Frank Schnittger

The penultimate round of the URC has some intriguing match-ups and little room for error. The match previews below will be updated with Live Blogs on each of the matches by Sunday morning. Refresh page for updates. Preview: Edinburgh versus Munster: Friday 7.35PM; TG4, Premier Sports Both Edinburgh (7th.) and Munster (3rd.) are in the hunt for the Champions Cup rugby next season and trying to get as high as possible in the play-off seedings with home advantage the big …

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One of the hardy annuals which comes up all the time when other club fans discuss Leinster is the unfairly favourable treatment Leinster allegedly get from the IRFU. The main complaint is that while Leinster will have 10 centrally contracted players from next season, Ulster, Munster, and Connacht will only have one apiece. But let’s get real here: You have to be world class to get a central contract if you are at Leinster, while Henderson, Murray, and Earls (prior …

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Match previews and latest transfer news in this post will be updated with match reports later today. All four provinces have picked near full strength sides, allowing for injuries, in preparation for their third last regular season matches in the United Rugby Championship. The table is spectacularly tight right now, and every last point could be crucial in determining who ends up in the 8 play-off places. If the Sharks beat Gloucester in the Challenge Cup final, only the top …

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Match Preview, with Match Live Blog updates. Once again, Leinster are putting all their eggs in one basket, putting home advantage in the URC knock-out stages at risk for the sake of giving their front-liners a good rest and a good preparation time for their European Cup semi-final against English Premiership leaders Northampton. The squad they sent to South Africa for matches against the Lions and Stormers was made up of squad back-up and academy players and they struggled against …

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Once again it’s three bonus point wins out of four for the Irish provinces, with a very much weakened Leinster side once again the odd man out losing to the Stormers in Cape town. Ulster, Munster, and Connacht all played well to gain their hard fought victories in high scoring and entertaining matches. The Leinster set piece was destroyed by the Stormers who did not have to play well to beat a callow Leinster side. Leinster fall back to second …

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It is generally recognised that the IDA has been one of the most successful state agencies charged with attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world. Less attention has been paid to the outstanding role played by the NTMA in managing Ireland’s national debt. The agency avoided any threat of a sovereign debt default in the 2009-2012 financial crisis and banking crash, thus giving Ireland a very high debt rating and low risk profile as far as creditors were concerned, …

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Ulster 19 Cardiff 17: Ulster win by a fingertip Ulster won this match when a 78th. Minute hat-trick try for Cardiff winger Theo Cabango was ruled out for a fingertip knock on by Cardiff prop Rhys Carré who was yellow carded for his troubles. Cooney nailed the penalty to give Ulster the lead for only the second time in the match. The match itself was an error strewn affair between two distinctly average sides enlivened only by two excellent tries …

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On several occasions now I have written an OP in response to one by Andy Pollak. I hope he takes it as a sort of back-handed compliment: no one better espouses what I call the conventional approach to reconciliation than he. According to this view, reconciliation must happen before, during, and after any border poll and is to be arrived at by nationalists and unionists talking to each other, and arriving at some sort of compromise down the middle, with …

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Live Blog: Challenge Cup: Clermont  53 Ulster 14 F/T.   Ulster’s form has been patchy this season, resulting in their Head Coach and Chief Executive being shown the door. Key players are set to leave at the end of the season, so it’s now or never if Ulster are to have any chance of winning a trophy any time soon. A difficult mini-tour to South Africa was a baptism of fire for new interim head coach, Richie Murphy, but there …

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Following on from recent polls which showed a majority would vote for a United Ireland if the Irish Government set out clearly how Northern Ireland would be better governed under Irish Sovereignty, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has announced that “the minimum threshold for a border poll has been met” and that “accordingly, I am announcing that a border poll will be held not later than March 31st. 2025”. Unionist politicians have criticised the decision, saying that government policy should …

