Interestingly, the announcement of two contract extensions were the first moves Manchester United made to let Jose Mourinho know they were calling the shots Jose Mourinho has left Manchester United after two and a half years with the club. During his time at Old Trafford, he got a troubled club back into the Champions League […]

7 years ago

There is clear respect between the two champions Irish boxer Katie Taylor moved to a 12-0 professional record at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night as she outclassed and outpointed Eva Walhstrom. The Bray native successfully defended her WBA and IBF world titles in style and the only blip was that she could not force […]

7 years ago

Mo Salah never seemed to get a fair run of it at Chelsea Having signed from Basel in the January 2014 transfer window, Egyptian striker Mo Salah showed enough in his first four months at Stamford Bridge to suggest he could push on during 2014/15 season. He played only eight times, however, and was loaned […]

7 years ago

‘Raging Al’ took Khabib Nurmagomedov the distance at UFC 223 On 32 hours notice, earlier this year, Al Iaquinta agreed to a title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov after first Tony Ferguson and then Max Holloway were forced to withdraw. If that wasn’t crazy enough, this all took place amid the chaos of a fight week […]

7 years ago

Castres vowed to avenge their defeat to Munster last weekend and they just about did it in a filthy, foul match in France

7 years ago

‘Stick your teeth back in, chap’

7 years ago

A damn good team, but one glaring omission. The end of the year has seen a stack of awards being handed out and ‘best player’ and ‘best team’ accolades being decided upon. Johnny Sexton has featured heavily in a lot of prize-giving and ‘Best Team’ categories. The World Rugby awards were close to a green […]

7 years ago

They got there in the end The top of the UFC’s lightweight division is getting extremely crowded and Max Holloway may yet be joining the party in 2019. There are a stack of hungry fighters lining up for a tilt at the title but the division has been held up due to legal and disciplinary […]

7 years ago

Luka Modrić has spoken out regarding the absence of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi from the Ballon d’Or Gala in Paris

7 years ago

Damien Duff is set to take a coaching job at Celtic, returning to his old club to reunite with Brendan Rodgers, whom he came across at Chelsea

7 years ago

If it sounds like something from a movie script, you won’t be surprised to discover the movie rights to Ben Ryan’s story have already been snapped up. How a 45-year-old from Wimbledon ended up as coach of Olympic gold medallists, with his very own waterfall and his face on Fiji’s specially commissioned $7 note is […]

7 years ago

Clark was keen to show Rakic he was more than ready, by doing manic push-ups in the middle of The Octagon as the Serb was announced

7 years ago

UFC president Dana White specifically addressed Max Holloway taking on Conor McGregor in the 155lb division. Can’t wait for 2019.

7 years ago

If the much spoken about Dustin Poirier fight does not materialise, fight fans would flock to this bout too UFC president Dana White has floated the prospect of Conor McGregor taking on Poirier early next year. The fight would take place around the same time as UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his belt against […]

7 years ago

Two of the most relieved men in Moscow, back in May 2008, when Nicolas Anelka had his penalty saved by Edwin van der Sar were surely Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo The Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea was played out in torrents of rain in Moscow and wrapped up around midnight (local […]

7 years ago

“Just go play.” A forward pack given freedom to do their own training… sounds like a story waiting to happen. James Haskell and Mike Tindall were reunited on the latest episode of House of Rugby – JOE’s rugby show – and regaled Alex Payne with some class stories on body shape, Barbarians and text exchanges with Sam […]

7 years ago

The ‘red mist’ immediately descended

7 years ago

Confirmation arrived from the IRFU this morning Ireland have confirmed that Joe Schmidt will leave his post as head coach after next year’s World Cup. Schmidt will be replaced by current defence coach, Andy Farrell, after Ireland’s involvement in Japan 2019 comes to an end. Farrell has been with the Irish team since 2016 and […]

7 years ago

A fitting reward, and award, for a remarkable 2018 Johnny Sexton has had some fine calendar years, but this year tops the lot. In 2018, Sexton has: Kicked 99 points, including that 42-metre drop goal against France that put Ireland on course for the Grand Slam Won all nine Test matches he has started Won the Six […]

7 years ago

Saracens and England fans can’t wait to have Billy V back, and playing at full tilt. Billy Vunipola has remained pretty positive despite breaking his arms three times in the space of 12 months. He fractured his right arm twice, earlier this year, and broke his left arm in October, but is hopeful of getting […]

