TENNIS GREAT MARGARET Court has defended Israel Folau, saying the Wallabies superstar was being “persecuted” for quoting the Bible in an anti-gay post on social media.

The devoutly religious Folau is facing the sack by Rugby Australia after posting on social media that “hell awaits” homosexuals. It follows a similar row last year.

Court, who won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, is now a church pastor and no stranger to controversial views.

In recent years she has vowed to boycott airline Qantas for its support of same-sex marriage, while sparking uproar for claiming tennis was “full of lesbians” and that transgender children were the result of a Nazi-style plot.

She said Folau was speaking from a belief that everyone can be saved if they repent.

Margaret Court alongside Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Li Na of China at the 2013 Australian Open. Source: MARK DADSWELL

“I was on the highway to hell when I was number one in the world in tennis and reached out to Christ,” she told The Australian newspaper.

“I understand why Israel is doing this: you want everybody to know Christ and under it all there is a great love for your nation and you want people to know what you have received.

“That means drug addicts, gays, alcoholics: they all come to my church and I love them and I’m sure Israel loves them too.

Folau posted a banner on Instagram last week that read: “Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators — Hell awaits you.”

He has vowed to stand by “what the Bible says”, saying “I share it with love.”

Rugby Australia has moved to sack Folau on the grounds his post was a code of conduct breach by failing to adhere to the sport’s policies and values of inclusiveness.

A tribunal is due to decide his fate at a date to be confirmed.

Folau, Australia’s most marketable player until the row exploded, has been suspended by the NSW Rugby Union until further notice.

Court, whose own comments sparked calls for her name to be removed from a show court at Melbourne Park, which hosts the Australian Open Grand Slam, said she sent Folau one of her books last year when he was initially criticised for his anti-gay views.

© – AFP 2019

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LOUTH NATIVE MICHAEL McDonald made his debut for the Junior Wallabies in Friday’s victory over Japan in the opening round of the U20 Oceania Championships.

The Western Force scrum-half came off the bench during the second half of Australia’s 64-14 win at Bond University on the Gold Coast.

Fiji provide the opposition in the Wallabies’ second match on Tuesday, before Jason Gilmore’s side oppose New Zealand on 4 May.

The cap — McDonald’s maiden at international level — is the latest career landmark for the former Dundalk RFC player, following his first-team debut with the Force earlier this month.

Nineteen-year-old McDonald moved to Australia with his parents and twin brother, Andrew, at the age of 13, having played all his rugby with Dundalk to that point.

His two older siblings, Cillian and Gearoid, have enjoyed careers at a decent level within Ireland, the latter lining out for Old Belvedere and Lansdowne in the All-Ireland League as well as helping Leinster Juniors to the Interprovincial crown last year.

Should McDonald retain his place for this summer’s U20 World Cup in Argentina, he could face his homeland with Australia and Ireland having been paired in the same group, alongside England and Italy.

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:

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1. Peter Crouch

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2. Dublin GAA

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3. Henry Shefflin 

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4. Gary Lineker

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5. Aidan O’Mahony 

AS PAINFUL AS Monday’s review would have been for Leinster, the emotional scars from Newcastle still running deep for many, the raw introspection of the team’s collective and individual failings may just have been the cathartic process required.

There is a new breed of player within the dressing room — the James Ryans, Jordan Larmours, Garry Ringroses — always questioning and probing, no matter the result or level of performance. Win or lose, the mindset remains the same. 

Leinster are hoping to bounce back this weekend. Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

That they slipped below those standards at pivotal junctures against Saracens will have raised many unanswered questions, but the strength of those aforementioned players is to consistently find the answers and seek ways to be better. To fix the mistakes, to simply be better rugby players.

Such a mentality and appetite to learn ensured they didn’t get carried away with the achievements of yesteryear, and similarly the hope is that this experience will galvanise the group moving forward.

