‘The biggest rugby rivalry in the world below Test level’

Ticket sales for Saturday’s URC meeting between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park have topped a remarkable 75,000, cementing the fixture’s status, says Gerry Thornley, as “the biggest rugby rivalry in the world below Test level”. “It’s not bad for a club game, that, is it,” said Munster coach Graham Rowntree who professed to having “tingles in my spine” when he heard how many tickets had been snapped up. It will, then, be another bumper pay-day for the GAA, 15 years since the same provinces filled the venue for their European Cup semi-final. That match, writes Seán Moran, “first caused the penny to drop with the GAA – there was money to be made”.
Gordon D’Arcy notes the strong selection Leinster sent out for their game against Benetton last weekend, one that suggested “a change of tack to that of previous campaigns” in the URC. We can expect another star-studded XV for this encounter, one that will feature plenty of “key duels”, Gordon looking forward to one in particular. “Watching Jack Crowley and Ciarán Frawley go head-to-head will add mightily to the occasion.”
And Frawley looks set to be given the nod at outhalf for Leinster, a choice, writes Gerry, that was “always likely to be one of the most significant selections in the first month of the season given the four-way contest for that position”.
Connacht, meanwhile, will welcome back several key players for their interpro against Ulster in Belfast, Linley MacKenzie reporting that new outhalf Josh Ioane is good to go after completing HIA protocols following last Friday’s win over Scarlets.
On the international front, Muireann Duffy hears from Eve Higgins ahead of Ireland’s final WXV 1 game against the United States on Friday, while John O’Sullivan previews the final game of Emerging Ireland’s trip to South Africa, against the Cheetahs this evening.
Ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s Nations League game in Helsinki tomorrow, James McDermott has some comforting words: It could be worse for Irish soccer – we could be Finland. It took them 82 years and 33 attempts before they finally qualified for their first, and only, major championship, and it doesn’t look like their second appearance will come any time soon.
We, of course, have our own woes, among them the struggle to score goals. Gavin Cummiskey hears from one man who is hoping to help solve that issue, Troy Parrott having a happy time of it with AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands this season, with six goals to his name already. And Gordon Manning talks to squad newcomer Jack Taylor, the Ipswich Town midfielder hoping to win his first cap in this window.
A busy Gordon also writes about Mullinavat’s hopes of reaching their first Kilkenny senior hurling final in 81 years, while in golf Philip Reid dropped over to New York for the “the year-to-go countdown” to the Ryder Cup.
TV Watch: You can watch live coverage of Emerging Ireland’s game against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein this evening (6.0) on IrishRugby+ (plus.irishrugby.ie), and there’s more women’s Champions League action on your screens today, Katie McCabe’s Arsenal away to Bayern Munich (DAZN, 5.45) while WSL leaders Manchester City host Barcelona (TNT 1, 8pm).