I think Faz may have someone else on his mind who'll need saving rather than the Queen come Saturday 5:30. I'm sure Messrs D'Arcy and O'Driscoll have a few nice 'Fáilte to Test Rugby' set-pieces up their sleeves.


Well, it's almost here. Thankfully. Look at how long we've been waiting for this one!

The build up to the game and the furore drummed up over God Save The Queen being played at Croke Park is truly sickening. We can put aside for a moment the fact that the Irish team's chances this tournament have undoubtedly been adversely affected by all the talk surrounding the move to Croke Park, even though that's grating enough for the rugby fans amongst us.

The public discourse in the build up to the England game has yet again highlighted that it seems a large minority (I hope it's a minority!) of the public have a long way to go with leaving the unsavoury elements of our past behind almost a decade since a firm template was put in place for achieving re-unification of our island in an inclusive manner. PMC already wrote well on the situation here a few days ago and managed to get himself linked from this post in the BBC's Six Nations Blog in the process.

As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. For the toll all this has taken on the national team's fortunes and the ugly nationalistic opinions simmering below the surface of public debate maybe we have gained some welcome reflection in Irish society on our own National Anthem. I've made my own views which are now more strongly held than ever clear on the topic here before. Since then United Irelander has had his interesting suggestion for a New Anthem and this week, Paige has written well on the subject. Elsewhere, on Tuesday morning GAA poster-boy Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh said on Pat Kenny's radio show "If we object to the English national anthem then we should look at our own as well." In Tuesday's Irish Examiner Fergus Finlay also wrote convincingly in an article titled "God Save The Queen Not Nearly As Bloodthirsty As Our Outdated Anthem".

Finlay, in his involvement with bringing the Special Olympics to Ireland will have been more aware than most of what Eddie O'Sullivan reminded us of this week. Namely that the British National Anthem went off without so much as a flinch during the Special Olympics in Croke Park. Stick that in your pipe Republican Sinn Fein.

This weekend I hope the English team get as rousing a reception as they did in 1973 when they were afforded what is widely regarded as the longest standing ovation ever in Lansdowne road. You can hear ex-Ireland legend Ollie Campbell engagingly recount the special story of England's visit to Lansdowne in 1973 on the current installment of Irish Rugby Radio from the IRFU which is linked to here. Suffice to say, Saturday's game will not be the first time an Ireland -v- England rugby match clawed its way out of a mire of negative public sentiment and non-sporting malaise. There's also plenty of game related chat with players there regarding this weekend.

Hopefully this weekend it won't be just the reception the England team receives that will be similar to the 1973 match!

My final note on the media coverage in the run up to this weekend's game is from the letters pages of the press which have been buzzing with amusing thoughts on the Anthem debate all week. From Tuesday's Irish Times:

Madam, - I think I may have found a solution to the Croke Park anthem dilemma. God Save the Queen should be translated and sung in Irish, a language the vast proportion of our people do not appear to understand. - Yours, etc,

Des MacHale, Avonlea Court, Blackrock,Cork.

So, excuse the meandering - leave your predictions for Match Weekend Three of the In Fact, Ah Six Nations Tipping Competition in the comments section!

tags: Six Nations

Published by Paul.