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With Ireland and France missing, there’s little sense this is a World Cup final week

Irish flavour to South Africa’s media work with presence at top table of Felix Jones; Walsh, Onana and Maguire all see light at end of the tunnel; and the life and times of Baldy Paulie

A view of Willie Mullins’ horses on the gallops at the launch of the National Hunt season in Willie Mullins yard in Closutton, Co Carlow. Mullins's chief focus is on Tuesday week’s Melbourne Cup which he hopes to win for the first time. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Thu Oct 26 2023 - 10:25

Gerry Thornley had to leaf through 21 pages of L’Équipe last Saturday before finally finding a mention of the Rugby World Cup. Since France’s quarter-final exit, home interest in the tournament has been, predictably enough, on the wane, while Ireland’s departure has removed its best supported away side, colour and Zombies. A final without either nation has, says Gerry, “suffered accordingly for profile”, there being very little sense that this is a World Cup final week. “Summer has long since given way to a cooler, wetter autumn, it’s been a long week to cap a long two months”.

At least there was an Irish flavour to South Africa’s media work on Wednesday with the presence at the top table of Felix Jones, the former Munster and Irish fullback who won 13 caps under Joe Schmidt. Jones is now part of South Africa’s coaching team, so Saturday’s final will, then, be a case of the pupil coming up against his mentor.

Ciarán Murphy, meanwhile, was at Old Trafford on Tuesday to watch Manchester United scrape their way to a 1-0 Champions League win over FC Copenhagen, Harry Maguire and Andre Onana their unlikely heroes. For Ciarán, their recent ordeals called to mind what Galway’s Shane Walsh has endured. “No matter how much sportspeople say otherwise, criticism from outside takes its toll,” he writes.

Injuries, of course, take their toll too, and not many players have suffered as many as James Morgan. When Gordon Manning spoke with the Armagh man, the chat was as much about “titanium wrists, hip operations, moon boots and plantar fasciitis injuries” as it was about football.

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In his America at Large column, Dave Hannigan writes about the life and times of Burt Young, or ‘Baldy Paulie’ as Muhammad Ali christened him. After hanging up his gloves, Young, who died last week at the age of 83, turned to acting, his role as Paulie Pennino, Sylvester Stallone’s cornerman in the six iterations of the Rocky franchise, earning him his greatest fame.

In horse racing, Brian O’Connor talks to Willie Mullins about a range of issues, including the changes to the Aintree Grand National announced recently, but the trainer’s chief focus is on Tuesday week’s Melbourne Cup which he hopes to win for the first time.

Back home, Ian O’Riordan reminds us that there are only 275 days to go before the Paris Olympics, and they’ll come with a meaty price tag for the Olympic Federation of Ireland. They expect their bill for the event to be around the €4.7 million mark – up from the €3.3 million that Tokyo cost.

Another impact of the Paris Games is that, for the first time, the Tour de France will not finish in the French capital, instead, Shane Stokes tells us, it will finish up in Nice next July. Also, it will start in Italy, with the women’s race beginning in the Netherlands. And there we were thinking the Australian Open being on the European golf tour was confusing.

TV Watch: After three group defeats so far, including a shocker against Afghanistan and a 229-run mauling by South Africa, England’s hopes of retaining their World Cup cricket crown are looking decidedly ropey – they’ll look ropier still if they lose to Sri Lanka today (Sky Sports Cricket, from 9.30am). There’s lots of Europa and Conference League action later in the day, including Olympiakos v West Ham (Virgin Media Two) and AZ Alkmaar v Aston Villa (TNT Sports 2) at 5.45pm, and Brighton v Ajax (Virgin Media Two) and Liverpool v Toulouse (TNT Sports 1) at 8pm.