Jacob Stockdale, looks to have a strong hand to choose from. In speculating on who will be in the team, Gerry Thornley writes that the return of internationals such as Garry Ringrose will be a boost but team selection will be tricky given the lack of game time that most players have had recently. Likely to come up against Ireland on Sunday is Justin Tipuric. The quiet flanker is one of the unsung stars of Wayne Pivac’s side and his Croatian roots provide him with a hard edge on the playing field. Given recent discussion on red cards and dangerous play rules in rugby there will be plenty of focus on tackling during this year’s tournament. However, this morning former Test referee Owen Doyle writes that the players’ duty of care for opponents seems to have gone out the window. For plenty more Six Nations coverage now and throughout the tournament you can visit our dedicated site.
On to soccer and Chelsea made it three defeats in a row for Spurs last night as José Mourinho’s side slipped further in the league table. Thanks to Jorginho’s penalty it’s now two consecutive wins for new Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel but, in the other technical area, Mourinho was getting back to his usual tetchy self with the Portuguese shooting down a question about the unused Gareth Bale afterwards. Meanwhile, in domestic news, the FAI have been told they can count on financial support from Government through 2021 after a meeting with Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers yesterday.
On to golf and last week’s debacle at Torrey Pines with Patrick Reed’s embedded ball only served to further the idea that the PGA Tour need to get a bit tougher on taking potential rules infringements to task. This morning Johnny Watterson writes that behaviour is the glue that keeps golf together but, on more occasion than one, Patrick Reed has made it come unstuck. Meanwhile, at the Phoenix Open yesterday, Rory McIlroy recovered from a disastrous start to card a one under par round of 70 and sit seven shots behind leaders Mark Hubbard and Matthew NeSmith while Pádraig Harrington suffered his misfortune the opposite way around after he played the first 16 holes in three under but then played the final two in three over.
In hurling, Cork captain Patrick Horgan yesterday questioned the wisdom of punishing cynical fouls by saying that the sport is trying to change too much. “You’d have to have a double take to see am I sent off for five minutes, am I sent off for . . . so I just think we just get on with the game. Obviously if a foul is worthy of a red or yellow card then fair enough, but I think introducing any other sort of sin bins would be out of the question for hurling,” he says.