OlympicIRL

Some pics I took while hillwalking at home.... Flynn was enjoying himself, exploring every inch of woodland. And he spotted a nice place to cool down.... Ok, Flynn I think you have had enough bath time. Time to go home...

Day 1 at the PDC World Cup of Darts 2019 First Round Results: Gibraltar 4 - 5 Japan Northern Ireland 4 - 5 South Africa New Zealand 5 - 1 Lithuania Belgium 5 - 1 Hong Kong Brazil 1 - 5 Sweden Wales 3 - 5 Singapore Hungary 1 - 5 Germany Scotland 5 - 0 Denmark

Breathe - Hands To Heaven Beverly Craven - Promise Me

So Donald Trump has begun his visit to Ireland. Already words of wisdom from him... Hmm, yes. A border in Ireland will work out really well, like nothing in history there to say otherwise

I still don't get how you think anyone is going to lose points.

If anyone can host it then who cares if it is moving from Rome to Milan.

Day 1 at the Men's U20 World Championships Pool C South Africa 43 - 19 Scotland The Junior Springboks got their tournament off to the ideal start with a comfortable 43-19 win over Scotland. The 2012 champions (winning the title on home turf) scored 6 tries en route to a bonus point win which leaves them in prime position to battle it out with New Zealand for top spot in the pool, or at worst, the consolation prize of a best runner-up finish. Scotland however will see the Georgian match-up as their big test as it will be key in keeping them out of the releagation play-offs. Scotland's best placing at the U20 World Championships came in 2017 where they finished a creditable 5th. South Africa on the otherhand has made it to the semi-finals in every edition bar one (they finished 5th in 2011) and will be looking to add a second title to go with the one they claimed on home turf in 2012. Match Highlights: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video/428865 Match Report courtesy of World Rugby.com New Zealand 45 - 13 Georgia 6-time champions New Zealand got their 2019 campaign underway with a 7-try victory over Georgia. However, it was a lot closer than many would have anticipated for a long period of the match with Georgia only trailing by 6 points after an early try in the second half by Vakhtang Jincharadze. New Zealand did kick on in the final 30 minutes, with the Junior Lelos tiring as the match went on. But Georgia can be very pleased with their showing here which again underlines the progress they have made in recent years. Georgia won promotion to the elite tier of the U20 World Championships in 2016 and have established themselves at this level since, with 10th place finishes in 2016 and 2017 and a 9th place finish last year in France. Survival will again be the first aim for Georgia followed hopefully by what would be a first-ever top 8 finish. To do so, they will need to beat Scotland in their last pool game on June 12th. New Zealand will be hoping to bounce back from their 4th place finish at last year's tournament and will be aiming to add a 7th title to the ones they claimed in (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2017). Like England and South Africa, only once did New Zealand fail to make it to the semi-finals - that was in 2016 when they finished 5th. Match Highlights: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video/428957 Match Report courtesy of World Rugby.com

Day 1 at the Men's U20 World Championships Pool B Australia 36 - 12 Italy The Junior Wallabies opened their U20 World Championship campaign with a 5-try bonus point victory over Italy in Santa Fe. Australia who have not reached the final since 2010 and have never won the tournament were in clinical mood and opened up a 17-0 lead by half-tine. In what is probably the pool of death, it will be a tough mountain to climb for the Azzurrini if they are to make it to the semi-finals or even to match their recent progress in this tournament, having secured back-to-back 8th place finishes in 207 and 2018. However, survival will be the aim of the game for the young Italians, having established themselves as annual participants in the top tier since 2014. In 2015, Italy became the first nation to stage the tournament for a second time, having first hosted back in 2011. Australia have not hosted previously and have failed to make it to the semi-finals in the last 7 editions. They will be hoping to change their fortunes in Argentina this summer. Match Highlights: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video/428911 Match Report courtesy of World Rugby.com England 26 - 42 Ireland U20 Six Nations Grand Slam Champions Ireland made an impressive start to their World Championships campaign with a magnificent 5-try victory over their arch-rivals England in Santa Fe. 3-times champions England have made it to the final on the last 6 occasions and have only once failed to make it to the semi-finals in the 11 year history of the championships. However, they face a tough job to maintain that proud record and must hope that results go in their favour in order to claim either the top spot in the pool or finish as the best runner-up across all 3 pools. Ireland, who came close to a shock relegation last year, reached the final of the U20 World Championships back in 2016, where they lost out to the hosts, England on that occasion. They also reached the semi-finals in 2014 when New Zealand hosted the tournament. With this opening bonus point victory, there is great optimism for the Six Nations Grand Slam champions to make it through the pool and into the semi-finals. Match Highlights: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video/429021 Match Report courtesy of World Rugby.com

