SIMON EASTERBY’S wife revealed Ireland’s win over Wales was “the most stressful 80 minutes of my year”.

Sarra Elgan Rees, who is married to Easterby and is the daughter of former Wales and Lions star Elgan Rees, is a Welsh TV journalist.

Seb Daly/Sportsfile

It means that, as the Boys in Green were running out 27-18 winners in Cardiff on Saturday, she was covering the game on the tele

The consequence on that dichotomy was on display when she posted a photo of herself at work ahead of kick-off to Instagram.

She said: “Wales v Ireland ……Genuinely the most stressful 80 mins of my year”

Fans made light of the conflicted loyalties in the comments, with one joking: “Breakfast might have been a bit awkward”

A second asked: “Did you congratulate your husband” while a third said: “Super game ,difficult when they play in your house but maybe today one that whole house happy with”

A fourth commented: “We were thinking of you in our house today. Emotional rollercoaster?”

And a fifth said: “Brilliant performance by Wales !! Ireland just had a better bench . Well done Simon !! Stressful afternoon for both of you”

Victory on Saturday means Ireland could be one win away from a third Six Nations in a row, and are two wins away from a second Grand Slam in three years.

Either achievement will be a first for Easterby, who is in interim charge of Ireland while Andy Farrell is on secondment to take over the British & Irish Lions for the summer tour of Australia.

They will face perhaps their staunchest task on March 8 when they welcome France to the Aviva Stadium.

And he said all focus is now on France in a fortnight and a win to move a step closer to a third successive Championship, and a game closer to a Grand Slam. 

He said: “We would have certainly taken this a few weeks back.

“The mark of this group, the players in particular, they always want to get better and keep striving to chase down things which maybe other teams can’t do.

“That’s going to continue to drive the team over the next few weeks towards France.”

But he believes how Ireland won a hard fought game will now stand to them. 

He added: “Getting a result in very different circumstances to when we played Scotland and the home game against England means we keep building the experiences 

“Building those experiences for players, playing in the Millennium Stadium with the roof closed… 

“The third game of a Six Nations where everything is probably against the team you’re playing against, and then we come out and get a result like that.

“That’s exactly what we are trying to do all the time.”

A MAFS groom has slammed the show after the reunion, declaring that he’s “got his life back now.”

Car mechanic Kieran Chapman revealed details of his secret fling on Monday night, as the reunion episode aired.

Instagram

A MAFS groom has slammed the show after the reunion, declaring that he’s “got his life back now”[/caption]

Channel 4

Kieran made it clear he was happy that filming had finally wrapped[/caption]

Channel 4

Kieran’s secret sling was revealed during the reunion episode[/caption]

He and Erica Roberts shared a kiss, five months after his split from TV wife Kristina Goodsell, after he visited her in Edinburgh.

Earlier in the episode Erica gleefully said: “Kieran came up to Edinburgh, he stayed at mine the night we had a kiss.”

She insisted: “I’m not a dirty little secret.”

Kieran has now appeared on his Instagram stories while at work, appearing to slam the show.

In a video, he could be heard saying: “I tell you what like, I’m over the f****** moon that that is all finished with.

“I can actually crack on with my life now, and people won’t be outing us for stuff that I haven’t even done.”

He added: “Honestly, do I recommend going on Married At First Sight?”

Kieran then went: “Hmmm,” and looked to the side disapprovingly.

On Monday night, as the arrivals began speculating on who was going to turn up next, Kieran began to panic and said: “I didn’t know Erica was going to be here and I haven’t told Kristina yet.”

She picked up on his uncomfortable body language after an awkward introduction and said: “He’s acting really awkward now, but he wasn’t acting awkward at my house.”

As the night dragged on and Kieran maintained his silence, and Erica began to get frustrated.

Right on cue, the Honesty Box appeared on the table.

Erica took the opportunity to put Kieran on the spot and asked if there was anything he wanted to tell Kristina.

Gutted Kristina said to camera: “I feel like a bit of a nob, Erica’s been kissing my ex-husband.”

At the table, she held it together well, telling him: “Kieran, whose tongue you have in your mouth is none of my business.

“Erica, I hope you haven’t got a cold sore now.”

Viewers weren’t happy with Erica throughout the episode, with one writing on X: “Erica it’s not your business to tell her. You weren’t even in their season.”

Another said: “Erica is being a big attention seeker.”

A third said: “Ok Erica trying to have a moment.”

Channel 4

Erica broke the news to the table that Kieran had come to Edinburgh to see her[/caption]

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ENERGY credits in future budgets should be avoided despite concerns that electricity prices will continue to rise over the next five years, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers has been advised.

In recent budgets, the Government has used “one off” energy credits to help protect households from enormous electricity bills as prices skyrocketed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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While energy prices have stabilised, Irish households are still paying the highest rates in Europe.

The Department of Public Expenditure believes that electricity prices in Ireland are set to rise over the next five years due to the level of investment required to update our energy infrastructure.

A briefing document provided to the new Minister Jack Chambers warns that €20billion in investment is needed to upgrade Ireland’s electricity infrastructure over the next five years.

This bumper investment is needed “to cater for increased housing, demand from large energy users (primarily data centres) and to facilitate growth in renewable electricity, including offshore wind”, the Minister was advised.

Officials warned Minister Chambers that this need for investment is likely to see household electricity bills rise.

They said: “The investment requirements will place upward pressure on electricity prices that are already the highest in the EU.”

The Department said they are working with State owned energy companies and the energy regulator on policy issues including direct capital funding and how that would impact prices.

The Minister was warned that “defraying some of the impact on household and businesses’ electricity prices would have a significantly larger investment requirement.”

The briefing document later advises the Minister that energy credits used in recent budgets should be removed to reduce the pressure on the State’s finances.

The document said: “Energy credits, which were introduced as a temporary support, have a significant Exchequer expense at a cost of €210m for every €100 credit per household, and they also reduce the incentive to conserve energy use.

“Similar to other temporary supports, their removal is important to reduce pressure on fiscal resources.”

The briefing memo for the new Minister also sets out a number of medium and long term risks and challenges for the Irish economy including demographic trends, climate emission challenges and the volatile international environment.

On demographics, the Department said that by 2050 Ireland will have only two workers for every person at pension age as opposed to four workers for every pensioner at the moment.

The ageing population will put severe pressure on the State’s finances for pensions and healthcare.

It comes after the Taoiseach confirmed that there are no plans to introduce or continue a new cost-of-living package or €250 energy credit in Budget 2026.

END OF COST-OF-LIVING PACKAGE

The Minister’s comments echo that of Taoiseach Micheal Martin earlier this month, who said there’s no plans to continue energy credits in the next budget.

The Fianna Fail leader also added that a new cost-of-living package would not be included, but he did not specify which measures would be affected.

Speaking to RTE Radio One yesterday, he said: “We’re not going to have a cost-of-living package this year, that’s the Government’s view.

“We will endeavour through the budget, through the various mechanisms we have from social protection to tax, to help people.”

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