Sports
Six Nations: Ireland closer to Grand Slam after thrashing Scotland
The Irish are one win away from a Grand Slam in the Six Nations.
By outlasting Scotland 22-7 at Murrayfield on Sunday, Ireland earned a fourth straight victory in the championship to move onto 19 points, just four more than defending champion France.
The French are the only team capable of stopping Andy Farrell’s relentless squad from claiming their first Six Nations title since 2018. That would require Ireland losing at fortress Lansdowne Road to visiting England as well as France beating Wales in a match which takes place a few hours earlier next Saturday.
England is coming off a record 53-10 loss to France in Round 4.
Scotland’s 12th loss in its last 13 meetings with Ireland ended the hosts’ title challenge, though the result was in the balance at halftime with the Irish only leading 8-7 thanks to Mack Hansen squeezing over for a try in the right corner in the 28th minute.
Ireland showed its experience and class in the second half, with two quick-fire tries around the hour mark killing off the hopes of the Scots, who didn’t manage to score a point after the break.
“At halftime, we said this is where we want to be,” Hansen said. “We thought we’d turn it on in the second half.”
After Hansen took an up-and-under on the right flank, the ball was recycled to the left and, after a series of phases, Jamison Gibson-Park’s miss-pass found winger James Lowe, who barged through a challenge to ground in the corner in the 57th.
Five minutes later, Hansen also played a key role in Ireland’s third try by sending in replacement Jack Conan along the right touchline. The back-row forward had the huge figure of Duhan van der Merwe to hold off, but he did and got over the line.
One more try was needed to claim a fourth straight bonus-point win this tournament and it nearly arrived after a length-of-the-field move. It ended with flanker James Ryan tackled about five meters out and his offload just evading Lowe.
Ireland centre Garry Ringrose will surely not be playing against England next weekend after appearing to lose consciousness making a tackle with around 10 minutes remaining.
After a lengthy period of treatment, he was carried off on a stretcher to applause around the ground.
Ireland also lost forwards Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan and Iain Henderson to injury in the opening 25 minutes of a bruising game.
“We knew this was going to be our toughest game of the year,” Hansen said. “To be fair to the Scottish lads, they showed up — it was such a tough test match.”
Ireland captain Jonathan Sexton couldn’t wait until next weekend.
“We’ll be playing against an English team that are hurting and one that we have huge respect for,” he said. “The Irish people will get behind us next week. We’re looking forward to that.”
The last of Ireland’s three Grand Slams in the championship was in 2018.
For Scotland, it was back-to-back defeats after starting the tournament with wins over England and Wales. Italy is the visitor in Round 5.
“Just frustration that we didn’t put our game out there,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said.
“What we wanted today was a complete, 80-minute performance. We only got it for 40. We know we’ll have to play well next week. Italy comes here with nothing to lose.”
Sports
Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur goes on the attack
The words of Frederic Vasseur
After the difficulties encountered in free practice, Ferrari è managed to redeem itself greatly in qualifying for the Las Vegas GP, finishing second with Carlos Sainz and fourth with Charles Leclerc. At the microphones of “Sky Sport F1”, the team principal of the Maranello-based stable Frederic Vasseur wanted to praise the performance of its two drivers, but at the same time charge them ahead of the race, where the Spaniard and the Monegasque will have a chance to make up ground in the constructors’ championship on McLaren, which struggled and not a little in qualifying.
“I don’t sign to have today’s result in the race, forò we have to push for more. A one-two è a bit optimistic, but we are in a good position. We know that this season we go a little bit stronger in the race than in qualifying. We struggled all weekend to find a good lap and at the end of Q3, at least with Carlos, we succeeded. Now, forò we have to complete the task tomorrow. Our race pace simulation è was positive, so we are confident” began Ferrari team principal at the microphones of “Sky Sport F1”.
“As in the last races, we will have to be careful here to manage the tires well. On this track if you have speed; è it is possible to overtake and we have good top speed, so we are ready to attack in the race. I’m not surprised that Carlos finished ahead of Charles on a street circuit, because Sainz è Sainz è was better at getting the tires up to temperature on the preparation lap. Both, however, did a great job and Leclerc, despite the difficulties he had today, will still have a chance to come back in the race” added Frederic Vasseur.
With three races to go McLaren leads the constructors’ championship with 593 points with a 36-point lead over Ferrari.
Sports
Raffaele Palladino cuddles Moise Kean
Palladino’s words
Raffaele Palladino has now got into gear with his Fiorentina after a difficult start: “Despite the defeat against Atalanta I realized that I had a strong team in my hands that was growing. From there on, I think it was a path all on the rise and probably Bergamo è was the turning point”.
“Kean? I touched the keys of’love and gave confidence to a boy who needed a lot of confidence and needed to find self-esteem. È he was very good because he é made himself available to the group with great humility; he did a great job on himself and in my opinion has great margins for improvement. Not even Moise knows how much room for improvement he has”.
The purple coach to Sportmediaset also talked about the calendar: “Surely the commitments are many, in fact there are many injuries, we also have to be good coaches to try to give even a few days off to the boys because they also need a few days off”.
Sports
George Weah cheers for Juventus against AC Milan
The words of George Weah
George Weah è ready for an AC Milan-Juventus to live as a Juventus fan: “As a child I was a die-hard Juventus fan, I was crazy about Platini: I never stopped supporting Juventus. You can say that my son has fulfilled my dream sì. And to think that I had talked about him for Milan, with Maldini. But Juve è the right team for him, beyondà my tifo”.
“When I was at Monaco I could have ended up at Juve but in the end I stayed in Ligue 1, moving to PSG, becauseé Wenger advised meé to mature further before going to a top league like Serie A”.
“I dreamed of Juve but how could anyone say no to the Rossoneri? Mica me è went wrong: five fantastic seasons, I still feel with Sebastiano Rossi, Boban, Marco Simone…”.
“Trent’years ago I was playing against the team of my heart but I never backed down and in fact I often scored goals for them. Of course I was happy to score but also a little bit sad: they are still my two favorite teams. Tonight if Juve wins I am happy, if Milan wins I would not be 100 percent happy but a little bit; because Milan has done so much for me”.
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