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WWE Looks at Chyna Defeating Men

Posted on December 5, 2022 by bamdj

– WWE has debuted a new edition of List This, which looks at four male superstars that were defeated by Chyna.Click Here: Military Working Dogs Stamps 2019

Video: The New Day watched Smackdown from India

Posted on December 5, 2022 by bamdj

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Hogan Wants to be More Involved with WWE

Posted on December 5, 2022 by bamdj

The Tampa Bay Times spoke with WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, while he was in the city for the recent WrestleMania 36 press conference. The event is being held in Tampa Bay, Florida in April 2020. Hogan said he wanted an active role with WWE.
When asked about his future with WWE Hogan stated the following:
“I’m not really sure. I can’t wrestle anymore because nine back surgeries, two fake knees, two fake hips. … I’ve had 17 surgeries in the last ten years. I kinda missed the memo on the ‘fake’ part [of wrestling] … Vince [McMahon] has this master plan. And I don’t mind being the hood ornament, and I don’t mind being the Babe Ruth of the promotion, but Vince is putting together a whole new thing. … I still feel like I’m 20 in my head, but my body’s telling me, ‘Easy, brother.’ I’m not sure what the title is, but hopefully really soon I’ll be back and really, really active.”
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Black M et Léa Djadja attendent un 2e enfant : ils officialisent la grossesse

Posted on December 5, 2022 by bamdj

Heureuse nouvelle pour Black M, de son vrai nom Alpha Diallo, et sa femme Léa Djadja. Ce mardi 28 juillet 2020, ils annoncent, sur Instagram, l’arrivée prochaine d’un nouveau bébé dans la famille. En effet, la jolie jeune femme est enceinte de leur deuxième enfant. Une annonce en photos qui a fait beaucoup réagir les internautes. Il y a quelques semaines, sa grossesse avait fuité dans la presse et le couple n’avait pas réagi à l’information, la voilà désormais officialisée.

C’est derrière un drap blanc dans un jardin à Paris, à en croire la localisation Instagram, que le chanteur de 35 ans, sa belle Léa et leur petit Isaac (8 ans) prennent la pose. Les silhouettes du jeune garçon et de son papa contrastent avec celle de la conseillère en image et maquilleuse professionnelle. En effet, Léa affiche un ventre très arrondi de future maman. Des photos publiées sur Instagram ce mardi, issues d’un shooting avec un photographe professionnel datant d’il y a quelques jours.

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“Time !! Je me sens enfin prête à vous partager le fait que cela fait 28 semaines que notre famille attend un nouveau membre… Je voulais remercier toutes les personnes qui ont respecté notre discrétion sur le sujet et nous ont permis de vivre ces premiers moments en toute intimité. Cette deuxième grossesse est un superbe événement et, pleine de curiosité, j’en ai profité pour expérimenter plein de choses dont j’ai hâte de vous communiquer les détails. Je suis remplie d’amour et de joie à transmettre“, a écrit Léa aux commandes de l’émission de relooking Incroyables Transformations sur M6. De son côté, Black M a partagé quelques tendres images à deux, puis à trois avec le texte suivant : “Bientôt quatre inchallah.“

Time !! Je me sens enfin prete a vous partager le fait que cela fait 28 semaines que notre famille attends un nouveau membre… , Je voulais remercier toutes les personnes qui ont respecte notre discretion sur le sujet et nous ont permis de vivre ces premiers moments en toute intimite. Cette deuxieme grossesse est un superbe evenement et, pleine de curiosite, j’en ai profite pour experimenter plein de choses dont j’ai hate de vous communiquer les details. Je suis remplie d’amour et de joie a transmettre… #pregnancyannouncement #allislove #djadja #diallo #famillytime #1+1=4 #newbeginnings #familyfirst #loveisinmybelly photo par : @henricoutant

Une publication partage par Lea Djadja / Diallo (@lianeanea) le 28 Juil. 2020 9 :17 PDT

Bientot quatre inchallah #diallo @lianeanea @henricoutant

Une publication partage par BLACK M (@blackm) le 28 Juil. 2020 9 :26 PDT

Van Graan encouraged by Aviva performance ahead of ‘massive’ Exeter test

Posted on December 4, 2022 by bamdj

ANOTHER DISAPPOINTING VISIT to the Aviva Stadium, a fourth straight loss to Leinster and another defeat on the road this season, Munster must have returned south on Saturday evening wondering how they left this one behind.