In such a fast-moving environment, the page must turn quickly, leaving little time for those aforementioned wounds to heal, but that ability to compartmentalise and leave Newcastle in the rearview mirror this week while focusing on Munster is part of the new generation’s DNA. 

“The guys that we have in here at the moment are unbelievably good at dealing with huge wins and huge losses, trying to learn,” John Fogarty says. 

“They’re very specific in their chat when they come in to speak to us and they test us as coaches massively. They will want to know exactly what we can do better. They’ll take it apart. They’re designed differently. When I was that age, I needed experience to become a good player.

“They’re getting much stronger at being forensic around their game and they understand a lot around what’s happening, so we’re a good young side. We will learn from this experience.”

Leinster’s challenge this week is two-fold. Fogarty speaks of overcoming the psychological toll defeat has on a dressing room, but getting the bodies primed for a Pro14 semi-final to match Munster’s intensity and physicality is another thing entirely.  

Leo Cullen made six changes to his starting XV a week after Bilbao last year and while Leinster will look to field their strongest possible hand against Johann van Graan’s men, changes are inevitable. 

The return to fitness of both Jamison Gibson-Park and Josh van der Flier boosts options for the defending Pro14 champions, but Leinster’s team selection for Saturday afternoon will be fascinating. 

“Yeah, it’s tough for players,” scrum coach Fogarty continues. “We’ve got one game left, we lose that game, that’s it, we’re done. I think we need to be as strong as we possibly can be. Those calls will be made, we’ll put a strong as a team as we can out. We’ll need to because you listen to Munster, there are guys that are desperate to win.

“We’re desperate to win too but Billy Holland has been talking about that he’s not going to leave this place [Munster] until he gets something, until he gets a win.

Glasgow 15

Leinster 18

Murray Kinsella reports from Celtic Park

IT REQUIRED A steely final defensive stand but Leinster got over the line to secure back-to-back Guinness Pro14 titles by overcoming Dave Rennie’s Glasgow Warriors in front of 47,125 people, a new record final attendance for the championship.

Leinster celebrate Garry Ringrose’s try. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

The Warriors scored a 75th-minute try to bring themselves to within three points but Leinster had built just enough of a lead to allow themselves to end their season with silverware.

Teeming rain in Glasgow made conditions difficult and it was a day for the forwards to excel, with vice-captain Rhys Ruddock, the relentless James Ryan and try-scoring man of the match Cian Healy leading the way in that regard as Leinster’s pack muscled up impressively.

Leinster had to survive a yellow card to fullback Rob Kearney with 15 minutes remaining – Glasgow fans felt it should have been red for taking out Stuart Hogg in the air – but their experience and nous over the course of the 80 minutes was just about greater than Glasgow’s.

Centre Garry Ringrose grabbed Leinster’s other try from a Luke McGrath blockdown of Hogg, helping Leinster into a 15-10 lead at half-time. 

Leo Cullen’s men scored only three thereafter but they won’t care after lifting the Pro14 trophy on Glaswegian soil, Leinster’s sixth title in the competition leaving them two clear of Ospreys.

Having felt the deep disappointment of a Champions Cup final defeat to Saracens only two weekends ago, this was a fitting way for Cullen and Stuart Lancaster’s team to finish off their campaign.

Glasgow’s wait for their first title since 2015 goes on and they will have regrets about a second-half yellow card to centre Kyle Steyn, as well as their inability to threaten in attack in the second 40 until too late.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Both teams kicked well in a frenetic opening stanza and it was Leinster who had the first chance of the game when Glasgow loosehead Jamie Bhatti went off his feet at breakdown time.

Sexton had a 38-metre penalty from straight in front of the posts, but with Glasgow fans booing as the out-half lined it up, he missed wide to the right to let the Warriors off the hook.

Two minutes later, Sexton threw an inside pass just too low in front of Jack Conan on the Glasgow 22 after a scything Leinster break, started by Rhys Ruddock’s awareness and continued by Garry Ringrose, who sent Sexton racing to into the Glasgow half.

