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Another 6 Nations has finished, with a reasonably predictable outcome of France claiming yet another slam. More worryingly is that they did it with a much more consistent selection than they have chosen in years. I think this means by the time RWC comes around in 2011, the French will have a strong and experienced team – with stars like Bastareaud, Harinordoquy, Jauzion, Parra and Poitrenaud becoming mainstays in a solid team selection. The French were good, but they struggled badly against a bullish English team and so have their vulnerabilities – but they have to be contenders for RWC 2011.

So what can Ireland take from this years competition? Starting in reverse, not a lot from the Scotland game – too many errors, disastrous line out (c’mon Rory – get practicing the darts), our otherwise solid new out half offering a head start to the opposition in three games, a scrum that needs reconstruction and a bout of confidence that was bubbling over in 2009, which seems to have deserted a few key players.

And the good points? Keith Earls will become a legend, Tommy Bowe is one and Stephen Ferris can be the best 6 in the world. Apart from the Scotland game, the back row can be the best in the world, and although Wally is aging, he’s got plenty to offer for another few seasons, giving us a bit of time to find his replacement.

We should get ready to say good bye to the Bull – what a hero over the years. Cian Healy has had some big performances, but was exposed big time against Scotland – but he has time and the experience can only help him. Experience is what Buckley needs, and I don’t think he got quite the game time he needs – but we have a run out against the BaBa’s and four autumn internationals to give him a bit more time on the park.

The Wales and England games gave us a bit more hope – not the majority of possession and missed goal kicks, but both Earls and Bowe on fire – making impressive scores to take the tie in both cases, all be it a bit late against England.

France – can’t comment – we competed for 20 mins – and had a real chance to give them a contest – but folded miserably with a couple of poor decisions – and a viscous binning. France raised their game and the rest was embarrassing (and freezing). I know I wouldn’t have been as cold if we had have crossed their try line a few times.

So looking forward to going Southside again, if I can ever get a ticket. But a crammed Aviva will hopefully bring back some of the Landsdowne Road atmosphere – sure we might even hear Molloy Malone being bawled out from time to time.

RWC? Have we a chance? We have many of the ingredients – we can’t give Southern hemisphere teams a head start with missed goals (that can be fixed). We can regain our world class line out – we can add a bit of beet to the front row and improve our scrummaging. We have a chance. At least as good as 2007.

So the two Ulstermen (nay… Irishmen) just lost out to Italian Molinari brothers in the World Cup Final. I didn’t get to see too much of this, but they had been leading by a few points, so it must have been pretty gut wrenching to lose out by a shot. The Italian’s scored three consecutive birdies in the last few holes to swing it. Stand up for the Ulstermen. Ehmmm. Irishmen.

So the Tri-Nations and World Champions turned up to face the Six Nations Champions in a cold and foggy Croke Park. What an occasion – not the most beautiful and flowing rugby match I’ve seen, but what a contest- physical, close, thumping tackles. Amazing speed at the breakdown, where Ireland’s centre’s and back row were up to the challenge laid down by Burger and Roussow. Roussow was practically neutered early on and this contest I think was won by O’Drisscoll, Wallace and Ferris (who was unfortunate to have to leave the match too early on).

Rob Kearney must now lay a claim to being the best full-back in the game – he was amazing, leading from the back with pace and flawless collecting under the high ball – of which there were plenty. I didn’t get Ireland’s tactic of box kicking, seemingly everytime O’Leary got the ball – meaning Earls and Bowe were never going to get the amount of ball to able to make an impact – but then on reflection, what would I know- Kidney called this to perfection. It was always going to be physical and winners at the breakdown would secure points – so this tactic worked nicely, sending the Boks back again and again. Funny old game, Ireland dominated the line out, stealing a few – but were pretty much pushed around the pitch in the scrum – especially early on.

Ireland held their nerve, helped by a couple of poor kicks missed by Steyn, but I’d balance this up with a few poor refereeing decisions, including a bad high tackle on Bowe in full flight. So it was down to defending the line to the last – Earls and Kearney with cramp, O’Connell marshalling the troops to close out wave after wave of Springbok’s attack. What a match. What a win.

The IRFU had a go at innvoating with their Match App on iphone. I tried this out for the couple of euro charged. I thought the concept was great, but disappointing that after leaving it for more than an hour to download on Friday, I was left with a “downloading content” message – still going two days later. So well done for effort, but try and make sure it works next time – I had to fork out my fiver for a paper copy in the end.

Le main de Henry – well the Irish soccer team have given us lots of opportunities to party, Italia 90, USA 94 and Japan/South Korea in 2002. We were all thinking there was only a glimmer of a hope of a 2010 party, away to France and 1-0 down. But that glimmer turned into a huge possibility and what a night to remember. Roy Keane had us talking about Saipan for months and years, and Thierry Henry will be the topic of conversation in pubs, clubs, offices and homes across the country, for some time to come. This was my favourite of some of the huge numbers of pics that flew around within hours of the game – Kerry”main” it is.

Since then, diplomatic exchanges, an instransigent FIFA, an aplogetic Henry and a nation rabbiting away about what might have been. All very, important, but takes away from the best performance of the Irish soccer team, probably ever. Sport can be just so interesting and unpredicatable. Sorry for the lads, and the fans. A 2010 party in SA was just what the nation needs.