Johann van Graan’s side were understandably aggrieved by a number of refereeing decisions which they felt went against them, and the visitors were certainly hard done by during a frenetic inter-pro with plenty of niggle and controversy.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

All the pre-match talk had centred on the key battles at out-half and up front, but it turned out the match was won — and indeed lost — down one channel as Keith Earls endured a tough day at the office, and James Lowe proved to be the match-winner.

21 of Leinster’s 30 points came down Earls’ side, and that’s hardly a reflection on the Ireland winger, who, like Lowe, was involved in both of the game’s big talking points, which left van Graan and Munster fuming at referee Ben Whitehouse.

Firstly, Earls was adjudged to have tackled Lowe fractionally early as the Kiwi looked to open the scoring from Jamison Gibson-Park’s offload inside, and Whitehouse dished out a double punishment, as Leinster seized an early 14-0 lead.

And then, the match-defining moment which amounted to a crucial 14-point swing.

Earls appeared to have cut Leinster’s lead to just one score with a breakaway try at the start of the second stanza, but was denied a pivotal try by what was a questionable call, as the officials called it back for a Leinster penalty. The hosts duly took the opportunity, and their good fortune, to strike through the dangerman Lowe.

Munster, for all their efforts and they certainly threw everything at Leinster only to be kept at arm’s length, eventually left empty-handed after Stephen Archer’s needless block on Fergus McFadden allowed Ross Byrne stretch the hosts’ lead to eight points.

Still, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance for van Graan, as his side dominated possession and territory and showed good ambition with ball in hand, the likes of Dan Goggin, Sammy Arnold and Andrew Conway lively and energetic throughout.

“Most definitely,” the South African said, when asked if it was his side’s best away display of the season. “Like I said to the team, a loss is never good enough and we came here to win tonight and we expected from ourselves to win. That’s what we aimed for and we came up short.

“But there’s such a lot of positives from this game. The guys were heads up in there, obviously very disappointed for such a big game and such a brilliant occasion. As a guy coming from a different country I was so proud of what was delivered out there tonight.

“Unfortunately we are pretty disappointed with the result but to answer your question, a massive amount of positives and now coming up against a pretty decent opponent next week and a team that we’ve got a lot of respect for and also in brilliant form. So that was a good test for us tonight.”

The physicality and intensity of the work-out may not have yielded any rewards in the shape of Pro14 points, but ahead of the start of the Heineken Champions Cup next weekend, it was a valuable outing for Munster.

Source: Inpho/Billy Stickland

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Van Graan’s men open their Pool 2 campaign with a daunting trip to Premiership high-flyers Exeter Chiefs on Saturday, and will need to be at their best if they are to avoid a fourth straight away defeat of the season.

“Improve our discipline, and convert our try-scoring opportunities that we created,” he said of the areas his side need to improve on from Saturday. “That’s why we’re actually so happy and excited about our attack. I think it was out there for all to see, even away from home, to come up with that and to actually test the opposition.

“The brilliant thing is that there is a brand new competition starting on Monday, there are four teams in our pool and I know them, and everybody knows each other.

“We have a massive challenge. Not a lot of teams have gone down there [Sandy Park] and got a win.”

Van Graan revealed his coaching staff have been closely studying Leinster’s back-to-back victories over the Chiefs in the pool stages last December, as they try and formulate a game-plan to raid fortress Sandy Park.

“You’ve got to defend really well there. You’ve got to figure out the wind there. They’re a team that when they’re against the wind, they just keep the ball, and keep the ball, and keep the ball. We know their maul is going well and even in the game last night, even though they’re close they can just punish you.”

“And I’ve said in the pre-season they’re close to the best attacking side in the world. We know exactly what they do. It’s in their DNA. They’ve come a long way as a club. Last year they were also in a pretty difficult pool, and they got knocked out by the eventual champions [Leinster]. So we know it’s going to be a massive game for us.

