6 Nations
The Trials and Tribulations of Guilhem Guirado
Many great captains have graced the hallowed grounds of the Six Nations in the past few years. Paul O’Connell and Rory Best led Ireland to Championship titles; Alun Wyn Jones has been a towering figure of leadership in the Welsh second row for years Sam Warburton led Wales to their last title in 2013. Dylan Hartley inspired England to a Grand Slam, and a subsequent Championship title in 2016 and 2017, Sergio Parisse spent a lot of years single-handedly dragging Italy through games. One man who does not get the plaudits of many of his compatriots, is the long-suffering France captain and hooker and Guilhem Guirado.
The Toulon hooker is probably one of the most underappreciated players in rugby, purely for having the misfortune to be playing on probably the worst, most disorganised French team in history. Guirado is France’s most consistent player and a lot of the time, the only one who seems to care. He is the leader French rugby desperately needs and yet this was not enough for Jacques Brunel.
It has been reported that after France’s disastrous loss to England, Jacques Brunel and FFR vice-president Serge Simon attempted to strip the captaincy from Guirado and hand it over to Jefferson Poirot. The players spoke up against it, and the plan didn’t gain any traction. Proof if any more were needed, that Jacques Brunel needs to be sacked. What is the logic of it? Guirado is the one cog in the French rugby machine that is operating at full capacity, so naturally, the best idea is to get rid of him? There is a French saying “a touché le fond, mais creuse encore” which translates to something to the effect “hit rock bottom, but keep digging”, and it perfectly befits French rugby currently.
The Montpellier bound man is potentially the best hooker in the world but gets lost because he’s part of a shambles of a French team. Malcolm Marx has such incredible ceilings but has inconsistencies, Dane Coles has had his injury trouble and needs to find form again, and Codie Taylor is very good but is also part of a winning All Blacks team. Guirado is a serious machine, with an endless engine who tackles, carries, clears out, and leads from the front. He is the most important player in this French team. Imagine the reaction if Joe Schmidt decided to drop Peter O’Mahony? Imagine Alun Wyn getting dropped by Warren Gatland? Guirado is probably the only international player you would feel sorry for. Imagine living out your boyhood dream, captaining your country in the Six Nations, but its with this French team. Then to make matters worse, having your moron of a coach rip that dream away from you for absolutely no good reason.
This whole debacle, and France’s recent performances show that Brunel has no sense of player or people management. Even the very fact that his wanting to change the captaincy being was shot down by the players shows that he has lost the dressing room. The players clearly don’t respect the coach. Brunel has all of the hallmarks of a weak man who got the job based on his connections. He has systematically and categorically failed to bring anything even remotely approaching a cohesive game plan for his team, let alone trying to innovate tactically, utterly flailing around, blaming everyone but himself, and making progressively more erratic decisions in an attempt to preserve or justify keeping his job.
Embed from Getty ImagesJacques Brunel belongs with the likes of Eddie O’Sullivan, or Clive Woodward; his time is past. He is a rugby dinosaur who has no business anywhere near an international team, and needs to be sacked. A coach like Ben Ryan would be perfect for France. The team culture he cultivated with the Fiji Sevens squad was incredible, and did great things for with no resources.
France travel to Rome on Super Saturday, and given the French tendency not to get off the plane when they go abroad, Conor O’Shea will be targeting this for his first win in the Six Nations. It may be the best thing for French rugby if they lose this game. Lose this game, and maybe more cracks begin to show in Brunel’s grasp on the team.
Guilhem Guirado is a warrior and will continue to put his body on the line for his country, and at the end of every game the camera will pan to him, and he will look into the distance, wondering why he bothers at all.
Embed from Getty ImagesA recent Twitter debate summed it up well. The question was asked “Which player from another Six Nations side would you take for your country?” to which one user replied “Guilhem Guirado; just so he doesn’t have to suffer through playing for France anymore”
Embed from Getty Images
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Jordan signs for Bristol Bears
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
