In today’s Six-Shooter, Jackson’s recall casts doubt on future of AN Other, the big man’s on the way back and history could be made in Twickenham on Sunday.
Jackson starts, so what’s next for AN Other?
The rumours of Ronan O’Gara’s return to the Ireland squad – rumours which inspired a quite brilliant Gift Grub this morning – were nipped in the bud today after it was confirmed that Paddy Jackson will start at out-half for Ireland against France on Saturday.
Jackson had been troubled by a tight hamstring earlier in the week but he came through kicking practise yesterday and training today unscathed and will be handed the number ten jersey, with Ian Madigan providing back-up from the bench, where Stephen Archer has been named ahead of adopted Kiwi Michael Bent.
What will become of the previous incumbent of the out-half slot, one AN Other, remains to be seen, but speculation suggests that he has planned a switch to the GAA and will probably feature for an as yet unnamed county before the end of the summer. Watch this space.
The big man’s on the way back
We would have loved to have had him around for the Six Nations, but given what he’s gone through in the last year or so, any positive prognosis regarding Paul O’Connell is to be welcomed.
Good to know then that he is in line to feature for Munster ‘A’ against Leinster ‘A’ in a friendly next week, having made significant progress recently from the back surgery he underwent late last year.
O’Connell trained with his club Young Munster this week and Coach Mike Prendergast delivered a positive bulletin about his fitness, telling The Limerick Leader: “Paul (O’Connell) did some contact work with us in training on Tuesday night. We were doing a bit of breakdown work. He came through it in flying colours. Paul looks to be progressing well.
“It was a good boost to the squad to have Paul training with us. We have had a couple of defeats in the AIL in recent weeks, so his presence was a gee-up to the lads.”
If he gets enough game-time under his belt, O’Connell could well feature against Harlequins in the Heineken Cup quarter-final early next month and in Prendergast’s words, what a ‘gee-up’ that would be to the province.
Brother 2 Brother
Billy Vunipola might already have made history by being the biggest under-11 player of all time (see below), but he could make it again for a far more meaningful reason against Italy on Sunday.
Stuart Lancaster has yet to name the team for Sunday, but there is a chance that brothers Billy and Maku Vanipola might both feature in the starting XV alongside the Youngs brothers, Tom and Ben. If all of them happen to be on the pitch at the same time, it would be the first time in 114 years that two sets of brothers have played for England.
Obviously we knew without having to look up* that the only other time this happened was when Percy and Frank Stout and Jos and Jas Davidson played in a 5-0 defeat to Scotland back in 1899.
Wonder if Billy ever thought that would happen when he was a lad…
*That’s a lie, thanks to espnscrum.com for the info
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