Day 1 at the Men's U20 World Championships Pool A Argentina 25 - 30 Wales In a repeat of last year's 5th-place play-off, which Los Pumitas won 39-15, the hosts Argentina squared off against Wales once again. This is the second time that Argentina have hosted the pinnacle tournament in the underage ranks. With Pool A also containing defending champions France it was important for both teams to get off to a good start to their campaign. The day would belong to young dragons however, with Welsh fly-half Cai Evans, son of the legendary Welsh winger and captain, Ieuan Evans, kicking a total of 20 points (6 penalties and a conversion) to steer the northern-hemisphere team to victory. Wales will be hoping to go one step better than their previous best performance at the U20 World Championships in 2013, where they went down to England in the final. Argentina's best championship to date was a 3rd-place finish at the 2016 championships. Match Highlights: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video/428996 Match Report courtesy of World Rugby.com France 36 - 20 Fiji On paper, it was going to be a tough ask for newly-promoted Fiji to have to take on defending champions France in their return to the top-tier of the men's U20 World Championships and indeed it proved to be. The runners-up of this year's U20 Six Nations, France looked to be heading for an easy win when fullback Donovan Taofifenua crossed the white-wash with just over a minute gone in the first-half. But despite coming under extended periods of pressure, Fiji kept the contest a relatively tight affair even if France's route to victory on this opening day was never really in jeopardy. France have hosted the championships twice, in 2013 and again in 2018 where they went on to lift the crown in their first-ever appearance in the final. Fiji's best result came all the way back in 2011 where they finished in 6th position and they appeared in each of the early editions of the championships since its inception in 2008. However, having flirted with relegation in 2012 and 2013, their relegation was confirmed in 2014 and they were away from the elite level for 5 years until their promotion back to the top-tier in 2019. Match Highlights: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video Match Report courtesy of World Rugby.com 

Pool A France Argentina Wales Fiji Pool A Fixtures June 4th Argentina 25 v 30 Wales Rosario June 4th France 36 v 20 Fiji Rosario June 8th Argentina - v - Fiji Santa Fe June 8th France - v - Wales Rosario June 12th Wales - v - Fiji Santa Fe June 12th France - v - Argentina Rosario Pool A Standings Rank Nation P W D L PF PA PD TF TA BP PTS 1 France 1 1 0 0 36 20 +16 5 2 1 5 2 Wales 1 1 0 0 30 25 +5 2 3 0 4 3 Argentina 1 0 0 1 25 30 -5 3 2 1 1 4 Fiji 1 0 0 1 20 36 -16 2 5 0 0 Pool B England Australia Italy Ireland Pool B Fixtures June 4th Australia 36 v 12 Italy Santa Fe June 4th England 26 v 42 Ireland Santa Fe June 8th Australia - v - Ireland Santa Fe June 8th England - v - Italy Santa Fe June 12th Italy - v - Ireland Santa Fe June 12th England - v - Australia Rosario Pool B Standings Rank Nation P W D L PF PA PD TF TA BP PTS 1 Australia 1 1 0 0 36 12 +24 5 2 1 5 2 Ireland 1 1 0 0 42 26 +16 6 3 1 5 3 England 1 0 0 1 26 42 -16 3 6 0 0 4 Italy 1 0 0 1 12 36 -24 2 5 0 0 Pool C South Africa New Zealand Georgia Scotland Pool C Fixtures June 4th South Africa 43 v 19 Scotland Rosario June 4th New Zealand 45 v 13 Georgia Santa Fe June 8th South Africa - v - Georgia Rosario June 8th New Zealand - v - Scotland Rosario June 12th Georgia - v - Scotland Rosario June 12th South Africa - v - New Zealand Rosario Pool C Standings Rank Nation P W D L PF PA PD TF TA BP PTS 1 New Zealand 1 1 0 0 45 13 +32 7 1 1 5 2 South Africa 1 1 0 0 43 19 +24 6 3 1 5 3 Scotland 1 0 0 1 19 43 -24 3 6 0 0 4 Georgia 1 0 0 1 13 45 -32 1 7 0 0

