The Left Wing

There’s no end to the run of deflating defeats for Ireland in this Women’s Six Nations. They were beaten by Italy 24 points to 7 in Parma on Saturday which was just the second time that Ireland have lost to Italy in the Women’s Six Nations. It’s three games, three defeats, no points on the board and they have England up next at Musgrave Park this weekend. Former Ireland player, Anna Caplice, and A...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing podcast, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by Jonathan Bradley from the Belfast Telegraph to discuss all the latest Champions Cup action. Leinster advanced to the Champions Cup semi-final in style after thrashing Leicester on Good Friday, with Leicester coach Richard Wigglesworth making waves with his comments about the Irish side's budget. Luke an...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Rúaidhrí O'Connor look ahead to the Champions Cup quarter-finals. Leinster have named their team to face Leicester and the big talking point is Caelan Doris getting the seven jersey for the first time. That means that despite his strong form, Scott Penny has to settle for a place on the bench - what does he have to do to get a start? The pr...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing podcast, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by Cian Tracey to look back on the Champions Cup action. Leinster marched on to the quarter-finals after sweeping Ulster aside and the gap between Leo Cullen's men and the rest of the Irish provinces has never looked bigger. What can the other Irish teams do to close the gap? While Ulster didn't fire a sho...

After the opening two-week block of the Women’s Six Nations finished with, it doesn’t make for pretty reading for Ireland. After a record margin defeat to France at Musgrave Park, 53 points to 3, Ireland are bottom of the table on points difference with zero points. They’ve a week off and then are away to Italy, home to England and finish away to Scotland. So how can Ireland pick themselves up and...

It’s back to Europe for the Irish players and the provinces this weekend with the round of 16 in the Champions Cup and Sinéad Kissane is joined by Rúaidhrí O’Connor on the latest Left Wing podcast to go through the team news and preview the Sharks v Munster, Leinster v Ulster, and Benetton v Connacht in the Challenge Cup. Sinéad will be back on Monday to review the Ireland Women’s Six Nations clas...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by Cian Tracey to look ahead to the Champions Cup last 16. They kick things off by discussing the injury to Johnny Sexton and whether Leinster can still win the Champions Cup without the star out-half. Talk then turns towards this weekend, with Leinster taking on Ulster at the Aviva Stadium and Munster making a da...

It was a pretty sobering opening Women’s Six Nations defeat for Ireland as they were over-powered by Wales losing 31-5. To discuss where the team goes from here, Sinéad Kissane is joined by former Ireland flanker, Anna Caplice, and Ali Donnelly of Scrumqueens.com. Will and Luke will also be back on Wednesday for their latest in-depth discussion of the week’s biggest talking points. If you want to...

It’s two Six Nations down, two Grand Slams won for Ireland and this weekend is the start of the Women’s Six Nations. Ireland play Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in their opening game on Saturday with a 2.15 kick-off and previewing Ireland’s chances in the game and the rest of the tournament, Sinéad Kissane is joined by Anna Caplice, former Ireland flanker, and Ali Donnelly of Scrumqueens.com. There ha...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by Cian Tracey to look back on Ireland's Grand Slam triumph. Luke and Cian break down why Ireland won on Saturday - and why there were some nervy moments at the Aviva Stadium. The lads look back on the entire campaign, discuss the World Cup threat posed by France and ask whether there are enough opportunities for...

They’ve done it. After all the hype, pressure and adversity, this Ireland team overcame the last hurdle in front of them and beat England 29-16 to win the Grand Slam for the first time ever in Dublin. For this special post-match episode, Sinéad Kissane is joined by Rúaidhrí O’Connor and Cian Tracey at the Aviva to get their reaction and analysis in the aftermath of an emotional evening. You’ll als...

Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by former England international Alex Corbisiero to look ahead to Saturday's Grand Slam decider. England enter into the game as massive underdogs off the back of a record home defeat to France and the pressure is mounting on new coach Steve Borthwick. Alex gives his assessment on where England are at after a poor Six Nations campaign and outlines the are...

