Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll looks set to make his return to the Irish jersey on Sunday against Wales in Dublin. O’Driscoll was absent from Ireland’s defeat against France last Saturday because of the hamstring injury he picked up during a Leinster match in January, but he now says he’s fit enough to play.
Paul O’Connell’s men lost today in Paris despite scoring two tries and not suffering the total destruction many had predicted would occur without stars like O’Driscoll and Murphy. Ireland managed to stay in touch with France throughout the first half thanks to a fine preformance from Ronan O’Gara but two French tries just after half-time brought the score to 28 - 10 effectively putting the game beyond Ireland.
Ireland’s Under-21s began their Six Nations campaign with a hard fought draw in Limoges. Ireland had been leading the game 20 - 15 with only 10 minutes remaining, only to concede a try in the dying minutes. Cruically this try went unconverted resulting in a draw for Ireland.
Ulster took the win and a bonus point against Neath-Swansea Ospreys to remain top of the Celtic League tonight. Ulster won the game by 31 points to 19 having lead comfortably for most of the match after scoring 3 tries in quick succession in the first half. With one hour to go Ospreys were within 12 points of the Ulstermen but a try by Warren Brosnihan sealed Ulster’s ninth victory of the season.
Connacht cruised to a comprehensive Celtic League success away to Edinburgh tonight. Connacht went to Scotland looking for revenge for their one point Celtic Cup semi-final defeat and recieved it by way of a 32 points to 17 victory over the Scots.
Munster continued their Celtic League revival with a 24 points to 13 victory over Leinster at Musgrave park. Munster outscored Leinster by 4 trys to 1 to claim the bonus point and move to fourth in the Celtic League, seven points off leaders, Ulster.
Alan Gaffney must be scratching Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan off his Christmas card list at the moment as two of his best and in form players, Mike Mullins and David Wallace have been ruled out of the Munster match against Leinster on Friday, having suffered injuries while training with the Irish squad.
Michael Bradley has continued his policy of squad rotation for the Celtic League match away to Edinburgh on Friday night. The side shows eight changes from the one that lost to Celtic Warriors last Friday night.
Ulster may be table topper’s in the Celtic League but that hasn’t stopped Alan Solomon’s from making four changes to the side which beat Llanelli last weekend.
Leinster coach Gary Ella has named his side for their Celtic League clash with Munster on Friday night in Musgrave Park. Ella has brought Matt Leek, Niall Breslin and Des Dillon back into the side for the match.