7 years ago

As modest as they come, but don’t doubt his ferocity for a second. Rory Best went into Ireland’s clash against New Zealand with his place in the team being questioned, in some quarters. He ended the night with his second All Blacks scalp, as captain, in two years. The Ulster hooker got his lineout throwing on […]

7 years ago

IRELAND – 16 NEW ZEALAND – 9 Ireland were forced to wait over a century to beat New Zealand but they have now done it twice in two years after a stunning win at Lansdowne Road. The first half was an all-out war, with Ireland roaring back into it after soaking up early pressure. CJ […]

7 years ago

“It’s mesmeric by Ireland’s genius!” Those were the comments from Sky Sports’ Mark Robson when Brian O’Driscoll left Wasps absolutely stunned, back in 2008. James Haskell was a regular with Wasps at that stage but just a year into his Test career with England. That European Cup encounter with O’Driscoll was his first ever, on […]

7 years ago

Tries for Kieran Marmion and Luke McGrath but Conor Murray is going to end up in a lot of headlines Joe Schmidt offered an interesting update on Conor Murray after Ireland’s 28-17 win over Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday afternoon. Following the game, in which Marmion, McGrath and Bundee Aki all […]

7 years ago

In recent years, Sean O’Brien has fought back from multiple shoulder, hip and hamstring injuries. He picked up a fresh blow on Saturday night Sean O’Brien cut a distraught figure as he left the field of play after 38 minutes. The Leinster back-row had been performing solidly before breaking his right arm in what initially looked […]

7 years ago

James Haskell was pitch-side when Owen Farrell decimated Andre Esterhuizen and he was more than fine with it. Haskell joined host Alex Payne and former England Sevens star Rob Vickerman on House of Rugby – JOE’s rugby show – and weighed in on the biggest story in rugby over the past 48 hours. South Africa head coach Rassie […]

7 years ago

“France has a special place in my heart, in terms of rugby” Conor Murray is missing out on Ireland’s November Tests but he hopes to be back playing later this month and can still have a big say in Munster’s Champions Cup and Guinness PRO14 campaigns before the year is out. While most of us […]

7 years ago

– House of Rugby, Together with GUINNESS – “I feel really bad when I talk about Ireland because I never give them the credit they probably deserve.” Mike Tindall helped England to a World Cup win back in 2003 but he does not feel Ireland will follow them, next year, as northern hemisphere champions. Tindall joined host […]

7 years ago

It’s absolutely ruthless

7 years ago

These two sides clearly dislike each other Munster went into their Guinness PRO14 clash with Glasgow well aware that they owed the Scots one. Glasgow Warriors dismantled Johann van Graan’s men in their PRO14 clash at Scotstoun, earlier this season, so the South African went with a strong starting XV to avenge that loss before […]

7 years ago

Ireland’s squad for the Guinness Series will convene at Carton House on Sunday evening and Rob Kearney is expected to report for duty The Leinster fullback lasted just five minutes into the second half of his side’s Guinness PRO14 victory over Benetton Treviso. Kearney appeared to take a bad blow to his shoulder after another carry […]

7 years ago

Irish rugby fans are dreading the day Joe Schmidt decides to pack up and return home to New Zealand The Ireland coach may have got his Irish citizenship and lived in the country for eight years, but most fans have the nagging suspicion he will one day return to New Zealand. Schmidt is contracted to […]

7 years ago

A home away from home. That’s all it is, but it means so much. Matt Dawson had never heard of Ronald McDonald House Charities before his young son fell ill. He would have happily spent the rest of his life oblivious to the great work the ‘Keeping Families Close’ campaign does, but life has a […]

7 years ago

Conor Murray has spoken out about his decision to request Munster hold back on details of his recent neck injury The scrumhalf is ‘back doing 90% of training’ with Munster for the last three weeks and taking modified contact. All good in terms of progress but not enough to see him included in Ireland’s squad […]

7 years ago

– House of Rugby, Together with GUINNESS – England’s starting XV to take on the Springboks at the beginning of next month will have quite a few changes from the team that lost the summer’s Test Series 2-1 in South Africa. Victory in that final Test restored some English pride, and confidence, but November brings […]

