The FRONT ROW UNION

So we’re in a new year (by the way, happy new one etc), but more interestingly, we have passed the mid-way point in the domestic rugby season. How stand things, [more]

This December isn’t all about reindeer’s and twinkly-eyed old elves and presents and such – for Ulster it also throws up a right balls of a fixture list, which promises to test [more]

It’s an interesting sign of the times that instead of providing a dash of early-season glamour and excitement, these days I’m more inclined to view the November international series as [more]

I remember an article by Liam Toland, after Declan Kidney, in order to try to head off calls for him to appoint an outsider as an attack coach, instead appointed [more]

In ‘Deconstructing Declan’ a couple of weeks ago, I noted that barring three consecutive humiliations, Kidney would be safe until the end of his contract. Three weeks later – well, [more]

1998-2004 The Early Years Declan Kidney, maths teacher, graduated from successfully coaching PBC’s rugby team to successfully coaching an Ireland U-19 side that won its World Cup in 1998. He [more]

I have been watching, half-amused, half-irritated, at the manouevrings of the good and great of Irish rugby journalism over the past few months, as another thoroughly undistinguished 6 Nations campaign [more]

There is no question that, for Ulster fans, players and management alike, getting to the Heineken Cup final is a heck of an achievement, and despite the stabilisation of the [more]

When POC picked up his knee injury against Ulster last weekend, while I felt every sympathy for him, I couldn’t help but feel that if he were to miss the [more]

  Flags are the bane of the Ulster fans’ forums – of course everyone these days professes to be ‘totally relaxed’ about what flags are flown where, yet somehow, absurdly, [more]

Picking over the reports of Ulster’s semi-final, the consensus seems to be that Edinburgh played the better rugby, made more chances, but profligacy let Ulster off the hook; Ulster on [more]

Flight tickets – check… Match tickets – check… Ulster shirt, hat and scarf – check… Lucky underpants – check… Extreme, sphincter-twitching build-up of nerves – check… The teams are out [more]

I have wracked my brains and thought about this weekend’s match against Edinburgh up and down, and the more I think of it, the more ‘fearty’ I become. The reason? [more]

Almost exactly 3 years ago, Harlequins hosted Leinster in a HEC quarter-final, in a match which was to become notorious for ‘Bloodgate’. For Leinster, however, it was significant for a [more]

…can anyone think of another sentence containg the words ‘Farrelly’, ‘Dumb’ and ‘Dumber’? On a completely unrelated point, I see that Hugh Farrelly, the Irish Independent’s nativism and anti-immigration correspondent [more]