Sam Prendergast has been selected to start at out-half for Ireland in their Six Nations opener against England. What county is he from?
©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Dublin
Meath
Kildare
Wexford
Arsenal's Katie McCabe was sent off in a WSL clash with which side last Sunday?
SPP Sport Press Photo
Man City
Chelsea
Man United
Brighton
Dessie Farrell has revealed that Paul Mannion and which other player are unlikely to play for Dublin in 2025?
©INPHO/Evan Treacy
Jack McCaffrey
©INPHO/Tom Maher
Stephen Cluxton
©INPHO/Leah Scholes
Cormac Costello
©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Brian Howard
True or false? Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry both made holes-in-one at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
©INPHO/James Crombie
True
False
Which Ireland goalkeeper has joined Middlesbrough on loan until the end of the season?
Max O\'Leary
Max O'Leary
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Mark Travers
©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
David Harrington
©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Gavin Bazunu
What injury has ruled Tadhg Furlong out of selection for Ireland this weekend?
©INPHO/Ben Brady
Ankle
Shoulder
Calf
Hamstring
Who did Leanne Kiernan score against to help Liverpool reach the fifth round of the FA Cup?
James Giblin/Alamy Live News
Bristol City
Brighton
Durham
West Ham
Reigning champions Ulster University will face which side in the semi-finals of the Sigerson Cup?
©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
DCU
UCD
TU Dublin
TUS Midlands
Which Australian city will host the 2027 Rugby World Cup final?
Alamy Stock Photo
Melbourne
Sydney
Perth
Adelaide
And finally, Galway United's Julie-Ann Russell has announced her retirement from football. How many caps did she earn for Ireland?
©INPHO/James Crombie
66
65
62
60
You scored out of !
Gold
Top of the pile, you really were paying attention this week.
You scored out of !
Silver
Not too bad at all. If you'd paid a little more attention you could have won the gold.
You scored out of !
Bronze
The questions just didn't suit you this time. Maybe try again next week.
You scored out of !
Wooden Spoon
Well now. There's not much we can say about that. Do you even like sport?
We have serious front row issues. We’ll still be rolling out Furlong in a Cian Healy type role years from now.
This kid cannot scrummage. He looks good about the pitch but he’s not at this level. Even simply stuff like following the refs timing he’s all over the place. He also doesn’t really bind on his opposite number but more reaches which leaves him weakend
@chris mcdonnell: the only other option I can think of is Scott Wilson but he has far less experience/game time than Clarkson
@chris mcdonnell: I thought aungier was in better form and is better around the field than Beadhlam for connacht
@Thomas Bohan: Aungier is a better scrummager and Wilson looks good around the pitch. It’s not looking good at the minute. The metre and a half underage rule had stopped the production of props who can scrumage.
@chris mcdonnell: Scott Wilson actually can scrummage and is good around the pitch. He is definitely one for the future who should be given a chance – as they say if you’re good enough you’re old enough! We don’t have too many options – need to encourage and develop those that we do.
@chris mcdonnell: he has scrummaged pretty well this season actually. Definitely was a problem last season, but every time he’s played with Porter he hasn’t let us down.
@chris mcdonnell: john Ryan
@Michael Murray: hee hee. You’re funny
@JoeVlogs: ..made me smile…
What a difference one games makes, everything is dark and gloomy all of a sudden but the reality is not much has changed. We always knew we were light at front row, thats why during the next two years will see new props getting game time from Ireland and we should expect a few rough days. AFs goal is to get a complete squad for the next World Cup and to win it, we will have some transitional pain given the age profile of our squad
@Owen ODonoghue: where I would disagree is that much has in fact changed: Australia, England and New Zealand are improving. France and SA are building depth. Erstwhile autumn minnows – Fiji, Argentina- have momentum. We haven’t any similar progress to show. As for ourselves, we haven’t any energy, we have only one front row that can execute all the basics, we’ve lost a lot of acumen in captaincy and our 10 isn’t nearly as dominant. So a lot of change I would think.
Talk about bad luck.
How many seconds was he on the field?
@Stanley Marsh: – gone in 60 seconds.
We will never know till we play him as you said we have no other options,so if furlong doesn’t play he is on the bench. The six nations is the main games for us , let’s take chances test new players in these meaningless autumn internationals
@Phillip Keohane: losing these meaningless autumn internationals could sink us out of the seedings for WC. So maybe not meaningless?
