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The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Is Georgia vs Ireland on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch
Ireland take on a Georgia side always pushing for more opportunities as a busy July of international action continues. With both head coach Andy Farrell and Simon Easterby, his Six Nations stand-in, otherwise engaged on British and Irish Lions duty, former captain Paul O'Connell is at the helm for Ireland this summer. The ex-lock has installed a fellow Munsterman as captain with Craig Casey given a chance to lead his nation for the first time in this game in Tbilisi. Georgia, coached by former England hooker Richard Cockerill, are expecting a strong crowd in a rare visit from top tier international opposition. Here's everything you need to know. When is Georgia vs Ireland? Georgia vs Ireland is due to kick off at 6pm BST on Saturday 5 July at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi. How can I watch it? The match is not due to be shown live on television in the United Kingdom, though Irish viewers can tune in on Virgin Media. Team news The Georgia side has a spine from the domestic Black Lion club running through an otherwise French-drawn squad. Flanker Beka Saghinadze skippers a team with plenty of experience despite a relatively young age profile. A few issues at loosehead have necessitated a call up for Giorgi Tetrashvili to back-up Giorgi Akhaladze, though the presence of experienced Toulon tighthead Beka Gigashvili alongside him on the bench shows the front row depth that one often associates with Georgia. Their chief threats, though, come out wide: Akaki Tabutsadze has a remarkable 50 tries in 51 Tests and will be eyeing Daisuke Ohata's all-time record - a tally about which there is some doubt - while Davit Niniashvili is one of Europe's most talented full-backs. He'll play under Ronan O'Gara at La Rochelle next season after agreeing a move from Lyon. Craig Casey leads an Irish side full of real athleticism and size. Wing Tommy O'Brien and lock Darragh Murphy make their debuts in the starting side, with the former joined by namesake Jimmy and Jacob Stockdale in an exciting back three. Sam Prendergast gets the nod over Jack Crowley after the fly halves were both overlooked by the Lions. Gavin Coombes gets a rare outing at No 8 in the absence of the injured Caelan Doris and Jack Conan, away with the Lions, while there are likely to be debuts off the bench for props Michael Milne and Jack Aungier, as well as Munster's lock or flanker Tom Ahern and Connacht scrum-half Ben Murphy. Georgia XV: 1 Giorgi Akhaladze, 2 Vano Karkadze, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri; 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 5 Lado Chachanidze; 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 7 Beka Saghinadze (capt.), 8 Tornike Jalagonia; 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 10 Luka Matkava; 11 Sandro Todua, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze; 15 Davit Niniashvili. Replacements: 16 Irakli Kvatadze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Giorgi Javakhia, 20 Ilia Spanderashvili; 21 Mikheil Alania, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Tornike Kakhoidze. Ireland XV: 1 Jack Boyle, 2 Gus McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson; 4 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Darragh Murray; 6 Ryan Baird, 7 Nick Timoney, 8 Gavin Coombes; 9 Craig Casey (capt.), 10 Sam Prendergast; 11 Jacob Stockdale, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 13 Jamie Osborne, 14 Tommy O'Brien; 15 Jimmy O'Brien.
