Johnny is out is he?
Too early to tell. Rumour has it you couldnt break that jaw.
If it is broken heâs out, no doubt.
Munster trio named in Barbarians squad
Ireland flanker Alan Quinlan and fellow Munster players Jean de Villiers and Paul Warwick are included in the Barbarians squad for this summerâs tour.
Also involved in the series which begins with the MasterCard Trophy match against England at Twickenham on 30 May are Danny Cipriani and Paul Sackey, along with All-blacks Jerry Collins, Carl Hayman and Doug Howlett.
Following the England game the Barbarians, who will be coached by Philippe Saint-Andre, will face Ireland at Thomond Park, Limerick, on 4 June.
ERC, the tournament organisers, today announced the confirmed dates, kick-off times and broadcast coverage for the two Amlin Challenge Cup semi-finals, with former champions London Wasps meeting Cardiff Blues in the other last four match.
Initial doubt as to the venue for the Connacht v Toulon tie were laid to rest after talks between the Connacht managment and ERC officials concluded with the Galway City pitch being given the go-ahead.
Connacht CEO Gerry Kelly was delighted with the news, saying: "The Sportsground was always our prefered option for the semi-final, not only does it give us every opportunity on the pitch - Connacht have not lost at home since September - but it gives us a chance to reward our fans and sponsors alike.
âWe look forward to working closely with local businesses, Galway City Council and FailtĂŠ Ireland to make this a truely memorable event.â
Connacht v Toulon tckets will go on sale early next week from www.ticketmaster.ie and from the Connacht Branch offices in the Sportsground on College Road.
2009/10 AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP SEMI-FINALS:
Friday, April 30 -
CONNACHT v Toulon, the Sportsground, 7.45pm (live Sky Sports/FR4)
Saturday, May 1 -
London Wasps v Cardiff Blues, Adams Park, 6pm (live Sky Sports/Eurosport France)
Indeed, unlike soccer and the masks and what not he could not go into a match with a recently broken Jaw. Given the wilkonsonesque way that sexton plays he would really risk getting it smashed.
Tom.
The report I read said it was a very minor dsplacement of his jaw, that was operated on Saturday. The only reason for an operation was that he is a professional rugby player and the safegaurd him for the future. He will be fine.
Thats a big boost so. Who would they have had to bring in at 10 that could tackle and kick like Sexton?
Tom.
Nobody. Sextonâs the best outhalf in Ireland by streets.
Lar, any word on last nights game? Didnt see it, but all is not well in the Northern province at present?
The table as it stands, and the remaining Magners League Fixtures
Fri 16 Apr 19:05
Warriors v Ulster
Fri 16 Apr 19:05
Leinster v Ospreys
Sat 17 Apr 18:30
Scarlets v Blues
Sun 18 Apr 17:05
Connacht v Munster
Sun 18 Apr 17:05
Dragons v Edinburgh
Fri 23 Apr 19:05
Dragons v Blues
Fri 23 Apr 20:00
Warriors v Leinster
Sat 24 Apr 18:30
Munster v Ospreys
Sun 25 Apr 14:05
Scarlets v Connacht
Sun 25 Apr 16:05
Edinburgh v Ulster
7/8/9 May
Blues v Munster
7/8/9 May
Leinster v Edinburgh
7/8/9 May
Ospreys v Dragons
7/8/9 May
Scarlets v Warriors
7/8/9 May
Ulster v Connacht
14/15/16 May
SF
14/15/16 May
SF
Sat 29 May 18:30
F
Ulster are in a bit of bother now. Two tough trips to Scotland and Connacht are in good form.
Very poor performance after a promising start to the league. They havenât closed out enough tough games and they seem to lose every game where the result is debatable before the start (with the notable exception of the interpros).
Probably no point setting up a 6N 2011 thread just yet, butâŚ
Fixtures for 2011 RBS 6 Nations Announced
Ireland will open the 2011 RBS 6 Nations with a trip to Italy in February while the first Championship game in the Aviva Stadium will be a Sunday game against France. Ireland will finish the RBS 6 Nations with a clash at home to England.