7 years ago

Artem Lobov, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov all used to get on quite well. Not any more Six months after his confrontation with Nurmagomedov in a hotel lobby, ahead of UFC 223, Artem Lobov has spoken out about what sparked the incident and led to the all-out feud between the Dagestani and McGregor’s camps. Ahead […]

7 years ago

It has taken just over a fortnight for Conor McGregor to stew on his UFC 229 defeat, but he has now offered his take on how the fight played out. McGregor lost the UFC lightweight title fight against reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, on October 7, when he submitted to a neck crank applied midway through […]

7 years ago

‘The Notorious’ is set for The Octagon next. The ring can wait. In a recent interview with Joe Rogan, John Kavanagh marvelled at how quickly Conor McGregor took to boxing. After teeing up an incredible pay-day against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kavanagh committed to training his fighter as best he could for his professional boxing debut. […]

7 years ago

“It is an absolute honour to see you fight.” Conor McGregor was as gripped as the rest of us as he watched Katie Taylor battle to another defence of her world titles. Taylor successfully defended her WBA and IBF titles by comprehensively out-pointing Cindy Serrano on her way to an impressive victory. McGregor was a […]

7 years ago

Billy V was not at all happy with this. Rugby players are inundated with match clips and personal game highlights – in a bid to improve and prepare themselves. One wonders if video analysts bothered sending around the tackle that got Jerome Kaino five-week ban, on Wednesday. The All Blacks flanker was only yellow-carded, while […]

7 years ago

– House of Rugby, Together with GUINNESS – Honest and unflinching as ever from James Haskell. Heading into the November internationals, England head coach Eddie Jones will have to plan without a host of top stars. 16 leading players are sidelined, with the English back-row taking a bad hit – Billy Vunipola (arm), Chris Robshaw […]

7 years ago

“It’s frightening to imagine how good this Leinster side can be.” Last week it was Wasps. The week before it was Munster. This week it is Toulouse’s turn. Like Floyd Mayweather in the latter half of his 50-0 professional career, Leinster are telling us how dangerous their next opponents are going to be – how […]

7 years ago

“And then Khabib runs at us, jumps the cage and jumps at us… and thankfully he cleared my head” John Kavanagh is back in Dublin and probably happy to be back to his day-to-day work of coaching, managing Straight Blast Gym and trying to represent mixed martial arts as best he can in Ireland. Conor […]

7 years ago

McGregor lost at UFC 229, but he didn’t get lost in the sauce Daniel Cormier admits he was very impressed by the wrestling and grappling of Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 main event against Khabib Nurmagomedov. McGregor stuffed three take-down attempts from the lightweight champion, handled himself well on the mat in the first round […]

7 years ago

“Here, I understood that I broke him” Not long after he had a face-off with Conor McGregor in New York, at the first UFC 229 press conference, Khabib Nurmagomedov described the experience. In an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN, the lightweight champion said: “When I watch his eyes, I don’t feel nothing. He’s like drunk […]

7 years ago

“I can’t imagine Conor going off into the sunset on the back of a loss.” The text messages were pinging between Conor McGregor and John Kavanagh in the hours after ‘The Notorious’ lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. Kavanagh was getting “essays” from his fighter about what he would do differently in a rematch […]

7 years ago

“He’s all over the place… I suppose in a week or two we’ll sit down and assess what went right [and] what went wrong.” After weeks upon weeks of being in each other’s faces, Conor McGregor and John Kavanagh went their separate ways after UFC 229. McGregor was defeated by lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and […]

7 years ago

Full tilt. Fully committed. Andrew Conway will say he was doing his level best to put Gareth Steenson off his conversion attempt but he took this one too far. The Munster winger hurtled out towards the former Ireland U21, moments after Luke Cowan Dickie had scored Exeter Chiefs’ first Champions Cup try of the season. Conway […]

7 years ago

“To all the youngsters out there, that’s not what you do.” Freddie Burns looked to have sealed a crucial Champions Cup victory for Bath at The Recreation Ground, until hubris intervened. The Bath fullback ran a fine line to break through the Toulouse defence, late in their European Cup clash, and looked set to dot […]

7 years ago

‘Coach’ has made an intriguing suggestion for McGregor’s next fight in the UFC John Kavanagh admitted, on his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, that Conor McGregor has reached a stage where he may only fight ‘once or twice’ a year in the UFC. As much as Dana White, Ari Emmanuel and the rest of […]

7 years ago