RELATED ARTICLES
We need to realise that women’s sport is strong, valuable… and worth celebrating
By Gillian Fitzpatrick
COMMENT Tuam’s tiny victims had no voice then – which is why we must shout for them now
By Gillian Fitzpatrick
Life
28th Nov 2016
The Irish rugby team made history in their 27-24 victory over Australia by completing wins over the ‘big three’ southern hemisphere teams in the same year for the very first time.
The boys in Green took at 17-0 lead, courtesy of tries from Iain Henderson and Garry Ringrose, but Australia mounted a stirring comeback with three touchdowns of their own to take the lead.
In the end, a Keith Earls score in the 66th minute proved vital, as Joe Schmidt’s men showed immense grit and resolve to protect their advantage and play the game out to historic victory.
Although not all the attention was focused on the pitch. Up in the stands, there was a very famous face watching on. He was instantly recognisable, despite the rather bedraggled appearance.
Hollywood actor and director Mel Gibson was present at the game, although he seemed to have taken sartorial tips from two of the most dangerous and unhinged dictators of the past two decades.
Channeling both a bearded Roy Keane and hide-and-seek loser Saddam Hussein, Gibson looked two-parts Manchester United legend and one-part tyrannical Iraqi leader as he enjoyed the proceedings.
The actor has been spending a lot of time in Ireland recently filming The Professor and the Madman, an adaptation of Simon Winchester’s 1998 bestseller, The Surgeon of Crowthorne.
At this point we’d like to apologise for connecting one of the trio with a scary madman capable of anything, and a dangerous zealot with upsetting religious views. So apologies Saddam mate, no offence intended.
By Gillian Fitzpatrick
By Gillian Fitzpatrick