@John Morris: The next WC will have six groups, so as long as we remain in the top 6, we’ll avoid the usual heavy weights. Best be in the top 5 in case Australia falls down the rankings and claims a top seed.
I wander if there is an over confidence factor creeping in with this Irish side …listening to SA podcasts today several journalists comments around Irish players doing the kinda stuff that England players have been doing over the years ie first pumping , slaps on the back when they got knock on in their favour or some advantage..I noticed it too .when have you seen an Irish team do that? ..they always over the years have looked cool and calm and confident with nothing phasing them…I was a point brought up that was noticable and strange …
@Stuart: maybe all the media hype especially around that game has really impacted psychologically – obviously the mental aspect to sport is as important as the physical and Ireland were below par compared with how they normally play
@Stuart: of course the Saffa podcasts are talking brown, the Saffa set up is the most arrogant going, but ye are still doing well, so that’s a total non story, also it’s one loss. Ye didn’t get thrown in the bin when ye lost to Argentina.
@Stuart: Honestly the SA media is worse than our own which is some achievement. They’re so rattled by a small rugby nation being a threat they do anything to dissect every minor thing and paint it in a negative light, even going so far as to make up ridiculous stories, all to make themselves feel better. The reality is Ireland to them are supposed to be plucky underdogs who ultimately get battered and all the time know their place, far far below the SH titans of rugby. Thankfully the real fans I’ve encountered aren’t like this.
@PJ Smith: : yes I agree, I guess with any media you take what you like and throw away what you don’t and just keep an open mind..well pointed out.
@Stuart: And that is exactly why I would count you as a genuine fan.
@Stuart: I, too, see the new actions of fist pumping and gesturing to the crowd. I think it’s to get the crowd more vocal and involved.
Big ask but If Clarkson had hold up the scrum and is quick on the lift in the lineouts then I’ll be more than happy. If he can do that then I’m more than happy that he can’t carry or play make
@Scott: ….if that’s your spec- and It has merit-, John Ryan will do that job.
@Michael Murray: stop, John Ryan was given way too many caps to begin with.
@Patrick Breen: he can pin a scrum.
I see it not as a prop crisis but as a prop mismanagement and there is the end only only person the buck stops with! The IRFU imo have this obsession with the rankings when in reality is doesn’t matter a feck when it comes down to say RWC quarter finals! No matter how you dress it up the top rugby teams in the world are the always the same and you will play them at some stage again and again this never changes. What does change is the players. So in someones great wisdom they found a great player like Furlong or Sexton and they stuck, they sat on that player and did everything to have that player available. The obvious blatantly clear was ignored , perhaps given little crumbs now and then but generally put to the back of the room. YET!! History shows that when this backfires it backfires horribly but SOMEONE in charge once again ignored the obvious and here we are again , ‘prop crisis’ or ‘flyhalf crisis’ or ‘hooker crisis’ or ‘full back crisis’ and on it goes.
@richard gibbons: pardon my grammer
@richard gibbons: ya but you can’t magic up options to play, and throwing players to the Wolves for a cap or two and then moving onto the next option doesn’t do anything for anyone. We want to give young players a chance, but even someone like Frawley, will that performance have done anything positive for him? So throwing someone like Scott Wilson into that type of test would be a waste. We could have given more caps to the likes of Eric O’Sullivan or Ed Byrne, but both are now totally off the boil now, so thankfully we didn’t give them the keys to the place. Cian Healy is still involved, because it would hurt the rest of the squad to just fire in someone who’s unsuitable at this level and could negatively impact their progression too.
@richard gibbons: Well said. I would add that upcoming players only get game time when there is an injury crisis. Everyone panics when these players are thrown in because no one bothered to plan ahead or rotate. In regards to the prop crisis, is it me or is it a bad look that Healy will surpass BOD’s record by literally only playing 3 to 5 minutes every game for the last three years? BOD earned all of his caps playing all 80 minutes of the game. While defending BOD, not too happy with his “lazy” comment directed at the players on Friday night. The lazy comment should be directed at the coach who never bothered to freshen up the team, rotate, or change the game plan. I called for more offloading and believed this was the next evolution. But no, we have Goodman who took Leinster’s attack backwards as attack coach. Yet Felix who won back to back world cup trophies is currently being humiliated by English rugby because he didn’t want to be mistreated. The IRFU need to buy him out of the contract asap and bring him home.