“We’re under no illusions about what challenge awaits, but that’s the beauty of Champions Cup rugby. We’re one of quite a few teams in this competition who’ve got big dreams, and this competition starts on Monday, and what a great competition to look forward to.”

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McCarthy’s inter-provincial move from Leinster to Munster makes sense

Posted on December 3, 2022 by bamdj

WARM ON THE heels of Joey Carbery making the move to Limerick, it’s been confirmed that his former Leinster team-mate Nick McCarthy will be joining him at Munster next season.

These are two very different deals, however.

Whatever the IRFU says publicly, the union was involved in at least facilitating Carbery’s inter-provincial switch during the summer.

With McCarthy, the IRFU was not involved until giving the final sign-off on the scrum-half’s two-year contract with Munster, as the union would do in the case of any new player signing.

McCarthy after last season’s Champions Cup semi-final. Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

23-year-old McCarthy had a contract extension offer from Leinster on the table but his head was turned by Munster and the prospect of more extensive first-team opportunities with Johann van Graan’s side.

While Leinster’s contract offer underlines that they were keen to keep McCarthy, there is no ill feeling involved as the province understand the player’s personal decision.

With Luke McGrath and Jamison Gibson-Park firmly established as Leinster’s top two scrum-halves, McCarthy’s decision to shift south makes sense.

Gibson-Park is non-Irish-qualified at present, meaning McCarthy is likely to continue to get game time for Leinster over the course of the coming months due to the ‘non-European player’ rule. But that issue disappears next season as the Kiwi scrum-half becomes Ireland-eligible after three years of residency in Dublin.

McGrath is 25 and Gibson-Park is 26, so they’re likely to be around for some time yet.

30 senior appearances for Leinster over the past four years are not to be sneered at, and McCarthy played in the Pro14 semi-final and final, as well as the Champions Cup quarter-final and semi-final last season, but he anticipates those opportunities declining with Gibson-Park’s Irish qualification.

Conor Murray is top dog at Munster, of course, but he will be away with Ireland and his minutes will be managed at times over the course of the coming seasons.

While the re-contracted Neil Cronin will have something to say about it, McCarthy will back himself to get established as next-in-line after Murray at Munster, allowing him to rack up more games than he might have done at Leinster, the hope being to push on for senior international honours with Ireland.

James Hart is set to leave Munster at the end of the season. Source: Inpho/Billy Stickland

James Hart is set to leave Munster at the end of the season – he is French-qualified and kicks goals, so is likely to interest Top 14 and Pro D2 clubs – in order to ease any potential build-up of scrum-halves.

It’s expected that Alby Mathewson will also have left the province at that stage, whether or not his current four-month deal is extended for the rest of this season.

32-year-old Duncan Williams is out of contract at the end of the campaign and it remains to be seen whether he is kept on the books, but Murray, McCarthy and Cronin will be in the senior scrum-half depth chart next season.

Academy prospect Jack Stafford, the 21-year-old Wexford man, is another option for van Graan moving forward.

As for Leinster, their depth chart takes a blow with McCarthy’s decision to leave. Academy pair Hugh O’Sullivan and Patrick Patterson are highly-rated but have just a single senior cap between them, O’Sullivan coming off the bench against the Dragons last month.

There is a notable gap between those promising halfbacks and the established Gibson-Park and McGrath, although O’Sullivan is regarded as one of the most intelligent players in the Leinster set-up and Patterson is an energetic and exciting presence at nine.

The academy players have shared the starting scrum-half slot over the course of six wins from six in the pool stage of the Celtic Cup in recent weeks, ahead of the final against Scarlets A in Wales on Saturday.

McCarthy’s move to Munster is sure to lead to more complaints about Leinster being too heavily leaned on to provide players to the other provinces.

McCarthy will hope for greater opportunities in Munster. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

There is certainly a fair argument to be made there and Munster know better than anyone that their own pipeline needs to be more productive in producing players.

For now, signing McCarthy makes sense. The former Ireland U20 captain already has 30 caps in senior rugby and possesses a great deal of further potential.