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Andy Pollak has written another impassioned plea for reconciliation in Northern Ireland as a precursor to any border poll. In an ideal world that is obviously very desirable. But there is also a danger that we confuse political reconciliation with social, community, and or religious reconciliation. For many nationalists, division was caused by partition, and reconciliation can only begin when partition has ended and that scar has healed. For many unionists, division was caused by Irish independence, and reconciliation can …

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The Good Friday Agreement gives the majority in Northern Ireland the right  to decide whether Northern Ireland should remain in the Union with Britain or become part of a united Ireland. It gives no say on the matter to the people of Britain whatsoever, beyond mandating the Secretary of State to call a border poll in Northern Ireland, should he form the view that such a poll is likely to be carried. However, in any true democracy, all major decisions …

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Six Nations Super Saturday Italy 24 Wales 21 Italy recorded a well deserved victory over a callow Wales side in Cardiff and condemned Wales to the wooden spoon. In truth the score line flattered Wales who scored two late converted tries to add some respectability to the result. With George North now also retiring Wales are bereft of experience and international class and it will be some time before they can rebuild a side capable of challenging for titles in …

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Terry Wright asks the quite reasonable question: “What will a united Ireland look like?” and unionists often feel frustrated when they get what appears to them to be an unclear answer. But there is also a problem with the question because no one can foretell the future with absolute confidence and certainty. So perhaps it is more helpful (and accurate) to explain how the process of change is managed in Ireland, and how this might apply to Northern Ireland in …

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Live Blog: England 23 Ireland 22 f/t Expectations are hugely high for this Irish side – a situation which in the past has resulted in them becoming tentative and conservative. Can they handle the psychological pressure of being 12 point favourites for the match? They need to trust themselves and each other just to give it a lash from the off. Do not allow England to gain the initiative and get the crowd behind them. England are brilliant at defending …

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Ireland can become back-to-back Six Nations champions with a game in hand if they can beat England with a bonus point next Saturday. However, such is the high that Ireland are currently on, anything less than another Grand Slam will feel like a disappointment. But neither England or Scotland are to be underestimated, and England in Twickenham and with Marcus Smith back fit, could be an altogether different proposition to the error prone team that showed up in Murrayfield. But …

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Live Blog: Ireland 31 Wales 7 f/t A lot of people seem to be worried that complacency and over confidence could undermine this Ireland side. The thing is, a lot of them are only one bad game away from losing their place. With players of the calibre of Keenan, Ringrose, McCloskey, Hansen, O’Brien, Ross Byrne, Casey, Bealham, Kelleher, Healy, Ryan, Henderson, Baird, and Conan, waiting in the wings, you can’t afford to get too comfortable in your position. And that …

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Scarlets 7 Munster 42 Leinster 47 Benetton 18 Cardiff 12 Connacht 16 Ospreys 19 Ulster 17   The three matchups against Welsh sides could have served as a good aperitif ahead of the Ireland Wales match next weekend, but in the end, they left a slightly sour taste. Munster only had to play well for perhaps 25 minutes of the second half to put a poor Scarlets side away. Connacht made very hard work of defeating a dogged Cardiff side …

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There have been quite a few posts on Slugger by able writers such as Michael Palmer, Ian Clarke, and Brian Walker about the prospects for political unionism and particularly the DUP now that the Assembly and Executive have been restored. Mick Fealty has also written a perceptive piece on the opportunity that being the official opposition provides for the SDLP. But no one seems to be writing about the prospects for Sinn Féin. Not being a member or supporter, and …

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Scotland 16 France 20 England 16 Wales 14 Ireland 36 Italy 0 Once again the 6 nations produced an exciting weekend of rugby, if not all of the highest quality.  Ireland hammered their opponents while the other two matches made up for what they lacked in quality with the closeness of the results and some controversy. Scotland 16 France 20 For the most part this was an appalling game of kick tennis and caterpillar box kicking. France, if anything, were …

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