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.”
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Not a single TV channel, streaming platform or cinema in Russia will show the competitions from the Summer Olympics in Paris, which begin on July 26, sports.ru writes. This happened for the first time in 40 years, when in 1984 the USSR boycotted the Olympics in Los Angeles.
The official explanation is that this time only 16 athletes will participate under a neutral flag, without an anthem and in “unpopular sports”. The unofficial thing is that this is a purely political decision of the Kremlin, and heads of federations call those who agreed to participate traitors, homeless people and foreign agents.
Paris Mayor on Russians at the 2024 Olympics: It would be better if they didn’t come
Anne Hidalgo condemned the International Olympic Committee’s decision regarding representatives of the aggressor country, she said already in March.
According to the official, it would be good if athletes from the terrorist country did not participate in international competitions.
“I prefer that they not come. We cannot act as if the invasion does not exist. We cannot act as if Putin is not a dictator who is threatening all of Europe today.”
At the same time, she added that such sanctions cannot be imposed against Israeli athletes, since Israel’s actions are different from Russia’s aggression.
“There can be no talk of imposing sanctions against Israel in connection with the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Because Israel is a democratic country,” the mayor told Reuters.
Photo: Social Network / korrespondent.net.
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Theo Hernandez tries to shut down the controversy
In the second half of the challenge between Milan and Lazio Rafa Leao and Theo Hernandez did not participate in the cooling break with their teammates. The two champions remained on the other side of the field and did not join the group that was listening to Paulo Fonseca's instructions.
The behavior è appeared to be a kind of polemic against the coach, who was guilty of keeping the Portuguese and the Frenchman initially on the bench.
In the postgame Theo Hernandez tried to explain: “We had been in for two minutes, we did not need the cooling break. It was nothing against team and coach. Now we have to keep working to win all together. Then people talk, they say things that are not true. Rafa and I are always with the team to help, and è that’s the important”.
These are the words of Paulo Fonseca on the’incident: “There are no problems with Theo Hernandez and Leao, we do not create cases becauseé this week I spoke with both of them explaining my choice, which they accepted. I didn’t see that they stayed on the field during the cooling break, but they had been in for two minutes and didn’t need to stop or directions. The players’s reaction to entering the field è was positive, so let's not create problems that are not there”.
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Antonio Conte furious: “Absurd, soì è difficult”
At the end of the match won in extremis against Parma, Antonio Conte è vented: “It’s absurd that the soccer market ends on the third day. You coach players who are going to leave and you find yourself playing with players you haven't coached. Since soccer è is constantly changing I hope we change this rule that è is absurd. We had Lobotka and Anguissa on the field today and I didn’t have any other midfielders on the bench because Iaccarino and Saco who were with us were sold on loan”.
“This is not good and I hope that in the future we will change this rule. Lukaku today è entered with two training sessions, Neres è arrived very recently. Now I hope to use this break to get both of them fit, while Gilmour and McTominay will leave with the Scottish national team and return next week. Soì è really difficult”.
The Parthenopeans triumphed 2-1 thanks to goals from Lukaku and Anguissa, both of which came in the dying minutes: “I told the boys that we have to sweat the three points and always celebrate wins. Every game will be hard-fought and we should sweat it out. We have a path to take. The way we approached these three games, with a small number of players, there’s something to be proud of. Today we had no changes in midfield, è the è absurdityà of starting the championship with the market in progress”.
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