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Van Graan hasn’t been happy with Munster’s scrum-half situation since arriving as head coach, but is now moving towards a far more satisfactory situation.

Despite some of the possible criticism, inter-provincial transfers are a good thing for Irish rugby – although Leinster are the primary suppliers now.

It has worked the other way around at times in the past, with Munster natives Mike Ross, Eoin Reddan and Sean Cronin becoming key figures at Leinster – albeit with switches elsewhere in between.

Keeping players like McCarthy in the system can only be seen as a positive for Irish rugby and the hope is that others struggling to break into their provinces’ first team can offer something in one of the other three set-ups.

There will be concerns around diluting the identity of each province by bringing in players from outside, but if a province’s identity and culture is weak enough to be threatened by one or two non-native players joining, then it needs to be worked on.

The fact is that homegrown talent will remain the cornerstone of each provincial team and supporters will, for the foreseeable future anyway, have plenty of native players to get behind.

Michael Lowry at Ulster, Dan Goggin at Munster, Colm de Buitléar at Connacht- the homegrown talent continues to come through outside Leinster, albeit at a different rate.

Dan Goggin has come through the Munster academy system. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

In Munster, van Graan is likely to make further changes to his squad at the end of the season – Ian Keatley, Dave O’Callaghan, Mike Sherry and Alex Wootton are also due to come out of contract in June 2019.

If those players aren’t retained, it will be interesting to see if they can offer value at another province. Irish players playing for the Irish provinces is always something to strive for.

As for McCarthy, he will hope to play a prominent role with Leinster for the remainder of this season before moving to Limerick.

Jordi Murphy went on to be a key man in Leinster’s run to the double after his switch to Ulster was announced last season and while McCarthy has strong competition at scrum-half, he will be keen to deliver something similar for his home province.

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Brilliant Barrett steers ruthless All Blacks to Bledisloe Cup whitewash

Posted on December 2, 2022 by bamdj

BEAUDEN BARRETT TORMENTED wounded Australia yet again as ruthless New Zealand completed a Bledisloe Cup whitewash with a 37-20 victory in Yokohama.

Barrett scored four tries in the second Test at Eden Park, a week after crossing in the first back in August, and the reigning World Player of the Year added one of five tries for the clinical All Blacks at Nissan Stadium.

The world champions ran away with it after going in at the break with a 17-10 lead following tries from Liam Squire and Kieran Read, Sefa Naivalu scoring Australia’s opening try in his first Test since last June just before the interval.

New Zealand overpowered their trans-Tasman rivals in the second half, Barrett scoring an excellent try before Ben Smith and the prolific Rieko Ioane rubbed salt into the wounds by going over either side of an Israel Folau score.

Barrett also showed his class with the boot, finishing with a tally of 17 points as the Rugby Championship winners started their tour with an emphatic win to heap more misery on under-pressure Australia head coach Michael Cheika.

New Zealand finished strongly yet again after a dramatic late win over South Africa last time out, Smith and Ioane scoring with Tolu Latu in the sin bin for lashing out at Codie Taylor 13 minutes from time.

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Source: All Blacks/YouTube

The Wallabies came out firing on all cylinders and almost had a try inside two minutes when Dane Haylett-Petty stretched out but was unable to touch down in the corner.

New Zealand got a grip on the contest and hit the front in clinical fashion, Squire taking an inviting pass from Sonny Bill Williams — playing his 50th Test — to burst through and dot down, with Barrett adding the extras.

Kurtley Beale and Barrett traded penalties, then skipper Read threw a dummy and crashed over as New Zealand caught Australia out by going on the short side from a scrum.

Barrett converted expertly from wide on the left three minutes before the break, but he was unable to stop Cheika’s men from hitting back with their first try prior to the interval.

The powerful Naivalu ploughed through the All Blacks out-half in the left corner to mark his recall with a score and Bernard Foley reduced the deficit to 17-10 with an excellent conversion.

Foley was on target again with a more straightforward kick from the tee early in the second half after Rob Simmons proved unable to ground the ball over the line, but Barrett added another three points and opened up more breathing space with an outstanding try.