The RBS 6 Nations Championship will kick off on a Friday night in 2011 when Wales host England on February 4th. This is the first time the tournament has kicked off on a Friday night though Wales and France have played each other during the Championship in recent seasons on a Friday.
Ireland will open their 2011 campaign with an away trip to Italy on Saturday February 5th. France will play Scotland later that day in Paris.
The first RBS 6 Nations game in Aviva Stadium will take place a week later on Sunday February 13th with France as the opposition. There is a free weekend after that before the tournament resumes with Ireland again playing on a Sunday, this time in Edinburgh to face Scotland.
Another free week in March is followed by a Saturday evening trip to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to play Wales.
The Super Saturday final day of the Championship sees Scotland at home to Italy and France at home to Wales either side of Irelandâs last game - an evening kick off against England in Aviva Stadium.
RBS 6 Nations 2011 Fixtures (all kick off times local to where the match is being played)
Friday February 4th
Wales V England, Millennium Stadium, 19:45
Saturday February 5th
Italy V Ireland, Stadio Flaminio, 15:30
France V Scotland, Stade de France, 18:00
Saturday February 12th
England V Italy, Twickenham, 14:30
Scotland V Wales, Murrayfield, 17:00
Sunday February 13th
Ireland V France, Aviva Stadium, 15:00
Saturday February 26th
Italy V Wales, Stadio Flaminio, 15:30
England V France, Twickenham 17:00
Sunday February 27th
Scotland V Ireland, Murrayfield, 15:00
Saturday March 12th
Italy V France, Stadio Flaminio, 15:30
Wales V Ireland, Millennium Stadium, 17:00
Sunday March 13th
England V Scotland, Twickenham,15:00
Saturday March 19th
Scotland V Italy, Murrayfield, 14:30
Ireland V England, Aviva Stadium, 17:00
France V Wales, Stade de France, 20:45
England at home in the new place to win the GS, not bad.
The thing with Munster is that its the best set of players they had in a while & their manager wonât be shy in letting the players know this- this belief alligned to a serious amount of work over the winter months will mean that a victory is on the cards- will they go much further? hard to say but they will give it a right old lash whatever happens
:barcasmile:
Tom.
Alan Good knows the score, from his blog on the Examiner. Jesus the english are painful losers. Check out the hyperlinks.
Rugby Blog
LEINSTER (v Ospreys): Girvan Dempsey; Shane Horgan, Fergus McFadden, Gordon DâArcy, Isa Nacewa; Shaun Berne, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, John Fogarty, Mike Ross, Leo Cullen (capt), Nathan Hines, Kevin McLaughlin, Shane Jennings, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements (from): Richardt Strauss, Stan Wright, Malcolm OâKelly, Stephen Keogh, Paul OâDonohoe, Eoin OâMalley, Andrew Conway, Simon Keogh.
I presume Berne will be kicking given the uncertainty over Jonny.
Anyone ever been to The Rec? Its a ground Iâd love to visit sometime for a game, might never happen now by the sounds of it.
Bath likely to leave the Rec after billionaire buyout⢠New owner Bruce Craig wants 25,000-seat stadium
⢠The Rec has been Bathâs home for 115 years
Tweet this (8)Mike Averis guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 April 2010 19.06 BST Article history
The Rec is arguably the most beautiful rugby ground in England but Bathâs home of 115 years holds only 12,000 and has outmoded facilities. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt
Bath, one of the earliest clubs to fall into the hands of a millionaire, today traded up, becoming the first to be bought by an English billionaire.
The switch from the greetings cards millions of Andrew Brownsword to the pharmaceutical billions of the 47-year-old Bruce Craig, a Bristol boy who made his money in France, seems certain to accelerate Bathâs departure from the Rec, their home beside the Avon for 115 years and arguably the most beautiful ground in the country.
