Contributing writer Simon Hick writes primarily about rugby. He is co-founder of sports podcast Second Captains.
It's naive to assume Irish women's rugby has hit rock bottom with losses to Spain and Scotland. The way the IRFU are handling it, things can always get worse.
Sport is partly about winning, but it's also about expressing yourself, about entertainment, about risk, and crucially, it is also meant to flow. That is why the match between the Lions and South Africa last weekend was an objectively awful game of rugby. Will today's game be any better?
The Lions tours are mysterious, undefinable and captivate us, not because of the marketing guff, but despite it.
Reality and myth. Is Ronan O'Gara about to become the next superstar coach?
For lots of new rugby fans Munster were effectively Ireland, or at least how they would like Ireland to be. Do they once again need to embrace their romantic roots?
When he played, CJ Stander made Irish people feel good and maybe it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that
Ireland don’t need to become the Barbarians, or even France, overnight, but they need to start recognising what they’re missing out on when they choose to play it safe.
The modern game is about adapting to the opposition, to the laws, to the ref, to the weather, to injuries, to who's in form, and, above all, to have belief in, and a collective understanding of, what sort of team you want to be.
Ireland has become a side which beats itself before their opponents get a chance. But there are no easy answers for the coach or the IRFU, which in the middle of a pandemic, may not have the financial appetite to change head coach.
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