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BBC News
03-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Little at stake yet loaded with meaning for Old Firm managers
Scottish Premiership: Rangers v CelticVenue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Date: Sunday, 4 May Time: 12:00 BSTCoverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland & Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app, highlights on BBC Scotland from 19:15 With his final Old Firm game looming into view, legendary Rangers manager Walter Smith admitted he was "delighted" to be leaving the Glasgow derby was 2011, coming at a time when retirement was on the horizon and when off-field matters were dominating the headlines. The latter emphasising his desire to call it a is unlikely Smith's former captain Barry Ferguson will want Sunday to be his last taste of a fixture that means everything in Glasgow but counts for little on this latest title success, their 13th in 14 seasons, has left a bitter taste in Ferguson's mouth as the interim head coach prepares for what may be his final game against the champions, with the Ibrox club's incoming paymasters expected to make sweeping a former Rangers skipper, Ferguson knows the fixture inside out, having made his derby debut in the midfield boiler room alongside Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Jorg Albertz in 1998. He knows what wins over their neighbours can do when it comes to longevity in the despite ending an almost five-year wait for a victory at Celtic Park the last time they locked horns, Ferguson's short stint in the hotseat looks to be coming to an end with inauspicious results elsewhere and an inability to win at it up to Celtic has not been Rangers' problem in recent have won the past two derbies and were a penalty shootout away from winning the League Cup against Brendan Rodgers' side in have scored three goals in three successive games against their old rivals for the first time since 2002 and are chasing a third straight win over them in the same season for the first time since yet it feels like Rangers are as far behind Celtic as they've ever have rained in on them and points have been shed against the other Premiership sides with staggering have only scored once in their previous six games at Ibrox and equally staggering is the fact they have conceded at least twice in 11 of their past 13 overall. For Rodgers and his team, there will be a determination, if not a desperation, to come out on the title has been wrapped up with ease yet again. But those two defeats to Rangers will irk the Celtic boss. There was a time when the outcome of these games indicated where the title was going, that has not been the case this Old Firm record still stands above all others and that is something he will want to likes to have records in mind as he goes along and one still to achieve is beating the 106 goals his invincible side scored in 2016-17 during his maiden season at Parkhead. Celtic are five away from achieving that having scored five in each of their past three secured honour number 11 as Celtic boss, Rodgers has moved himself into sixth place in Scottish Football's managerial roll of honour. He now stands behind only Willie Maley, Bill Struth, Jock Stein, Smith and Scot Symon. The latter two are catchable if Rodgers plans on sticking around for the next few Ferguson, he has three more chances to register a victory at Ibrox with the club setting an unwanted benchmark of six home games without 47-year-old will have spent many a night since replacing Phillipe Clement wondering why this group of players can beat Celtic twice yet lose to Queen's Park, St Mirren, Motherwell and Hibernian on their own all of those have come on his watch but Ferguson knows it is a level of ignominy that won't wash at Rangers and if it is to be the end of his spell in charge, he will personally want a 100% record from his games against the outcome of this one, it won't register on the Richter scale but the phrase "dead rubber" doesn't really apply when it comes to these best of enemies.
