Category Sports News

Ireland captain Caelan Doris has been ruled out for a period of four to six months through injury, Leinster Rugby confirmed on Monday.

The 27-year-old sustained the injury in the Irish province’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton on 3 May.

Last week, Doris was left out of the British and Irish Lions squad for this summer’s tour of Australia by head coach Andy Farrell.

The back row could now also be a doubt for Ireland’s series of autumn matches against New Zealand, Japan, Australia and South Africa in November.

An update from Leinster read: “Caelan Doris had a procedure on Friday last week for a shoulder injury which will keep him out of action for between four to six months.”

Ireland captain Caelan Doris has been ruled out for a period of four to six months through injury, Leinster Rugby confirmed on Monday.

The 27-year-old sustained the injury in the Irish province’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton on 3 May.

Last week, Doris was left out of the British and Irish Lions squad for this summer’s tour of Australia by head coach Andy Farrell.

The back row could now also be a doubt for Ireland’s series of autumn matches against New Zealand, Japan, Australia and South Africa in November.

An update from Leinster read: “Caelan Doris had a procedure on Friday last week for a shoulder injury which will keep him out of action for between four to six months.”

Doris had been a frontrunner to be named captain for the Lions tour, a role which was given to England second row Maro Itoje.

Leinster team-mate Hugo Keenan said that the province are now even more determined to win the United Rugby Championship title for injured skipper Doris.

“We feel a bit more responsibility to do it for him and make sure that he is lifting that URC trophy up, it might be with one hand at the end of the season!” Keenan joked.

World number one Jannik Sinner kept up his winning return to tennis as a 6-4 6-2 victory over Jesper de Jong carried him through to the last 16 of the Italian Open.

Home favourite Sinner, who returned from a three-month doping ban with a win over Mariano Navone on Saturday, battled past Dutchman De Jong to set up what should prove a trickier match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.

Following his victory over De Jong, the 23-year-old Sinner said the reaction from the Italian crowd was the best he had ever experienced, and those in attendance in Rome were in equally supportive voice on Monday.

Sinner raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set but showed signs of rustiness as he gave back the three-game advantage against De Jong, who is at a career-high 93rd in the world rankings.

Italy’s reigning US Open and Australian Open champion ultimately recovered to close out the set before dominating the second to claim a 23rd consecutive win.

It is a streak that has been interrupted by the three-month suspension he agreed with the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada).

Victory against De Jong maintained Sinner’s bid to end a 49-year wait for an Italian winner of the men’s tournament in Rome. Adriano Panatta, with his title run in 1976, was the last home champion.

How Sinner copes with his next opponent is likely to provide a firm indication of where his form is at.

Cerundolo, the 17th seed, knocked Sinner out of the tournament at the last-16 stage in 2023 and has reached the semi-finals in Munich and Madrid at his last two events.

“He’s an amazing player, he has an amazing season until now,” Sinner said.

“It’s going to be tough. For sure I have to raise my level. It’s going to be a good challenge, a good test for me and we’ll see how it goes.”

Australia might relax their preference for fielding Australian-based players to give themselves the best shot of beating the British and Irish Lions in this summer’s series.

The Wallabies have generally opted for players either at domestic teams, or with a commitment to return to play in the country.

The policy was previously formalised as ‘Giteau’s Law’ – a limit on the number of players an Australian head coach could pick from overseas, which varied on the number of caps individuals had won – but it has been loosened in recent years.

Back row Langi Gleeson, who played in all four of Australia’s November internationals, had his invitation to a training camp rescinded in January after it was reported he had agreed a move to French side Montpellier.

“We don’t want to discount anyone because, as [Lions head coach] Andy [Farrell’s] done and the coaches, they’ve picked a form squad,” said Schmidt.

“I stay in touch with those guys who are overseas.

“We would love to pick a form squad.

“But, as I’ve always said, if there’s anything that we think is 50-50, it’s more difficult to absorb someone from the outside the groups that play together already.”

Former Saracens second row Will Skelton, now with La Rochelle, Bordeaux’s in-form back row Peter Samu and Japan-based centre Samu Kerevi are among those who could benefit.

Schmidt suffered two injury scares over the weekend with Noah Lolesio, his first-choice 10, and big-money league convert Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii both carried out of Super Rugby matches on stretchers.

While Suaalii has suffered a concussion that will keep him out of action for about two weeks as he goes through return-to-play protocols, Lolesio’s availability for the Lions series is less clear.

“We are pleased to report that scans have cleared him of any serious injury,” Lolesio’s Brumbies team said about the 25-year-old’s back injury.

Schmidt also admitted he had been impressed by Henry Pollock’s rise, with the 20-year-old back row going from age-grade international rugby and a fringe squad member at Northampton to being named in the Lions’ 38-strong squad last Thursday in only a matter of months.

“He is a very, very promising player,” said Schmidt.

Friday, 20 June – Lions v Argentina, Dublin (Aviva Stadium)

Saturday, 28 June – Lions v Western Force, Perth (Optus Stadium)

Wednesday, 2 July – Lions v Queensland Reds, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)

Saturday, 5 July – Lions v NSW Waratahs, Sydney (Allianz Stadium)

Wednesday, 9 July – Lions v ACT Brumbies, Canberra (GIO Stadium)

Saturday, 12 July – Lions v Invitational AU & NZ, Adelaide (Adelaide Oval)

Saturday, 19 July – Lions v Australia, first Test, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)

Tuesday, 22 July – Lions v Melbourne Rebels, Melbourne (Marvel Stadium)

Saturday, 26 July – Lions v Australia, second Test, Melbourne (Melbourne Cricket Ground/MCG)

Saturday, 2 August – Lions v Australia, third Test, Sydney (Accor Stadium)

Grand National-winning jockey Rachael Blackmore has retired from racing with immediate effect.