The World Rugby U20 Championship features 12 teams. The team that finishes 12th at the completion of the 2019 tournament will be relegated to the World Rugby U20 Trophy in 2020. The winning team from the World Rugby U20 Trophy 2019 will be promoted to the U20 Championship in 2020. The 12 teams have been divided into three pools of four teams as follows: Pool A France Argentina Wales Fiji Pool B England Australia Italy Ireland Pool C South Africa New Zealand Georgia Scotland Teams will play each other in each pool on a round-robin basis. Match points will be awarded for each pool match on the following basis: Win = 4 points Draw = 2 points Scoring four tries or more = 1 point Loss by seven or less points = 1 point Loss by more than seven points = 0 points At the conclusion of the pool phase, the teams in a pool are ranked one through four based on their cumulative match points, and identified respectively as winner, runner up, third and fourth. If, at the completion of the pool phase, two or more teams are level on match points, then the following criteria shall be used in the following order until one of the teams can be determined as the higher ranked: (i) The winner of the match in which the two tied teams have played each other shall be the higher ranked: (ii) The team which has the best difference between points scored for and points scored against in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked: (iii) The team which has the best difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked: (iv) The team which has scored most points in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked: (v) The team which has scored most tries in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked: and (vi) If none of the above produce a result, then it will be resolved with a toss of a coin.

Men's Rugby WR Under 20 World Championship 2019 Rosario/Santa Fe (ARG) - 4 June 2019 - 22 June 2019  Official Website

Looking forward to @heywoodu‘s korfball segment in future episodes

Good work on the podcast guys, enjoyed listening to it. May be able to contribute something in future. Anyway, keep it going

Still remember their victory at the Aga Khan at the Dublin Horse Show last summer. Wonderful team

Hmm, well it is more of an American term but as a sports commentator then they should know. But then again equestrian commentators are not always well-versed in sports other than equestrian so no, that doesn't surprise me then

Congrats on the Olympic ticket

I wouldn't have a clue what was going on if it wasn't for the commentary team providing their in-depth analysis of what is happening.

And also, when the Brazilian try scorer grounded the ball after waiting for a bit, the second that ball touched the blade of grass.... "Try, Brazil 5 points" or whatever the translation is, and then back to the deathly silence once more

Man, these commentators

Terrible news about the young Danish cyclist

Yes, they don't generally do things that is in the best interest of the sport. Even with this round-robin process they could have at least spiced it up a bit.... say top 2 advance directly to the semis, 3rd-6th place play in the quarter-finals. Or maybe even added in an additional incentive for those at the bottom of the table.... top 8 qualify directly for the next tournament. But they prefer to be able to make things up as they go along so that for the next World Cup they can invite who they want

Nice to see Bangladesh claiming a big scalp here. The format is rubbish though with a single round-robin group and only 4 of 10 team advancing. There is going to be a lot of dead rubber matches or cases where one team has nothing to play for.

What a match. Stan the warrior

They are going to be in a battle to make it to the Nations Cup Final, which is an Olympic qualifier. Ireland and Germany too didn't have a good first outing and with Italy getting a good result here, it's going to be a scrap to make it.