There’s three changes to the Ireland team for their final push towards a fourth Grand Slam with Caelan Doris and Dan Sheehan declared fit and Jamison Gibson-Park partnering Johnny Sexton, with Conor Murray dropping to the bench. Cian Tracey joins Sinéad Kissane to analyse the Irish starting XV and what we can expect on Saturday. On Friday, Will and Luke talk to the former England international, Al...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald look back on Ireland's win over Scotland and discuss the mental preparation for Saturday's Grand Slam decider with former Ireland performance coach Enda McNulty. Luke kicks things off with his assessment of Ireland's impressive win over Scotland before Enda joins the lads to give his insights into working with Ireland under...

As Andy Farrell’s team look to complete a Grand Slam when they play England at the Aviva stadium on Saturday, the Left Wing wants to celebrate another Grand Slam. It’s 10 years ago this week since the Ireland women’s team won their first ever Slam. A 6-3 win over Italy in Milan on Paddy’s Day in 2013 saw this group of players do something no Irish women’s team has done before. So this is a special...

Garry Ringrose and Iain Henderson will be missing from the Ireland squad to face England in their Grand Slam decider this Saturday due to injuries suffered against Scotland. Rúaidhrí O’Connor joins Sinéad Kissane with the latest squad update on the latest Left Wing podcast and explains that Caelan Doris (hip) and hookers Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher (both shoulder) have remained in camp and have...

There’s just no stopping Ireland in this Six Nations no matter what’s thrown at them. The Grand Slam is just one win away for Ireland, they’ve beaten Scotland 22 points to 7 and Cian Tracey joins Sinéad Kissane from Murrayfield with the post-match analysis. Plus, don’t miss all the build-up to the final game decider against England with Sinéad and Rúaidhrí O'Connor back on Monday with a squad upda...

Andy Farrell has named his team to play Scotland in Murrayfield on Sunday and Rúaidhrí O’Connor joins Sinéad Kissane on the latest Left Wing podcast to discuss the line-up. There are six changes overall to the team that started against Italy. Johnny Sexton and Garry Ringrose return. Tadhg Furlong will make his first appearances of this Six Nations. Conor Murray starts at scrumhalf, Jamison Gibson...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery is joined by BBC Scotland journalist Andy Burke to look ahead to Sunday's Six Nations clash at Murrayfield. Despite overseeing a number of big scalps against England and France during his tenure, Gregor Townsend has never beaten Ireland as Scotland head coach. Andy thinks Ireland's physicality has been a major problem for Scotland and they must...

Continuing the Left Wing’s countdown to Sunday’s Six Nations game between Scotland and Ireland, Sinéad Kissane spoke to a man who played outhalf for Scotland, and also for Connacht. Dan Parks won 67 caps with Scotland and as well as playing with Glasgow and Cardiff Blues, he made 51 appearances for Connacht after which he retired from professional rugby nearly nine years ago. Dan is living in Sydn...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by Ulster out-half Ian Madigan to look ahead to Scotland vs Ireland and discuss Ulster's season to date. Ian and Luke break down exactly what they like about how Ireland are playing at the moment, and Ian gives his out-half assessment of Scotland star Finn Russell ahead of Sunday's clash. Ulster have had a tumultu...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery, Luke Fitzgerald and Cian Tracey look back on Ireland's dramatic win in Italy. It was far from easy in Rome, with Italy putting Ireland under a lot of pressure. The lads discuss the issues with Ireland's defence and ask whether the return of Garry Ringrose would shore things up ahead of Scotland. The bench impact, the enigma of Finn Russell and...

Ireland have picked up their third successive bonus point win in this Six Nations, scoring five tries including two from Mack Hansen to beat an impressive Italy 34 points to 20 but the Italians asked plenty of questions of the Irish who did well to come through as they did. Rúaidhrí O’Connor and Cian Tracey join Sinéad Kissane from the Stadio Olimpico on the latest episode of the Left Wing podcast...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Cian Tracey discuss the Ireland team to face Italy. Ross Byrne and Craig Casey will make their first Six Nations starts at half-back - are they ready to lead the team in the absence of Johnny Sexton? Jack Conan gets the nod at number eight, and the lads are in agreement that he needs a big game to hold off Gavin Coombes in the matchday squa...

On the latest episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by former Italy international Ian McKinley to look ahead to Ireland vs Italy. The Azzurri have made big strides in the last 12 months after beating Wales and Australia, and Ian breaks down why Italy have seen an upsurge in form over the last year. Ross Byrne is in line to feature against Italy and both Luke and Ia...