Declan Lynch and Vincent Hogan joined Adrian Barry on Off The Ball to look through the Sunday sports pages.
With the showpiece final taking place at the Rugby World Cup on Saturday evening, there was plenty of coverage of the tournament as a whole, as well as the All Blacks' win and retaining the Webb Ellis Cup.
The destructive nature of the game and the physically damaging way in which it is played now was raised by Lynch, who asked the question of whether or not it would discourage younger kids from taking up the game.
Jim Glennon in The Sunday Independent touches on a similar issue, examining the situation facing Ulster rugby now with Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne and Iain Henderson all coming back with serious injuries and six months of difficult rehab ahead of them.
John Green's exclusive on The Sunday Independent that a €30 million grant for Páirc Uí Chaoimh is being investigated by the EU is also covered, something which could have quite an impact on the plans to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023.
The strange nature of the process was highlighted by Green in the piece, and Hogan stated that "if we're to believe what's in the article, this was an agreement reached without any reference to the Department of Sport".
Jose Mourinho's troubles also made almost all the sports pages, but there seems to be little agreement on exactly what the verdict is on the Portuguese manager's future. Lynch points out that "they live only for winning, only for dominating the opposition" and recalls their trip to Anfield that denied Liverpool the title, and the fact that Mourinho was "really glorying in the fact that he had done someone in". That is now turned on its head, as the champions have fallen from grace so dramatically, but the lingering question for the panel was "if Mourinho stops winning, what's the point of him?".
Hogan picks up on the financial aspect of the possible sacking of the manager also, and while everyone assumes that because Roman Abramovich is so wealthy, the £30 million bill that Chelsea would be hit with to sack him wouldn't be a consideration he argues that since the Russian billionaire has taken over, he has spent a huge amount of money on hiring and firing people, from Ranieri to Ancelotti and Villas Boas, to the tune of £74.6 million.
Finally Jack Byrne of Manchester City got some coverage in the sports pages also, having spent the last few months playing in the Dutch top flight in the Eredivisie. His journey is an interesting one, and there's a lot to be gained by keeping an eye on Byrne's career as he progresses to hopefully represent Ireland and play at the top level in Europe.
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