The alert number 10 fed the onrushing Ioane and showed a sharp turn of foot to race 50 metres for a superb score after taking a return pass from the flyer on the outside.

Barrett converted his own try and Smith was gifted a five-pointer when he caught a loose pass from Folau and raced away to apply the finish after replacement Latu was yellow-carded for retaliating.

Folau made amends to an extent with a classy finish, but Ioane had the final say, the lethal wing scoring his 11th try of the year after being set up by an audacious through-the-legs pass from Barrett.

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Murray leaves Carton camp, but Ireland refuse to rule him out of All Blacks Test

Posted on November 30, 2022 by bamdj

CONOR MURRAY WON’T train with Ireland at Carton House this week and will instead return to Munster to continue his rehabilitation from a neck injury.

The scrum-half stepped up his recovery under the supervision of the IRFU medical team last week, but it now seems highly unlikely he’ll be fit to face the All Blacks on 17 November.

Murray is in a race to be fit for the All Blacks. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Ireland scrum coach Greg Feek earlier confirmed Murray is not in camp ahead of Saturday’s clash with Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, but insisted he is not yet ruled out of making a remarkable comeback against the world champions.

Murray, who was last night in Paris to collect Midi Olympique’s ‘World Player of the Year’ award, was not included in Joe Schmidt’s 42-man squad for this November schedule having not played since the third Test against Australia in June.

Although the 29-year-old initially said he was targeting Munster’s Pro14 fixtures later this month as possible return dates, the possibility of him playing against the All Blacks was raised by Simon Easterby in Chicago last week.

Murray was part of a group of players — including Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony — who trained under Schmidt’s guidance at Carton House in the early part of last week, while the rest of the group were in America preparing for the Test against Italy.

When asked for an update on Murray’s fitness this afternoon, Feek said: “He’s not in camp. Again it’s another one that we’re just monitoring and I’m still getting up to speed with all that as well.

In Murray’s continued absence, Luke McGrath appears to be in the box seat to deputise at nine this weekend having started the facile win over Italy at Soldier Field, while Kieran Marmion has linked up with the squad after playing for Connacht on Saturday evening.

Leinster’s McGrath, who wasn’t part of the squad for the summer tour of Australia after struggling with injuries throughout the second half of last season, won his seventh cap against the Azzurri, but just his second start in green.

The 25-year-old, partnering Joey Carbery in the half-backs, settled into the game as it progressed, scoring his second international try just before the break after one of Jordan Larmour’s bursting breaks and was relatively pleased with his overall performance.

“I was extremely excited, almost nervously excited, to get out there especially in a place like Soldier Field,” he said.

Luke McGrath is pushing for a start this weekend. Source: Cameron Blair/INPHO

“It was an incredible week and as the game went on, I felt I got into it and really enjoyed it in the end.

“I was probably a little bit nervous because I hadn’t been in the summer squad, I was just coming back into camp. It’s a nervous excitement, I had more family over and it was a very proud moment. It’s just getting the game time, the training sessions here [at Carton House] and getting more comfortable in that role and doing the basics well. ”

For McGrath, regardless of whether Murray is fit or not for the All Blacks, this November schedule offers a real window of opportunity as he looks to transfer his consistently excellent Leinster form onto the international stage.

It appears he is in a direct fight with Marmion for the starting berth on Saturday, with Ulster’s John Cooney — who came off the bench for his third cap in Chicago — also an option for Schmidt.

“I don’t know about that,” he laughs when asked if he feels he’s in the box seat to replace Murray.

“Conor would be a tough man to replace but for me last week was a great opportunity. I hadn’t been in the green shirt in a while, it was great.

“At the moment I’m just focusing on getting better as a player week on week and hopefully when that time comes, I’ll be ready. We have to focus on Argentina this week and we’re going to have to be a lot better this week, all of us.”

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‘Josh has been unbelievably physical. He will fit in seamlessly’

Posted on November 29, 2022 by bamdj

DAN LEAVY HAD a fitness this morning but failed it, meaning Josh van der Flier starts at openside for Ireland against the All Blacks tomorrow.

Leavy wasn’t present at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon as Ireland went through their captain’s run and his absence meant the IRFU were unable to explain his injury beyond indicating that he was ruled out with “general tightness.”