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Leinster might have felt Fraser Brown should have been sin-binned for an off-the-ball hit into the back of Luke McGrath in behind a lineout soon after, but referee Nigel Owens judged that it was a penalty only after a TMO review.

The game then swung firmly in Glasgow’s favour as Sexton threw another loose pass to ground, the ricocheting ball bobbling up to Tommy Seymour, requiring Robbie Henshaw to make an excellent tackle near halfway to prevent a breakaway score.

But Adam Hastings cleverly kicked the ball into touch in the Leinster 22 on the next phase, where Jonny Gray stole a lineout and Glasgow went into a powerful multi-phase passage. Lock Scott Cummings’ carry gave them real momentum and it was number eight Matt Fagerson who picked and burrowed over to score on the next phase, Hastings converting.

Glasgow celebrate Matt Fagerson’s try. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Leinster’s reply was instantaneous, however, as McGrath blocked down Stuart Hogg’s attempted clearing kick from the restart, with the ball bouncing wide right into the in-goal area, where Ringrose surged forward to ground it. 

Sexton couldn’t convert and Cullen’s men were further behind within six minutes, Ringrose’s missed tackle on opposite number Kyle Steyn allowing Glasgow to break back into Leinster’s 22.

Jordan Larmour and Rob Kearney did well to prevent DTH van der Merwe from scoring off that Steyn break, before Hastings opted to carry into Sexton’s tackle when a pass might have resulted in a try. There was offside advantage playing, though, and Hastings slotted the three for a 10-5 lead.

Leinster had an attacking passage halted in the 26th minute when Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown suffered a serious left leg injury while jackaling in a ruck, forcing him to be stretchered off, but they showed controlling and suffocating quality on resumption.

It was a 17-phase sequence that ended with Cian Healy picking and carrying through Rob Harley for Leinster’s second try, ably assisted by a typically good Scott Fardy latch, with Sexton able to convert this time to put the Irish province into the lead for the first time.

A scrum penalty for Leinster allowed Sexton to extend that advantage to 15-10 in the 36th minute, ignoring more boos to hammer his kick over from 45 metres out.

Cian Healy barges over for his first-half try. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

And the visitors muscled up defensively in the closing stages of the half to keep that lead intact, first forcing Harley to knock-on and then with Larmour shoving van der Merwe into touch with the final play of the half. 

Another deluge of rain at half-time made ball-handling even trickier in the second half with both teams losing the ball forward in the early exchanges. 

Hogg’s dancing feet took him pass Fardy and into the Leinster 22 in the 49th minute as Glasgow built ominously before Ali Price’s loose pass to ground suddenly allowed Leinster to counter as Ringrose pounced on the ball.

The midfielder glided up into Glasgow territory and flicked a pass to the hard-working James Lowe on his inside. Though Lowe was grounded, Steyn didn’t roll away of the tackle and was deservedly binned by Owens for killing Leinster’s momentum.

Cullen’s men went to the corner with that penalty and looked to barge their way over again, winning a penalty under the sticks as Harley failed to release after a tackle. Despite their numerical advantage, Leinster opted to take the points and open up an eight-point gap thanks to Sexton’s straightforward shot at goal.

Leinster began to turn the screw, with Sexton a superb grubber asking Glasgow to run the ball out of their in-goal area, only for Henshaw and Ryan to hammer Gibbins in the tackle for a five-metre scrum. 

Leinster celebrate Garry Ringrose’s try. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

A penalty at that scrum allowed Steyn to come back on after his 10 minutes in the bin but rather than taking the chance to extend their lead to 11 points, Leinster opted to pack down again, clearly eager to finish the Warriors off.

Three scrum resets ensued before Leinster finally played off the back of the set-piece, only for scrum-half McGrath to knock-on at the base of a ruck two phases later.  