The BBC were reporting that Warren Gatland wasn’t too happy with the officials of the Welsh encounter with the All-Blacks. This is not a vintage All-Black team, and their Tri-Nations would have to be seen as a poor result, even though they managed to stay ahead of the Wallabies. Much of the controversy was about Dan Carter’s high tackle on Roberts, for which he apologised. I didn’t see all of the game, but Wales were definitely holding their own for much of it, and a Gatland the Kiwi would always want to get a win over his alumni. Meanwhile, nothing at Twickenham to excite the English support – lesson’s learned was Johnson’s conclusion.

On to soccer and in anticipation of the top of the table clash at the Bridge, a quick look back at yesterday’s results. Arsenal are looking better and better and although Wolves didn’t provide to much of a challenge, the are racking up some impressive results. Villa on form too and hanging in with a strong challenge. The game of the day must have been at Eastlands – City trailing two goals to Burnely, manage a great comeback to lead 3-2, only for Burnley to equalise with three minutes to go. That’s what Saturday afternoon the Premiership is all about.

What an evening of football. Only saw a little of Man U loose a few goals to CSKA, but fair play – they fought their way back to 3-3. Didn’t see the come back, as I was watching Chelsea. 1-0 down to a terrific Athletico goal, and then Didier woke up and knocked in two – only for Augero to also claim a second at the death and clinch a point. Great stuff altogether – not to mention the two teams with most Euro trophies also reaching stalemate – AC and Real scoring one a piece.

Just finished this great read about one of the biggest football clubs – although I see they lost in Europe this evening, to “Rubin Kazan”. Wow!

The book is an amazing read. I knew there was a bit of history to a club like Barca. I also knew s a bit of Catalan patriotism contributed to this. What I didn’t understand was the history of the club within the context of the Spanish civil war, fuelling the Real Madrid rivalry. fuelled

But what about some of the stars – Cryuff, Lineker, Archibald, Maradonna, Ronaldo – not to mention Deco, Messi, Henry and Puyol. A bit before my time, but the author raves about Samitter and Sunyol.

You live and learn, but Barca were managed by Irishman Patrick O’Connell in the 1930’s – part of a pretty impressive list of managers over the years.

I’d recommend the read – great for footy fans, but a nice bit of context thrown in with Spanish civil war.

Bad result for Raffa yet again. 1-0 up and seemingly coasting, when up pop Lyon and grab a couple of late goals. No Torres tonight, but don’t think you can blame the loss on that. It’s going to be a very tough task for Liverpool to qualify – Is that 4 straight defeats?

So here’s how to cook one of my favourite Toulousain dishes – the cassoulet. In fact, it’s the sort of dish you can cook in a variety of ways. My attempt took two days!

Thanks to Foodwishes.com for that.

So on to the important matter of the Henieken Cup, and Toulouse offered up some fare of rugby. The thing that pleased me about this was listening to Stuart Barnes and Will Greenwood squirm. 14-0 at half-time, Barnes suggests that Toulouse would prefer to be heading to terminal 5. So I was delighted that within 8 minutes of play, Jauzion, Kelleher, Elissade et al had leveled the score to give us a game. Great stuff altogether, not to take anything away from Moyne’s great try and some great work from Evans and Brown. Unfortunately, it was a Moyne knock-on in his own twenty two, that gave Toulouse a late advantage, but he won Barne’s man of the match – not much of a consolation of losing out on the knock-out stages I would suggest. Toulouse 23 – Quins 19, this finished, with Barnes and go getting very excited that Quins could possibly grab a try with 10 seconds to go. Naaah.

Haven’t watched too many other games as yet – Ulster through away a good lead at Edinburgh – so they’ll need a result away to Stade Francais to have a cat’s chance. So I won’t be throwing the sterling I have left over in my wallet on that happening (although I wonder what odds I’d get?). Meanwhile, Munster given a bit of an early shock against Treviso, who ran in a couple of tries at fortress Thomond. We can’t really judge Munster this early, and I’m looking forward to a much stronger show come December. Leinster too got their win, but no bonus point away to Brive.

The Heineken Cup is already throwing up some great contests early on. I think it just grows and grows as a tournament. Hope to grab some of Bath v Stade Francais tomorrow.

On to soccer and shocked at Chelsea’s defeat at Villa – again I haven’t watched any of this yet. Liverpool losing to Sunderland is probably big news – three defeats for the pool, who now languish in eighth position. Something about a beach ball on the pitch? Bazaar. Man U top of the league – boring or what?

A week was a long time for Leinster – from the highs of demolishing Munster in the Magner’s League, to losing their first outing as European Champions. There were a few strange refereeing decisions, but I think Leinster will be kicking themselves for not making more of the early domination of the game. It will be a bit of an uphill battle for them now, but nothing better than an early reality check to get them motivated.

As for Munster, I’m not sure where their source of inspiration is going to come from. 28-14 down and they showed the usual Munster commitment to fight back to within a point – only to lose out to a late penalty.

So that left Ulster to claim a few points for the Irish teams – a home win to Bath, but a convincing win. They’ve been building on the momentum of a few recent wins in the Magners (sitting in second place for the time being), so hopefully this will continue for the next couple of tough games – away to Edinburgh in the Heneiken, followed by the visit of Leinster, who may have a few things to prove.

Some other interesting results – Treviso got a win against Perpignan, and a very convincing win for Stade Francais. I missed the Leicester v Ospreys 32 all draw, which looks like it was the pick of the first round games – but there were a few to pick from. Roll on next week.

Great stuff for Trap and the boys, with a draw against the World Champions, but there is that feeling of “we waz robbed!”. I didn’t see the game, but wouldn’t it be great to have something to shout about next summer?