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Leinster recall Test stars to face settled Saints
Investec Champions Cup semi-final: Leinster v NorthamptonVenue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 3 May Kick-off: 17:30 BSTCoverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and BBC Radio Northampton Leinster make wholesale changes including recalling Ireland captain Caelan Doris and fly-half Sam Prendergast for their Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton prop Cian Healy is the sole survivor from Leinster's United Rugby Championship defeat by Scarlets while in contrast Saints' only change from from their Premiership win over Bristol Bears is the return of prop Trevor eight Doris returns to captain the hosts at Aviva Stadium while Ireland wing James Lowe and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park also start. New Zealand's World Cup winner Jordie Barrett is named on the bench. Reigning Premiership champions Saints arrive in Dublin with a strong side that will include England wing Tommy Freeman and fly-half Fin Smith, who will line-up against Prendergast in what has been framed as a head-to-head audition for selection on this summer's British and Irish Lions tour to fly-halves produced stellar displays in the quarter-final as Ireland's Prendergast dismantled the Glasgow defence and kicked well, while England's Smith pulled the strings with composure as Saints thumped Castres. The notable absentee for the visitors is full-back George Furbank, who made a try-scoring return from injury in their win over Castres before suffering a setback with an arm injury that had sidelined him since winners Leinster and the 1999-00 champions Northampton renew their European rivalry, which saw them meet at the same stage of last year's flanker Henry Pollock continues his remarkable breakthrough season with a starting berth in his first European semi-final, a year on from watching last year's game at Croke Park as a supporter in fancy dress. The hosts edged to a narrow victory on that occasion but Saints, who won the trophy in 2000, will be confident of reaching a first Champions Cup final since they were beaten by the Irish province in the 2011 for Leinster could set up a repeat of last year's final against six-time winners Toulouse, who face French rivals Bordeaux-Begles in the other semi-final on Sunday. Line-ups Leinster: Keenan; O'Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Prendergast, Gibson-Park; Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Snyman, McCarthy, Deegan, Van der Flier, Doris (capt).Replacements: Kelleher, Porter, Slimani, Baird, Conan, McGrath, R Byrne, Saints: Ramm; Freeman, Dingwall (capt), Hutchinson, Litchfield; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison, Mayanavanua, Coles, Kemeny, Pollock, Walker, West, Millar Mills, Lockett, Munga, Scott-Young, James, Pierre Brousset (France)
BBC News
01-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Bath not asked Scots trio for Edinburgh insight
European Challenge Cup semi-final: Edinburgh v BathWhere: Hive Stadium, Edinburgh When: Saturday, 3 May Time: 15:00 BSTCoverage: Follow live updates on the BBC Sport website and app Bath have not asked their Scottish players for any insight on their national team-mates says Johann van Graan, ahead of their Challenge Cup semi-final with Edinburgh on Saturday. The Premiership league leaders head to Scotland's capital on Saturday with a place in the European final in Cardiff on 23 May at stake. Bath have Scotland regulars fly-half Finn Russell, centre Cameron Redpath and back row Josh Bayliss among their squad."We just keep to what we believe in and the way that we want to play. We haven't asked any specific questions around the Edinburgh team," Van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol. "I know Gregor [Townsend, Scotland head coach] very well, I know Franco [Smith, Glasgow head coach] very well, and I know Sean [Everitt, Edinburgh head coach] very well - a good rugby friend of mine. "But we've just stuck to what we believe in and let Finn, Josh and Cam focus on the way that we want to play."Huge respect for Edinburgh and Scottish rugby but the focus has been on us this week." Bath are 15 points clear at the top of the Premiership with three matches to go and have secured a home semi-final in the league play-offs next have also already clinched one trophy this season after winning the Premiership Rugby Cup in February, as they chase a Graan said there would "definitely be changes" from the team that was fielded in the 55-19 win against Newcastle last week, with Russell and scrum-half Ben Spencer among those rested. And while Bath have experience playing against Edinburgh in pre-season warm-ups in recent years, Van Graan is expecting a different experience this weekend."They've played really well at home, they've got a very different pitch to what we're used to," he added."We're in a knock-out position now and whoever is the winner in this game gets to the final in Cardiff in a few weeks' time. "Lots on the line and that's why we coach, that's why we play, that's why we support, is for big games and this certainly counts as a big game."