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Champions League: Irish League and German clubs to fulfil European Cup tie, 65 years later
When Glenavon FC were crowned 1959/60 Irish League champions and qualified for the European Cup no-one could have guessed that it would be another 65 years before the fixture would take place. The team were drawn against Erzgebirge Aue, but were forced to withdraw when the club was refused visas for East Germany due to the Iron Curtain that divided Europe during the Cold a new generation of German football fans will descend on County Armagh on Saturday to watch their team finally fulfil the ill-fated fixture in a special pre-season chairman Glenn Emerson said the stadium will be "rocking" with the atmosphere the away fans are expected to bring, with around 1,100 German fans expected to parade through Lurgan on their way to Mourneview Park. Erzgebirge Aue - known as Wismut in those years - were East German champions and were also denied entry to the UK by the British embassy in Uefa allowing the home and away legs to take place in neutral countries, Glenavon was forced to withdraw from the competition as it was not financially a huge effort by both clubs and their fans to see the fixtures played out, Glenavon travelled to Erzgebirge Aue's 16,500-seater Erzgebirgsstadion in Aue – 184 miles south of Berlin – last summer to fulfil the 'away' the 3. Liga professional outfit are coming to Northern Ireland. It all started with a tweet Glenavon's supporters' liaison officer Adam Carson said the idea of playing the games came about after he posted a tweet to gauge if there was any interest."It was more of a joke than anything and eventually about three years ago, some of Erzgebirge's fans actually got in contact with me and really liked the idea," he explained."We started to build relationships to see how we could move things forward. From there, I got friendly with a couple of their supporters, Max and Thomas."They eventually came over to a Glenavon game a few years back against Larne and they enjoyed the experience."About a year after that Max came back with their sporting director and official contact was made from there." Adam said the Erzgebirge Aue fans have been planning their trip to Northern Ireland for months, while the local community has rallied behind the idea of welcoming the German fans in what will be a unique game for both clubs."When we first started talking about having this game it was basically to celebrate two championship winning teams that didn't get the chance to play against each other," he said."The local community and our supporters seem to be getting behind it so they're really looking forward to it." 'An honour to play the game' Erzgebirge Aue's sports director Matthias Heidrich said the focus of the day will be the relationship between the two clubs and not the final described it as an "honour" to take part in the game and said the Glenavon fans can expect a great atmosphere from the Erzgebirge Aue support."I think the away support, in my point of view, there is more power, there is more passion behind it," he said."We are proud of our fans and what they do for us. We think they are a big and emotional part of our club and they try to push us in every game but, from my point of view, the final result isn't important."The friendship, the history and the closure of the chapter [to see the matches played] are the big headlines around this game." Away tickets sold in 'matter of days' The Glenavon chairman said while the club has hosted European games in the past, this friendly will be "massive" as away fans tend not to travel in large numbers in the early stages of European competition."We sent them 750 tickets and they were all gone in a matter of days," explained Glenn."We sent them another 500 so you're looking at probably in the region of 1,200 German fans descending on this place so it's going to be pretty busy."If their home match is anything to go by when we played over there in Germany last summer it'll be rocking because they like to do the old bouncy, bouncy as you can imagine." 'Everyone is doing their bit' Glenavon's Leigh McClune, who organised last year's trip to Germany, has been working hard behind the scenes to welcome Erzgebirge Aue to Mourneview Park and said preparations for Saturday's game began before Christmas."There's been an awful lot to do in regards to their travel arrangements, organising where they're staying, organising how long they're staying, organising training pitches and then we have to sort out meals for them every day," she added that between the committee put together to stage the game and club volunteers, everyone is doing their bit to make the day a success."Everybody is playing their part and they have their own jobs to do at the same time but they're all taking time out to organise this and make it a really successful day," she said.
BBC News
8 hours ago
- BBC News
Cody returns for Cats as Tipp unchanged for semi-final
Eoin Cody and Shane Murphy have been restored to the Kilkenny line-up to face an unchanged Tipperary in Sunday's All-Ireland Hurling semi-final at Croke Park. The match, which will throw in at 16:00 BST, will be shown live on BBC Two NI, the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. There will also be live text updates on the BBC Sport website. Ballyhale Shamrocks club-man Cody returns to Derek Lyng's full-forward line after missing the Leinster final win over Galway on 8 June with a leg boss Liam Cahill has opted to stick with the same 15 that beat Galway in the quarter-finals for the Munster county's first last-four appearance in six Breen, Ronan Maher, John McGrath and Jason Forde all started Tipp's 2019 All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny. Kilkenny: Eoin Murphy; Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor, Shane Murphy; Mikey Carey, Richie Reid, Paddy Deegan; Cian Kenny, Jordan Molloy; Adrian Mullen, John Donnelly, Billy Ryan; Martin Keoghan, TJ Reid, Eoin Aidan Tallis, Tommy Walsh, David Blanchfield, Padraic Moylan, Killian Doyle, Zach Bay Hammond, Fionan Mackessy, Stephen Donnelly, Luke Hogan, Luke Connellan, Billy Rhys Shelly; Robert Doyle, Eoghan Connolly, Michael Breen; Craig Morgan, Ronan Maher, Bryan O'Mara; Willie Connors, Peter McGarry; Jake Morris, Andrew Ormond, Sam O'Farrell; Darragh McCarthy, John McGrath, Jason Barry Hogan, Joe Caesar, Sean Kenneally, Seamus Kennedy, Brian McGrath, Noel McGrath, Oisin O'Donoghue, Johnny Ryan, Conor Stakelum, Darragh Stakelum, Alan Tynan.