Glasgow then won a penalty at the ensuing scrum and suddenly the doubts over Leinster opting not to take their points rose.

Those concerns only grew in the 66th minute when Kearney chased his own garryowen and clumsily collided with Hogg as the Glasgow fullback lept to gather the kick. Replays appeared to show Hogg’s head making contact with the ground but Owens decided only to yellow-card the Leinster man, much to the Warriors fans’ anger.

Glasgow, aiming to seize the momentum, mauled into the Leinster 22 from the penalty but Ringrose and Henshaw combined for a choke tackle turnover on Steyn, before the Leinster scrum – with a new front row of Ed Byrne, Bryan Byrne and Andrew Porter – won a big penalty to allow Sexton to relieve the pressure.

Leinster attempted to run the clock down with their next possession, grinding at Glasgow on their 22 but eventually the Warriors manufactured themselves a turnover to allow themselves back on the attack.

The Scots thrust forward with intent, replacement Huw Jones cutting through Leinster and laying the platform for Peter Horne and Matt Fagerson to send sub hooker Grant Stewart down the right touchline to finish in the right corner.

Hastings couldn’t convert from wide out, leaving the Warriors trailing 18-15 with just four minutes left. But they knocked-on with their final possession, allowing Leinster to wind the closing seconds down and boot the ball off the field to spark the celebrations.

Glasgow scorers:

Tries: Matt Fagerson, Grant Stewart

Conversions: Adam Hastings [1 from 2]

Penalties: Adam Hastings [1 from 1]

Leinster scorers:

Tries: Garry Ringrose, Cian Healy

Conversions: Johnny Sexton [1 from 2]

Penalties: Johnny Sexton [2 from 3]

GLASGOW WARRIORS: Stuart Hogg (Huw Jones ’66); Tommy Seymour, Kyle Steyn (yellow card ’49), Sam Johnson (Pete Horne ’56), DTH van der Merwe; Adam Hastings, Ali Price (George Horne ’58); Jamie Bhatti (Oli Kebble ’53), Fraser Brown (Grant Stewart ’26), Zander Fagerson (Siua Halanukonuka ’68); Scott Cummings, Jonny Gray; Rob Harley (Ryan Wilson ’53), Callum Gibbins (captain) (Tom Gordon ’78), Matt Fagerson.

LEINSTER: Rob Kearney (yellow card ’66); Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Johnny Sexton (captain) (Ross Byrne ’74), Luke McGrath (Nick McCarthy ’76); Cian Healy (Ed Byrne ’63), Sean Cronin (Bryan Byrne ’64), Tadhg Furlong (Andrew Porter ’64); Scott Fardy, James Ryan; Rhys Ruddock (Ross Molony ’78, Josh van der Flier (Max Deegan ’74), Jack Conan.

Replacements: Rory O’Loughlin.

Referee: Nigel Owens [WRU].

MUNSTER HOPE WORK on a new indoor training facility at Musgrave Park will commence by the end of this year after the province today received planning permission from Cork City Council.

The new facility will be located at the Pearse Road end of Musgrave Park and will be built primarily for Munster’s underage sides, in addition to local schools and clubs. 

Musgrave Park in Cork. Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

While the cost of the project has not been outlined by the province, the facility will house a synthetic all-weather playing surface, a gym, dressing rooms, treatment rooms, a kitchen and public toilets.

The plans show the indoor pitch will be 60×40 metres in size, while a new single-storey ticketing booth and increased parking for both cars and buses are planned for the Cork venue.    

Munster, whose senior team are based at their high-performance centre at the University of Limerick, have made an application to the large-scale sports infrastructure fund for the project, and say construction will commence by the end of 2019 or early 2020.

“We want a high-quality hub for provincial rugby and a superb facility for our surrounding community and that’s exactly what we’re going to bring for the region,” Munster’s acting CEO, Philip Quinn, said. 

