The Sports Pages
The front pages are all in agreement on the main stories of the day and it’s a similar situation in the sports supplements, where there are joint-villains of the piece.
England goalkeeper Rob Green and Ireland rugby player Jamie Heaslip are the men in question after the most damaging moments of their professional careers.
The Sunday Times and the Irish Daily Star Sunday have both gone for headlines of “Green fingers†after the West Ham goalkeeper’s horror moment in England’s World Cup opener against USA.
Green, who allowed Clint Dempsey’s weak, speculative, bouncing shot to elude his grasp as England were held to a 1-1 draw in Rustenberg, joins a long list of England World Cup pariahs which includes Chris Waddle, Stuart Pearce (Italia ’90), David Beckham, David Batty (both France ’98), David Seaman (Korea/Japan ’02) and Wayne Rooney (Germany ’06).
So shockingly memorable was Green’s error on Saturday night that it’s likely that will be demonised even more than the rest of that group, with his name destined to become synonymous with England failings at major tournaments.
Closer to home but further away, Heaslip has been singled out for blame by all the papers following his red card in the Test match against New Zealand in New Plymouth.
The Leinster number 8 became the first Ireland player to be sent off during the professional era after two indefensible knee offences against prone All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. Ireland conceded 66 points, including nine tries, in one of the most unforgettably forgettable days in the history of Irish rugby.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Times reports that the tour is over for John Muldoon, who sustained a displaced fracture of his forearm, while Mick O’Driscoll is a major doubt for the remaining games against New Zealand Maori and Australia after his back went into spasm.