Pressed for further clarity, Ireland’s media officer mentioned “a general movement amongst the players controlling their own information.”

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Essentially, Ireland’s media officer had not had the opportunity to speak directly to Leavy about his injury and, therefore, said he was not in a position to go into further depth – the player himself having the right to decide whether his medical information is made public.

Leavy may be willing for the nature of his injury to be revealed in due course but for now, all we know for certain is that the openside will not be playing for Ireland tomorrow.

Instead, van der Flier is promoted to the starting team after being named on the bench yesterday, with Jordi Murphy taking his replacement spot.

With Sean O’Brien also having been ruled out of this game, Ireland are essentially down to their third-choice openside but van der Flier certainly doesn’t leave Joe Schmidt’s team weak in the seven shirt. Indeed, his quality underlines Ireland’s depth.

The 25-year-old has played against the All Blacks twice before, coming off the bench in both games against the Kiwis in 2016 and playing three-quarters of each fixture, replacing Jordi Murphy in the first and CJ Stander in the second.

Now, van der Flier gets his starting shot against the best team in the world.

Losing Leavy at this stage is obviously disruptive for Ireland, although Leavy didn’t train with the team yesterday so van der Flier is well-positioned to slot in comfortably.

Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

Ireland lost Robbie Henshaw to a hamstring injury just before kick-off against Argentina last week, with Will Addison starting in his place, so they feel they can adapt too.

“It’s something we’ve had to deal with last week, we also dealt with it a couple of years ago with Jamie Heaslip [in the 2017 Six Nations],” said Ireland captain Rory Best.

“Dan came onto the bench that day and came into the game quite early.

“It’s something that Josh trained in quite a bit of yesterday, they all slot in the back rows.
And especially someone like Josh, you know he’s going to have been diligent regardless of where he’s been sat in the squad.

“He will know his drills inside and out, so from our point of view it doesn’t change things massively because you’re replacing a quality player with two more quality players, one to start and one to come onto the bench.”

Van der Flier started for Ireland in their win over Italy in Chicago two weekends ago before missing out on involvement against the Pumas.

His form for Leinster this season has been superb and captain Best is confident that van der Flier will make an impact against the Kiwis.

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“Josh, since he’s come back from his injury this season, has been unbelievably physical,” said Best. “Some of the tackles he’s been making around the fringes for Leinster have been staggering.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

“He’s got an unbelievable engine, and I think him and Dan are quite similar in many ways in terms of how good they are over the ball and how physical they are.

“Two years ago, Josh came on quite early here as well and had a great game and made a couple of good line breaks. Josh will bring his game, and he will fit in seamlessly and accordingly.”

Van der Flier’s physical edge may be important as Best warned of the All Blacks’ strength in contact.

“New Zealand are renowned for the style of rugby they play; one to 15 they can all play and put people into space and through holes,” said Best.

“But probably the area of their game that doesn’t get as much credit is their physicality, they are incredibly physical in the tackle area and the carry and at the breakdown.

“So you know that if you don’t match that, with the talent they’ve got across the pitch that it’s going to be tough. So you’ve got to gear yourself up for that.

“Against New Zealand, you’ve got to gear yourself up for a physical battle because it’s what they bring.”

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Sexton: Leinster must learn from poor discipline for Toulouse showdown

Posted on November 27, 2022December 10, 2024 by bamdj

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Ryan Bailey reports from Thomond Park

IT’S HARD TO remember such an uncharacteristically ill-disciplined Leinster performance than what they produced in the first half on Saturday evening, as Leo Cullen’s side lost their cool and it ultimately proved to be their undoing in a 26-17 defeat.

Having received just one yellow card in the Pro14 season prior to this game, Leinster had both of their international props — Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong — sent to the sin-bin inside the opening half an hour against Munster, before James Lowe saw red for taking Andrew Conway out in the air.

Sexton with referee Frank Murphy. Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

The first period, in particular, was fractured by a series of video referrals to the Television Match Official, as referee Frank Murphy — the former Munster scrum-half taking charge of just his 20th Pro14 game — struggled to keep a lid on proceedings.