“We want to engage with our local community and our 3G pitch has hosted all sorts of events in a number of different sports, not just rugby, since it opened last year.

“Long-term, we see Musgrave Park as being a municipal stadium, open to all. Rugby will always be number one here but let’s engage, let’s get people in here to what is a fantastic sporting facility.”

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SIX NATIONS PREPARATION has already started for Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad.

The Kiwi serial winner convened a group of international players in Carton House yesterday to look ahead to a new look Championship which begins in Murrayfield next month.

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Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

The date in the diary was enough to convince Josh van der Flier into an “early night” on Saturday. New Year’s Eve and a win over Ulster weren’t worth lengthy celebrations and he instead set his mind to a sit-down Sunday with Ireland plays and calls.

It’s a sign of a union employing joined-up thinking, keeping players up to speed with the national team so that they don’t feel bombarded when the Test window rolls around.

For provinces though, it’s another chunk of time lost when, ideally, they would like to be perfecting their own playing structures.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen spent a fair chunk of his New Year’s Eve media minutes pointing out the ring-rust that was partly the reason behind their failure to turn a dominant three-try performance over 42 minutes into a bonus point win over Ulster.

Les Kiss’ men, for their part, improved drastically after a calamitous first-half to dominate territory and win the second half make the final score a respectable 22 – 7.

“The problem was a lot of our possession was in our 22,” Cullen said of the second-half siege.

“So we had to relieve pressure. But we definitely lacked composure. You get that when guys are a bit rusty and we’re still working on various combinations.

Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

“We hadn’t a huge amount of prep time coming into this game. We’re coming off a five-day turnaround, we’re reshuffling the team. There’s plenty of challenges at this time of year, you’re expecting to be ‘not perfect’.”

Two games into a run of three matches in 11 days, Cullen’s thoughts quickly turned to Friday’s meeting with Zebre at the RDS. He will lose a large contingent of his squad in body and mind to Carton House, but some will be allowed filter back in as he attempts to sync units and combinations up before the resuming the chase for a Champions Cup home quarter-final with Montpellier’s visit to Dublin.

“We’re in a seven-game block, but it’s not like a seven-game block where we’re all together. There’s chopping and changing in the middle of that.

“At some point during the year we need to build and get continuity. Because guys came off November (internationals), came back in, some of them hadn’t played. You’re into two huge European games, there’s games going on, you’re managing guys’ time off here and there – that’s the challenge we face.

“There’s 22 Pro12 games, six European games, so we try to get all hands on deck making sure everyone is clear on what we’re trying to do. Because we’re still a bit off in terms of having that real clarity of purpose. But we’ll get there.”

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Whether Cullen will have Jonathan Sexton back in harness to help force that clarity is still less than concrete. Following November, Leinster coaches have consistently said the out-half’s situation is ‘day-to-day’, but the hinted return points have stretched from Northampton to Christmas inter-pros and now we’re into 2017 with the head coach quickly brushing past the subject of the Lions 10 to talk up the man in possession of the jersey.

“We’re hopeful, but Ross (Byrne) has gone well. That’s another real positive step. It’s a big ask for Ross backing up such a physical game last week.

“It’s a huge step up for a guy like Ross. He’s still in the academy, stepping into the senior squad next year. I thought he acquitted himself really well, you could see he started to cramp at the end. He had another tough 70 minutes tonight, I thought he’s gone really well.

“He’s very driven. Works hard and he’s hungry to be successful both personally and for the team. He’s been in the building a few years now. He’s pushing hard, had a bit of a taste of it (first-team action) last year. And I think the more players get a taste of it, the more comfortable they get and the more they want to stay there.”

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ROSS FORD, SCOTLAND’S record appearance maker, has retired from rugby as he plans to go into coaching.

It was confirmed in April that the hooker, who won 110 caps for his country, would be leaving club side Edinburgh at the end of the 2018/19 season.