BBC News
01-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Gilchrist leads strange welcoming committee for Bath's Russell'
European Challenge Cup: Edinburgh v BathWhere: Hive Stadium, Edinburgh When: Saturday, 3 May Time: 15:00 BSTCoverage: Follow live updates on the BBC Sport website and app There's a smile on the face of Grant Gilchrist when the chat turns to Finn Russell and what Edinburgh might have in store for the Scotland fly-half when Bath come to town on Saturday for the semi-final of the European Challenge veteran lock, close to 14 years an Edinburgh man, knows all about Bath's status as the runaway leaders in England's Premiership. He has seen the footage of the landslide wins, the 40, 50 and 60-pointers, all inspired by the marvel in the 10 is why he is smiling. Russell's homecoming is a very big deal and the bid to stop him wreaking havoc is what is floating Gilchrist's boat."This can be a tough place to play, whoever you are," he says, on the latest Scotland Rugby Podcast. "We've got so much respect for Finn and for Bath as a team, but they've got a proposition on their hands if they think they're coming up here just to have a walk in the park."We're not coming here on Saturday just to hope it's cagey and hope that they have an off day. They're coming to our home and we've got to go and put our game on them and if it's not good enough then we can look ourselves in the mirror and say we're beaten by a better team. But our mindset has got to be that we're going after them." 'Finn is a master with quick ball' Gilchrist is not just one of Edinburgh's leaders; he has, too many times, been the man who has had to step forward and explain the non-performances and near-misses that are in the DNA of the are the great underachievers and they know it. For Gilchrist, who has been an Edinburgh fan since he was a boy, it has been an emotional ride. The pride he feels in wearing the jersey is absolute, as is the dejection he has shown when things have gone wrong. He wears his heart on his sleeve. The search for a trophy has almost become an obsession at this has played in a Heineken Cup semi-final and a Pro14 semi-final, both against Ulster and both lost. And here he is again, still fighting and still believing, even when most pundits reckon that Bath will have too much for do Edinburgh have to get right against Russell's boys? "As a pack of forwards, we play our best rugby when we've got that intensity and that scrappiness, when we're sticking up for each other and flying into everything," he says. A few weeks back, a Sharks squad containing 10 World Cup winners and six double World Cup winners came to Edinburgh and tried to "bully us", as Gilchrist puts it. The Sharks won late, late in the day, but it was a battle and Edinburgh went toe-to-toe in the physical that consistency has been their issue for years. "We've spoken about that being a kind of DNA moment," he says of recent performances against South African packs. "That's got to be every week. That can't just be when a big South African team comes here to bash you, or when a big English team like this weekend comes to bash you."Bath can scrap, but they would rather out-play you with their pace and vision, with Russell pulling all the 16 games in three different competitions this season, they've hit the 40-point mark. They put more than 50 on Newcastle Falcons and Gloucester - and more than 60 on Gloucester and knows what is coming if Edinburgh allow them to play. "We're gonna have to defend unbelievably well," he said. "We're gonna have to be as connected as we've been. Our first-phase defence is gonna have to stop them on the gainline."I've seen teams trying to go after Finn, focusing on him and trying to smash him, but he's too good a player for that. His passing game is too good. "So, in the physical exchanges, when they carry, it has to be off slow ball. If it's quick ball or if we are on the back foot then we know that Finn is a master." 'We've got to write our own story' The Edinburgh players decided unanimously that they wanted this game played at the Hive rather than in the main stadium at Murrayfield. They want the place to be full and raucous. It is also going be "a little bit out of the comfort zone for Finn to come here with a different atmosphere to what he might expect".Gilchrist talks about the motivation to win, not just for himself or the current squad but for all the others who have gone before, reams of players who have "given their heart and soul" to Edinburgh without ever having had any title to show for is a mammoth task staring them in the face on Saturday. "Glasgow, rightly, got all the plaudits last season (when they won the URC), but we've got to write our own story - and our own story is this weekend,"Gilchrist his return to Scotland, Russell is going to have a strange kind of welcoming committee waiting for him.