In 2021, the Irishwoman became the first female jockey to win the world’s most famous steeplechase, which was first run in 1839.

Blackmore won aboard the Henry de Bromhead-trained Minella Times in the colours of owner JP McManus.

“I feel the time is right. I’m sad but I’m also incredibly grateful for what my life has been for the past 16 years,” Blackmore, 35, said.

“It is daunting, not being able to say that I am a jockey anymore. Who even am I now! But I feel so incredibly lucky to have had the career I’ve had.”

Prior to her Grand National triumph, Blackmore had already become the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle aboard Honeysuckle, that same year.

In 2022, she secured another first when steering A Plus Tard to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup – one of 18 festival winners she would ride at the Prestbury Park course.

“I just feel so lucky, to have been legged up on the horses I have, and to have experienced success I never even dreamt could be possible,” she added.

“To have been in the right place at the right time with the right people, and to have gotten on the right horses – because it doesn’t matter how good you are without them.

“They have given me the best days of my life and to them I am most grateful.”

The daughter of a dairy farmer and a school teacher, Blackmore rode ponies as a child near her home in Killenaule, County Tipperary.

Blackmore had once hoped to become a vet, gaining a degree in equine science and combining her studies with riding.

She rode her first winner as an amateur in February 2011 at Thurles before turning professional in 2015, but it was her success on Minella Times which secured her place in history.

“I don’t feel male or female – I don’t even feel human!” Blackmore said, immediately after her win by six-and-a-half lengths at Aintree four years ago.

Blackmore brought the curtain down by riding Ma Belle Etoile to victory at Cork last Saturday – the 575th winner of her 4,566-race career as a professional jockey.

Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin led the tributes and called Blackmore “a sportsperson of a generation” who has “blazed a trail for others to follow”.

Barry Geraghty said his fellow Grand National-winning jockey was “an ultra-talented horsewoman” who was one of “the most committed jockeys you could ever ride against”.

Former jockey and Racing TV pundit Jane Mangan said: “We can only consider ourselves lucky to have witnessed her achievements in our lifetime. She didn’t just break glass ceilings – she painted the whole damn sky.”

Frank Berry, racing manager for JP McManus who owned Grand National winner Minella Times, said Blackmore has had an “unbelievable career”.

“She’s done all things that everyone wants to do. Rachael won all the big races and she’s retiring in one piece. I’m delighted for her,”

Irish trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, who provided Blackmore with her first winner, Stowaway Peal, in 2011 said Blackmore was an “amazing woman”.

Instinct, timing, tactical awareness and strength all played a part in her story. But also the ability to bounce back from falls and injury, plus sheer hard graft.

Rachael Blackmore was a game changer who was among the best of her generation.

When she rode six winners to be leading jockey at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival, she may not have returned to grand fanfare at a meeting held behind closed doors because of Covid-19 restrictions, but the impact was still felt. Her tally was more than the entire British training contingent.

Before Blackmore, and fellow jockeys Lizzie Kelly and Bryony Frost, successes for female jockeys at Cheltenham were a rarity and largely came through amateur riders Katie Walsh and Nina Carberry.

With Walsh, Carberry and Kelly now retired and Frost moving to France after finding opportunities limited since winning a bullying case against fellow jockey Robbie Dunne, it will be interesting to see if other women can rise to the fore in jump racing.

Just two days ago, Hollie Doyle passed Hayley Turner’s record for winners by a female jockey on the Flat, but Blackmore was only of only two professional women – the other being Isabel Williams – riding at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

Heart of Midlothian have opened talks with Kilmarnock as the Edinburgh club bid to secure Derek McInnes as their new team boss.

Hearts have identified the former Aberdeen and St Johnstone manager as their preferred candidate to succeed Neil Critchley.

Both Hearts and Kilmarnock have yet to reach an agreement over the 53-year-old Scot, and are due to face one another in the final game of the season on Sunday.

His Kilmarnock team beat Dundee 3-2 on Saturday to secure Premiership safety with a third straight victory in what has been an otherwise difficult season.

In the aftermath of the win, McInnes would not be drawn on the reports linking him with a move to Tynecastle, saying there had been “no contact from club to club”.

Having sacked Critchley and Steven Naismith during a season in which they failed to finish in the Premiership’s top six, Hearts have identified a candidate whose experience as a manager in Scotland started when he took St Johnstone to the top flight in 2009.

After a brief stint at Bristol City, he then had seven years with Aberdeen, with whom he never finished lower than fourth and won the League Cup in 2014.

McInnes departed Pittodrie in 2021 and took charge of Kilmarnock the following January, leading them to promotion back to the top flight and keeping them up on their return.

His spell at Rugby Park peaked last season when he guided the Ayrshire side to fourth place and European football.

Hearts themselves have had a turbulent season that started with their worst-ever beginning to a campaign and cost Naismith his job.

Critchley steered the club away from the bottom of the table but failed to get them into the top six and was dismissed, since when they have have moved up to seventh place again following two victories under caretaker Liam Fox.