Craig has set a deadline of one year in which to find a solution to the problem of increasing the Recâs capacity of under 12,000. As happens with two privately wealthy men, neither would say what Craig had paid for the club.
The sale includes all Brownswordâs shares and those held by club trustees, but does not include the valuable training ground at Lambridge. That will remain with the trustees as the amateur and professional parts of the club separate, with first XV likely to be playing on a new ground, also alongside the Avon but on a brownfield site to the west of the city.
As Brownsword admitted, it had become an increasingly public secret that he wanted to sell the club and to an individual buyer. âIn my business Iâm not into consortiums or partnerships in any way,â Brownsword said, which explains why he sent packing several offers, including one from a group involving the former England international Simon Halliday.
Instead two years ago he began talking with Craig, a scrum-half who once had an England Under-19 trial. He is the product of a rugby conveyor belt, from St Brendanâs Grammar, Bristol: he also played for Loughborough University and MĂŠtro â now Racing MĂŠtro â after moving to Paris in 1987.
Their deal was made possible when Craig sold Marken, an international distributions services company for the pharmaceutical industry, for ÂŁ975m in January.
Buying Bath will not have eaten deeply into those millions, but Craig was talking of having a 20-25,000-seat stadium â bigger if deemed necessary â ready within five years and gathering the various parts of the club, currently on four sites, together immediately.
The site chosen is Farleigh House, a gothic country house and chapel 15 minutes from Bath and set in a 120-acre deer park, the most scenic section of which is scheduled to become training pitches. However, it looks as though Bath will be playing their Premiership matches in more functional surroundings.
Bath have been at the Rec since 1895 and seem to have been arguing for much of that time about developing the ground. Local civic societies and the Charity Commission have been embroiled, but since the game went professional â and Bath was bought by Brownsword 14 years ago â the issue has become increasingly pressing.
âThe Rec is unique, has historic significance and is probably the most iconic rugby ground in the country,â Craig said. "But its facilities are also woefully inadequate for players and supporters alike. Clearly outdated for modern rugby, we need to press on with either a development of the Rec or a new stadium elsewhere.
âA new stadium is a vital component of producing a financially successful club in the long term that is capable of winning trophies regularly,â Craig said, although the new owner suggested he was not looking to make a profit from rugby. âI donât see a sports club as a profit-making organisation. The most important thing for me is the rugby side of it. I want to have fun.â
Anyone heading to the Cork derby in Temple Hill tomorrow? Itâs a pity that the semi-finals fall between the quarter final and semi final stages of the European Cup so lads that have toiled away for the clubs all year will miss out as theyâre filling in for Munsterâs rested front line players in the Magnerâs League. But notwithstanding the fact that Con and Dolphin have lost 6 and 4 players respectively, it should still be a belter. On the flip side, this will lead to Anthony Horgan and his sunscreen coming out of retirement yet again and heâs worth the admission money alone in my opinion. The remaining variable is whether Sam Cronin will make it back from Belgium in time to play - the last I heard he definitely wasnât able to get a flight but he was en route to Paris for the Eurostar and his ultimate aim was to get from London across to Wales and onto the Swansea-Cork overnight ferry. If Croninâs out then Dolphin donât have a chance; if heâs in theyâll likely still be beaten. Con by 10 points for me.
We are in big bother mbb no doubt about it. Was confident at the start of the year that McLaughlin was person to get it right and we got off to a good start. There was a bit of a dip a couple of months in but in truth we have been very poor in recent months and major deficencies have come to the fore. Lack of consistency in selection (not sure he even knows who he prefers at ten for example and there are many poor), poor signings and poor defence have hindered us badly. Not sure where we go from here really but securing H Cup spot while a pathetically low ambitious target is all we can hope for at this stage.
Will be interesting to see how Spence performs tonight as he was impressive during Under Twenty Six Nations and led the team well. Despite our shocking run I suspect we may raise our game and clinch H Spot. This is only masking serious deficencies and big changes in summer are required imo.