EDITOR’S LETTER
THIS SHOULD BE KNOWN as the year of realisation. It was this year that it must have dawned on many followers that rugby is gaining a genuine footprint and, 20 years into its professional life, many of the established orders are being challenged. That was perhaps best illustrated in Chicago when Ireland, for the time in 111 years of trying, beat the All Blacks. It took them an age, but they got there. They had to endure any number of near things and sad stories along the way. The missed last minute conversion in 1972 that would have seen them win and not draw. Andy Dalton’s burrowing try in 1978 that saw the All Blacks escape late and keep their Grand Slam dream alive. Christchurch 2012 – Ireland had it in their…