Schmidt's World Cup starts here

Joe Schmidt had a winner at Roscommon last week. Cosmic Horizon, a horse he has in training with Joseph O’Brien, ridden by brother Donnacha was a 7/4 favourite and impressive winner of a two-year-old maiden.

This was a race worth €20k, a decent one to win. The horse had been fifth and then second in Galway before delivering this time out. Keep an eye on this one – it’s well named too.

This weekend, the rugby season enters the third week of its domestic league and it will soon be time for the big guns to come out and play. Then we’ll see who’s firing.

We are now two months away from two crucial games in Schmidt’s World Cup lead in, Argentina and then the All-Blacks, both in the Aviva, a week apart on 10 and 17 November.

It is not by accident we are playing these two powerful nations, these are key games.

He’s an expert at placing horses is Schmidt. Last season was about winning the Grand Slam, this season is about a team that comes up to the mark against the Argentinians and the New Zealanders.

Joey Carbery is in Munster to try and cement himself as Johnny Sexton’s back-up. These are two big months for him.

The real tests begin in a month when the European Champions Cup starts and Carbery will be expected to pilot the Munster challenge from the number 10 jersey.

What does Schmidt want from him? Well he needs someone to put pressure on Johnny Sexton in order to get the best out of the Leinster man.

Carbery will get his chance, injury permitting, probably against the Pumas.

The young pretender needs Conor Murray back fit for his province however, as sending Carbery to Limerick to build an understanding with the best nine in the world was a big part of Schmidt’s World Cup masterplan.

Murray is currently out and with no clear timeframe on his return, Ireland and Munster will struggle for depth here. That’s a consequence of Murray’s ability to run games from the base of the scrum. He’s reported to have a neck injury and the word from Thomond is he could be out until December. If November is about finding cover, then his potential absence amplifies that.

This weekend, however, there will be a few other key men getting up and running. Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Keith Earls and Andrew Conway are all expected to feature against the Ospreys.

Leinster too will flex their muscles, with Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, James Ryan and Rob Kearney all due to tog for their clash with the Dragons. It is worth remembering that van der Flier was catching the eye for Ireland against France in the first game of the Six Nations before suffering a cruciate injury. That opened the door for Dan Levy, who went charging through it, but Joe won’t have forgotten.

Out west, Bundee Aki is back in harness, he’ll travel and play some part in Edinburgh. Connacht have a few more on the fringes of the Irish squad, players like Finlay Bealham, Kieran Marmion and Ultan Dillane will surely be relishing this time of the year, the chance to show early form and maybe force their way into the reckoning.

Up north, Ulster are in need of a stable and solid season after the turmoil of the past couple. Starting it with Rory Best and Jacob Stockdale missing in action through injury is not ideal.

Irish rugby had a spectacular 2018 and while it’s not over, their coaching ticket are thinking about 2019.

The next six months are about depth, identifying it, building it up and protecting it. If we could land a gamble in November while we’re at it, that would be okay too.

This Sunday, (no pressure ladies), we might get to see how football should be played on the biggest stage, when Dublin and Cork meet in the All-Ireland Ladies football final.

The female version of the chess like handball the men now play is a much better watch. The cynicism has not yet reached it, the pick off the ground speeds up the pace of the contests, they work off a clock and really, they just get on with it.

Those lulled into thinking this is a championship without the intensity of the men’s equivalent need to take a look at Blues Sisters, the fly on the wall documentary that followed the fortunes of the Dublin ladies senior football team in 2017.

That was an eye-opener into how much the championship means to a squad.

A squad that had lost the All-Ireland final a year before by one solitary point. To the all conquering Cork.

It was two the year before in 2015 and one in 2014. So Cork have been a real nemesis for this Dublin squad.

As luck would have it, these two are once again in the decider. We shouldn’t be surprised, of the last 13 All-Ireland titles, Cork have won 11, Dublin two (2010 and last year). Nobody else has had a look in.

Rivals

Last year the documentary was half robbed of a fitting climax when a Cora Staunton-led Mayo shocked Cork in the semi-final. Dublin did the business in the final and didn’t care too much about it, but are sure to be looking forward to having a chance to get one over on their greatest rivals this Sunday.

These two are the best sides in the country by a distance as their winning margins in reaching the final confirms.

Cork mean business, they’ve won their four games to this stage by an average of 18 points, Dublin have also impressed in having 12 points to spare per outing.

I assume there is a documentary crew following the Dubs again this year, if so the Rebels might spoil the ending for episode two. After all they’ve never lost a senior final, they’ve won 11 of them.

Cork like their doubles, something their ladies have done five times in 12 years. The camogie is already in the bag!