Five straight losses and you think how do Ulster get out of this hole?

NEWS: Spiideo acquires Signality, advancing sports video & data automation. We’re thrilled to announce that Signality, known for its cutting-edge optical…

Ireland don’t agree with the pessimistic sense around Irish rugby post-Paris.

Mitchell Johnson reflects on the intense pressures faced by AFL coaches, emphasising how the role often becomes a scapegoat for a club's underperformance. Using the recent departure of Michael Voss from Carlton as an example, Johnson highlights that while coaching is crucial, modern AFL clubs are heavily layered with assistant coaches, performance staff, analysts, and recruitment teams, yet responsibility is almost entirely placed on the head coach. He argues that players, being elite athletes with access to top facilities and support systems, must also bear accountability for performance. Johnson critiques the sport's increasing reliance on data, statistics, and structured systems, suggesting that this sometimes stifles instinct, freedom, and natural play. Observing how teams sometimes perform better immediately after a coaching change, he points out that systems and relationships take time to develop, making the coach both the ultimate problem-solver and the easiest target. Ultimately, Johnson emphasises that while leadership, culture, and strategy matter, team sport success is built on shared purpose, shared accountability, and collective effort on and off the field.

The most influential moments in global sports diplomacy today rarely happen in stadiums. They happen when a mayor decides how a city will welcome the world, when an investor chooses which league will scale globally, and when an algorithm determines which athletes and teams millions of people will see in their feeds. This is what power in sport looks like now: dispersed, networked, and often invisible.

Leinster must pick from Alex Usanov, Jerry Cahir, and Ed Byrne at loosehead prop.

Igor Paixão, Santiago Gimenez en Anis Hadj Moussa scoorden allemaal een ruime voldoende, maar Pierre van Hooijdonk en Royston Drenthe zagen een duidelijke uitblinker.