Loads of sport

It’s been a really busy few weeks for sports, with the Premiership getting up to speed, World Cup Qualifiers, Champions League, Tri-Nations getting picked up by the Springboks and the Magners league starting – not to mention a couple of big GAA finals – Kilkenny with Liam on the shelf again and Kerry keen to hang on to Sam (which they probably will).

So just some highlights and comments.

So New Zealand finally got up to speed and gave South Africa a game, but the Bok’s picked up the Tri-Nations in pretty convincing style, having lost only the once to Australia. The Springboks clinched it 32-29 – but the game was lost really early on, with Springboks charging into a lead with their kicking – the two Steyn’s – Moyne kicking consistently, and huge kicks cleanly converted from well inside his own half from Francois – I really think this turned out to be the difference between the sides in the end, as the All-Blacks were always chasing this lead. The Springboks won this tournament with brut force – kicking and running. Maybe not so nice to watch rugby, where even small guys can make a difference. I hope rugby doesn’t go too much further in this direction, or we’ll have two types of rugby league – but then again the attempts at the ELVs didn’t work. One piece of good news is Argentina joining the tri-nations, which I think is great (although I was hoping the rumours of a 7-nations, with Argentina playing in San Sebastian or Camp Nou, might become a reality – ahh well).

Domestic rugby and the Irish provinces fared better in round two, with 3 out of 4 wins. Even I was impressed with Ulster’s away win to the Ospreys. They had some big names – Jerry Collins, Alwyn Jones, Hook et al. – so it was good to see Ulster hang in, considering they were missing a few key personnel. Saying that, it’s very early days. Munster looked ok and although I didn’t see Leinster, the result suggests they are back on track.

On to soccer and the City v Arsenal game had loads to talk about – Adebayour proving to be the in form striker in the Premiership – pity his antics means that he misses the big Manchester derby this weekend. I’m looking forward to catching a bit of that game. I’d love to see City nick a win, but I think Ferguson will make sure Man U are on form.

There are loads of other bits to talk about, but that will have to do for now. I hope to get a weekend review in – the Manchester derby must be the highlight, but we have an Wallabies v All-Blacks, a bit of Magner’s League, Chelsea v Spurs and that little matter of which county will be traveling home to Munster with Sam. Great stuff.