Author: isport

Declan Kidney; the coach of the Ireland Rugby Team is almost done finalizing his squad for the demanding three test match series against New Zealand and will only name it after The Barbarians have played their scheduled friendly at Kingshlom.

It has been revealed that Kidney will be naming a squad of 29 for the tour that will depart for the little island nation on Thursday and although he is yet to completely finalize his squad with some fringe players yet to be confirmed, flanker Stephen Ferris has already been ruled out of the tour due to an injury.

Shane Horgan has retired from Rugby with immediate effect due to a long term knee injury. Leinster confirmed the 33 year old’s retirement in a statement on Wednesday.

Horgan was a part of Ireland’s so called “golden generation” scoring 21 tries for his country in his 65 test appearances. He also boasts a set of three Lions appearances on the 2005 tour of New Zealand.

Having made his debut for Ireland in 2000 Horgan was a part of the Ireland side right up until his last appearance in 2009 against Wales Rugby team. He represented the province of Leinster throughout his senior career and made his final appearance for Leinster last May in a clash with their fierce rivals Munster in the Celtic League final. Leinster lost that encounter but in Horgan’s time in the side they won two Heineken Cup and two Celtic League titles.

Stephen Ferris is free to play for Ireland in Paris this Saturday after escaping punishment in a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday.

The flanker was sin-binned and cited for a tackle on Wales forward Ian Evans in the dying minutes of Sunday’s 23-21 defeat.

The subsequent penalty allowed Leigh Halfpenny to kick Wales to victory in a dramatic climax in Dublin, and a ban for Ferris would have added salt to Irish wounds.
However, a Six Nations statement explained how after careful analysis it was decided the tackle “did not uphold the citing”.

Ferris expressed his relief on Twitter, saying: “Thank goodness that is all over. Happy man.”

Wales lock Bradley Davies has received a seven-week ban for a dangerous tip tackle in the same game. In worse news for Ireland, fly-half Jonny Sexton is a doubt after suffering a thigh injury in kicking practice.

The Ireland rugby team has recently managed to sign up Paul O’Connell for this season and has appointed him as the captain for the 2012 Rugby World Cup.

This has been great news for them team as Paul is a star player and has gone on to win 82 titles for his country as a captain out of the total of 127 appearances that he has made.

All this goes on to show that he is quite capable of helping the Ireland rugby team. Paul has recently been having quite a number of injuries and hence was unable to be at his best performance.

However, the fact that he has signed up with the Ireland rugby team just after his injury has gone on to show that the club is definitely going to progress. He has always been a key pivotal player for Ireland and Munster and has made sure that he has brought about quite an impact to the game with his performance.

In the absence of regular captain Brian O’Driscoll, who will miss the forthcoming Six Nations whilst recovering from shoulder surgery, it has been confirmed that experienced lock Paul O’Connell will lead the Irish.

Munster Rugby captain O’Connell has led his nation in the past, against France in 2004 and in an reshuffled side against England in the build up to last year’s World Cup.

As well as the experience that comes with captaining his nation and one of the giants of European club Rugby, O Connell also showed excellent leadership skills when he skippered the British and Irish Lions on their 2009 tour of South Africa.

The next stage of his international and captaining careers will begin on February 5th when Ireland take on Wales in their Six Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium. The latest Betfair Six Nations Betting odds suggest that he’ll get off to a winning start.

Ireland’s pool stage victory over Australia has been voted the best game of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. In a tournament that has to be seen as an overall disappointment for the Irish team the victory over eventual Bronze medal winners Australia provided the tournaments best match, according to the official World Cup Facebook fan site.

The draw was thrown wide open by the Irish victory, effectively setting up the prospect of a Northern Hemisphere half of the draw and a Southern Hemisphere side. The result would be a North versus South Final and a real chance for the Irish to make it to their first World Cup Final. It soon proved this was not to be, with the Welsh seeing off the Irish team in the quarters before being dispatched of themselves by France to set up a repeat of the 1987 final against New Zealand.

Ulster defeated Ospreys 27-26 in a thrilling contest. First-half tries by Stephen Ferris and Darren Cave, plus six kicks by Niall O’Connor, proved just enough. After Ferris got the opening try, Richard Fussell overlapped for the first Ospreys touchdown but Cave put Ulster 18-16 ahead at half-time. Centre Andrew Bishop hacked the ball on for […]

Ireland lock Paul O’Connell and hooker Rory Best were ruled out of their team’s end-of-season rugby tour of New Zealand and Australia on Friday because of injury – they’ll have to watch from the England Rugby Hospitality zone instead.

British and Irish Lions captain O’Connell has a groin injury that has not responded sufficiently to intravenous antibiotics and Best has an ankle problem.

The duo are replaced in coach Declan Kidney’s 33-man squad by the uncapped pair of Ed O’Donoghue and John Fogarty.

The Irish Rugby Football Union has called for the withdrawal of a crisp maker’s advert describing the company as “proud sponsors of Irish rugby”.

The Largo Foods poster for Hunky Dorys crisps features a woman in a low-cut vest leaning over a rugby ball and asking, “Are you staring at my crisps?”

IRFU lawyers have contacted the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland over the “misleading claims”. Largo Foods admitted it sponsored Navan Rugby Club and not the Irish team.

Stephen Ferris is in serious danger of missing Ireland’s Tests against New Zealand and Australia next month after suffering a broken cheekbone. Ferris sustained the injury in Ulster training on Tuesday and is expected to be ruled out for six to eight weeks. An Ulster Rugby statement said that Ferris would require surgery. Ireland will […]