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Leinster’s aggression spilt over as their lack of discipline and composure resulted in a number of flash points during a full-blooded inter-pro derby, but neither Cullen or Johnny Sexton had any complaints about the big decisions.

Firstly, Healy — on the occasion of his 200th appearance for the province — caught Conor Murray high after Munster had drawn first blood on the scoreboard through Chris Cloete, earning the Ireland international 10 minutes in the bin.

No sooner had Healy returned to the frontline, Furlong was trudging off after Murphy brandished another yellow for his clear-out of Cloete, who was stretchered down the tunnel with a neck injury.

Lowe’s reckless challenge on an airborne Conway may not have been made with intent, but after tracking a Luke McGrath box-kick, the Kiwi — with eyes on the ball — clattered into the Munster winger and with duty of care to the player, Murphy had no choice but to end Lowe’s involvement at that juncture.

It was a shame for the contest, but Conway landing dangerously on his head and neck made the red card inevitable. Cullen’s side played with 13 men for seven first-half minutes, and 14 men for more than 50 minutes. There was no coming back from that, try as they might.

“It’s very difficult to win rugby matches when you concede a red card and two yellows inside the first 32 minutes,” Cullen said afterwards.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think, it’s about what the referee thinks as he makes the decision on the field. We just have to go what the referee says, whether he’s right or wrong, it doesn’t really matter. He’s the one who has the cards in the pocket, not me.”

Sexton, the Leinster captain, had no issues with Murphy’s decisions to sin-bin Healy and Furlong and send Lowe off.

“The decisions with the yellow cards, I didn’t say anything to the ref about those decisions,” he explained. “James was obviously accidentally but by the letter of the law it’s red and the other two guys, they were yellow cards.”

Sexton did, in the moment, take exception to Fineen Wycherley’s hit inside the opening exchanges of the contest, as he grabbed the Munster flanker’s scrum cap in retaliation and threw it at him, before Jack Conan intervened. It set the tone for what was to come.

Sexton clashed with Wycherley early in the game. Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

Murphy, with the help of his TMO, reversed the penalty and Munster had the chance to clear their lines after Leinster had started on the front foot with Lowe and Garry Ringrose probing.

“The one decision I sort of argued with, I got a penalty against me for retaliation and then 10 minutes later, they retaliated and there was no reversal,” Sexton continued.

“That was the only decision I really had a problem with, or maybe James Ryan’s one late in the first half where the ball squirts out and we got penalised for that. Other than that, I thought the decisions were correct.”

Either way, Sexton knows what cost Leinster as they slipped to a first defeat to their southern rivals in two years and just their third of the season.

Ahead of next week’s visit of Ulster to the RDS, and then the crunch Heineken Champions Cup clash against Toulouse a week later, the Ireland out-half says Leinster will learn from their mistakes.

“It was obviously accidental, Tadhg and James,” he added. “They’re three decisions and there are other penalties we shouldn’t have given away and we’re going to have to look at.

Cullen was asked if coaches will stop encouraging players to compete in the air after the Lowe dismissal.

“It’s a really difficult area, and difficult for the referees to referee it as well,” the Leinster head coach said.

“The crowd are almost getting into it as well and almost encouraging officials to card guys and then players, how do they behave etc. It’s definitely a consideration for us but we have to be more aware of our surroundings. Today, we probably lost our head in the first 35 minutes of the game. It’s the atmosphere, it’s fiery and Munster are a very passionate team when they’re playing here at home.

“From our point of view, we just have to get better at dealing with it. It [the result] doesn’t really affect us in the Conference standings, but for us, we need to figure out when we’re in this type of cauldron atmosphere how we can manage the game better.”

Cullen confirmed that Sexton — who was later seen icing his lower leg on the bench — was replaced after 60 minutes as part of a preordained move to get Ciaran Frawley more big game exposure.

“We wanted to get Ciaran the exposure to that game so that’s why we made that change at 60 minutes,” he clarified, while also revealing Dave Kearney pulled up in the warm-up with a tight abductor muscle.

Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Andy Dunne look back on a memorable year for Irish rugby.

Source: Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42/SoundCloud

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