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'I want to get under their skin' - arch-pest Pollock aims for Leinster
Investec Champions Cup semi-final: Leinster v NorthamptonDate: Saturday 3 May Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Kick-off: 17:30 BSTCoverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and BBC Radio Northampton Courtney Lawes called him a "cocky little" Ludlam's description, external is similarly difficult to Itoje opted for "absolutely annoying" and "a pest".And they are Henry Pollock's Freeman, who plays alongside Pollock for England and Northampton, smiles at the inevitable question."What's Henry really like? You can probably guess what he is like..."A lot of people have been asking. Because a lot of people have been is not just what Pollock has done in the past 12 months - winning the Under-20 World Cup, scoring two tries on his senior England debut, being nominated for the Champions Cup player of the year, preparing to line up against Leinster in Saturday's semi-final and butting into the Lions selection is the way he has done 20-year-old back row has swagger and self-possession, and a side order of has been no dutiful trade-learning and just prodigious talent, Tigger-ish energy, galloping pace and a presumption that the world is his for the gets people talking. And has done for a months ago a video circulated among Bedford's had been told that Pollock, then only 18, was joining them in the Championship on loan."He came with a little bit of a reputation as he was very well thought of by Saints' academy," says Bedford's Alex Woolford."This viral clip of him did the rounds among us. He was being interviewed after an England Under-18 win over South Africa and swore three times in about 10 seconds."We knew he was going to be very enthusiastic." He was."We were pretty poor in the first half against Ampthill," adds Woolford, remembering Pollock's first start."Henry tried to give us the hairdryer treatment. He was effing and blinding and telling us we were not good enough and I remember thinking 'bloody hell, what is this kid doing?'"But you have to give him credit."In rugby environments it is very easy to get confidence confused with arrogance. For all the stick he gets, I don't actually think he is an arrogant person." Still, that perception and Woolford say Pollock is a different, calmer character off the pitch, and his Northampton team-mates assured the rest of the England camp that the incoming youngster wasn't the "idiot" they were expecting., external Their PR work was duly undermined by Pollock gleefully ripping the ball from Ollie Chessum when tasked with holding a tackle shield in an early training drill."Probably some of the boys were quite shocked with how I was when I first joined up with England," Pollock told BBC's Rugby Union Weekly."But I guess over time they realised this is just him."I am quite loud, someone that just brings a different type of energy to other types of players. Whether that is good or bad energy depends who you are talking to." There are plenty of Franklin's Gardens kids wear his distinctive black head tape and make cardboard signs asking for Pollock's love his celebrations. A basketball-style finger-roll lob in the direction of a beaten defender against Castres and an extravagant swallow dive against Bristol were two recent efforts. They love his cunning. Pollock cheekily pulling the sock of Wales prop Gareth Thomas to milk a penalty gained social media traction during the Six they love his abrasive style as he goes nose-to-nose with the opposition, raising tempers and the stakes."I want to entertain and get the crowd as close as possible to the team," he told BBC Radio Northampton's Saints Show."When I was growing up there, there was a lack of a idols. There were one or two that stick in my mind - Courtney Lawes, Michael Hooper, Richie McCaw - but not many."For this game to grow and this sport to get bigger, we need more characters, more players the fans want to come and watch."If you look to the football world, fans very much have their players and the personalities they like." Pollock is harder to warm to when you are up against Pollock's Bedford team-mate, also faced him in the Blues' annual pre-season fixture against Saints."On the pitch he is very loud, very confrontational, very in-your-face," Woolford remembers."He just exhausts you, as much mentally and emotionally as physically. But he has backed it up at every level he has stepped up to."In the teams' most recent match, one Bedford player attempted to sledge back at Pollock, suggesting he would be back with the Blues on loan by by then, Pollock was a Premiership regular."Being annoying is part of my game," Pollock agrees."I want to wind the opposition up; I want to get under their skin. It is something I relish."This weekend he will be digging into Leinster in a re-run of last season's Champions Cup Irish giants could field back-row trio Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan."It is probably one of the best back rows there is," says Pollock. "I am just excited to be able to say I played against them. To share the field with them is special."But the deference won't last past the first whistle."They are beatable," he adds. "We definitely see parts of their game we can attack and go after and hopefully ruffle a few feathers."If Pollock's streak of success extends to the Aviva Stadium and his final and toughest Lions audition, he could well make the squad cut five days later."I have heard the rumours and stuff, but as a player you can't control that," he says."I just have to keep playing well, and if it happens, it happens."So far in his career, things invariably do.
