Peter Burke
The Northampton Saints will become the first ever English club side to play in Croke Park on Saturday afternoon at 5.30pm when they take on Leinster in the Heineken Cup semi-final.
The Aviva being prepared for some other gig so Croke Park was asked to help out with the proceedings and of course they obliged, sure you’d be mad to turn down just shy of half a million in rental fees.
It will be the first time in 14 years that a rugby game has been played in Croker, a stadium rich in Irish history and our struggle for independence.
Fly-half Fin Smith described having “goosebumps,” while Dowson said it was important to educate the squad on topics not taught in English schools.
Tommy Freeman needs a good game and he’s handy around the park on the wing – unfortunately he was on a podcast and made a completely innocuous statement that many ‘Click Bait’ sites jumped on, but he meant nothing by it as it would appear to the vast majority of educated people and legitimate media outlets.
“We’re definitely going there with the intent to do a job and do the best we can to put ourselves in the final.
Personally, I think the pressure is probably on Leinster as it’s Croke Park, and the history behind Croke Park. There’s probably some pressure coming on from their side.
We’re going full guns blazing, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got…and hopefully come away with a result.”
Seriously Tommy no offence taken you’re grand just ignore the online equivalent of the red tops.
Arrogant’ Ireland underestimated New Zealand at the World Cup, says Springbok Eben Etzebeth – Irish Independent:
In an interview with ‘The Rugby Pod’, the two-time World Cup winning lock accused Ireland of arrogance after the two sides’ pool match at the Stade de France.
“After the game, you shake the guys’ hands, and probably 12 out of the 23, when I shook their hand, they told me ‘See you guys in the final’,” Etzebeth said.
My immediate thought was, ‘Are these guys seriously not even thinking about the All Blacks in a World Cup quarter-final, playing against them?’
“That remark that they made, ‘See you guys in the final’. I was just like, ‘These guys are making a big mistake to look past probably the most dominant team in the last 20-30 years of Test rugby’.
“We would never say that because we knew we’d have to play the host nation, pitch up to beat France in their backyard.
“It just felt like they were so confident saying things like that, ‘See you in the final’ when you know you’ve got the mighty All Blacks coming up in a World Cup quarter-final.
“[Prop] Frans Malherbe and Lood de Jager were with me and I said, ‘I don’t know if these guys are riding a bit high’. Obviously, it’s good to be confident but you can never be arrogant in this game.
Ok this sounds way worse than it actually is and it was completely taken out of context, its not unusual for that phrase to be said by an Irish person.
They were certainly not being arrogant or writing off the All Blacks and to suggest otherwise is just idiotic, but it didn’t stop the click bait merchants having a go.
Organisers deny claims of discrimination against rugby fans over alcohol rules at Croke Park
“Alcohol is available in the usual areas of the stadium, both before and during the fixture.” Croke Park’s rules on alcohol are available on the stadium’s website, which states that “alcohol is not permitted to be consumed in the seated or terrace area and must be consumed in the concourse area”.
Ok this is just rubbish. Rugby is no longer, and hasn’t been for some years, believed to be a ‘foreign’ sport and it was said that this was the reason Rugby fans cannot drink alcohol in their seats. What a load of rubbish, the rule is there for all sports played in Croke Park be it Hurling, GAA football whatever.
Some media outlets need to shut the hell up and stop printing whatever suits there narrative, however and as we all know they won’t as clicks means money and a few media outlets are notorious for it.