And on Thursday, Scottish Rugby revealed Ford’s plans to move into strength and conditioning coaching, helping young players in the Scottish Borders.

“I always enjoyed the S&C side of things. It was always a big part of my game and it was something I was good at,” Ford said.

“Later in my career I took a big interest in it and it became something I wanted to do after I finished playing, so I was really keen when this opportunity came up, especially being a Borders lad as well.

“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had a long career in the sport and have been able to represent my country at the highest level, playing in a lot of great places around the world.

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THE LAST TIME we saw Sean Cronin in green was back in Rome in February, the hooker’s first Six Nations start for Ireland not going as planned, so much so that he was the fall guy for a horribly poor team performance.

From the starting XV at the Stadio Olimpico, Cronin was, not for the first time under Joe Schmidt, unceremoniously cast aside for the final two weeks of Ireland’s sorry Six Nations campaign. 

Cronin during Friday’s open session at Thomond Park. Source: James Crombie/INPHO

While Cronin rebounded strongly from the disappointment of being dropped by Ireland to help Leinster to their second successive Guinness Pro14 title, it would be understandable if the 33-year-old felt he has something of a point to prove. Again.

Recalled to Ireland’s extended World Cup training panel, Cronin has put the head down in camp over the last four weeks as he faces direct competition from Niall Scannell and Rob Herring to get on the plane to Japan alongside captain Rory Best.

Even with 68 caps — and two World Cups — to his name, Cronin is taking nothing for granted this time around as the competition for places in Schmidt’s squad cranks up a gear with the first of the warm-up games on the horizon.

“I don’t think what I’ve done before will stand to me [for selection], because what the coaches are saying is they’re not looking back, they’re looking forward,” Cronin says.

“I’m just trying to put in as much effort as I can. If I get an opportunity in those [warm-up] games, I know it’s going to be a limited window for me to play well and I probably have to do a bit more than I did the last game. It’s going to be a big opportunity for me if I get the chance.”

With Conor O’Shea’s Italy first up at the Aviva Stadium on 10 August, Cronin would relish the chance to pull on the green jersey again and ‘right the wrongs’ from last time out.

“I suppose as a professional you always have a point to prove,” he continued. “That’s kind of the way I’ve been looking at things. You need to have that bouncebackability. That’s the great thing about professional sport, hopefully get another chance and if things don’t work out, put the wrongs right and that’s all you can do.”

The competition for places in Ireland’s squad, not just at hooker but across every position, has resulted in the levels of intensity during the first block of training go through the roof as players bid to stake their claim for selection.

Cronin endured a tough 73 minutes against Italy back in February. Source: James Crombie/INPHO

With the focus on strength and conditioning work during the week-long camps in Carton House, Galway and Limerick, the 45-man panel have been pushed to their limits by the coaches, with Cronin admitting it has been the toughest block he’s ever experienced as a professional.

“Yeah, it’s tough, even the weight sessions are pretty intense,” the hooker explained.

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“They’re challenging, but they’re good. The coaches are getting the best out of us and lads are enjoying it, especially when Friday lunchtime comes and we get to go home with a good week behind you. 

After a down week, Ireland will continue their preparations at the IRFU’s new facility at Abbotstown, where the focus will shift to rugby-based training ahead of that first summer outing against Italy at the start of next month.

Cronin knows better than most that the schedule of four warm-up games will be crucial when Schmidt has to whittle down his squad to 31 for Japan.

“I don’t think there are many World Cup squads around that you have your 31 guys solidified, so lads are competing out there and trying to put their best foot forward to get that spot on the plane,” he added.

“I was obviously at the ones in 2011 and 2015 and this has probably been the most competitive squad I’ve been in. It’s going to be tough to get in.

“That Abbotstown week is going to be big in terms of building the set-piece and breakdown. Any guys who get an opportunity to play in that first game is going to get a massive chance to put their first stamp on trying to get selected for Japan.”

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