The Irish Rugby Football Union is to make €500,000 available to its clubs in light of the Covid-19 crisis, the governing body announced on Tuesday evening.

The cost of cancellations and postponements in the Irish rugby calendar due to the coronavirus outbreak will now hit the pockets of those involved in the professional game

Guinness PRO14 chiefs last night decided to suspend the 2019-20 season indefinitely, with the cross-border league going as far as to cancel its grand final, which had been set to take place in Cardiff on June 20.

They say a picture paints a thousand words. That certainly rang true when studying the crestfallen appearance of new Ireland coach Andy Farrell, writes Donal Lenihan.

Garrett Fitzgerald, the straight-talking Munster-to-the-core rugby man, who oversaw the province’s greatest days as coach and CEO, has passed away.

What’s motivating Eddie Jones?

There are two debutants today and they both happen to be No 8s – but whereas Caelan Doris has come through that well-established development pathway of Blackrock College, the Leinster Academy and the Leinster senior side, Scotland’s new face is a bolter from the blue.

For a coach still only weeks into his Munster tenure, Graham Rowntree’s affinity with his new surroundings is clear and obvious. Yet the forwards coach also knows that while his connection to the province and the players he works with has been immediate, the task of getting it and them to where they need to be will require patience and a lot more time.

There was certainly no WH Auden moment in New Zealand when it was announced that Ian Foster would be the new All Blacks head coach.

“I am enjoying the environment here, the challenge here and I have no plans to leave at this stage."

Nick McCarthy knew he would have a battle on his hands for game-time when he left Leinster for Munster during the season, but it’s a task he is fired-up for as he becomes the latest to make the journey south from the arch-rivals.

The best pair of teams at the World Cup met in the first semi-final last Saturday. The number one priority for Eddie Jones and England is getting to that pitch again for tomorrow’s final.

A look back on the eight previous Rugby World Cup finals.

Eddie Jones and Rassie Erasmus were both celebrating at full time when England and South Africa last contested a World Cup final, at the Stade de France 12 years ago.

This World Cup serves to remind us that previous form or results counts for little. The fact that Ireland had won two of their previous encounters against New Zealand only handed Steve Hansen and his coaching staff a template to beat us when it mattered most.

Your round-up of all the #RWC2019 news and more

Michael Cheika is stepping down as Australia head coach following their World Cup quarter-final exit against England.

Irish Examiner rugby writers Brendan O'Brien and Simon Lewis look ahead to the World Cup quarter-final meeting with New Zealand.

Jonny May is poised to win his 50th cap for England recalling the missed drinking session that created the opportunity for his debut six years ago.

In a major lift to Eddie Jones’ men, the powerful Saracens number eight is on course to recover from the ankle injury that forced him off at half-time against Argentina 10 days ago.

Like it or not, last weekend’s typhoon-related cancellations in the final round of World Cup pool games have given us some inequitable quarter-final match-ups in terms of preparation times for the protagonists.

Maybe it says everything about the way the All Blacks are that the day after they learned their final pool game against Italy had been cancelled, they woke up super early and battered themselves senseless in a training game.

Like it or not, last weekend’s typhoon-related cancellations in the final round of World Cup pool games have given us some inequitable quarter-final match-ups in terms of preparation times for the protagonists.

Your round-up of the stories behind the headlines from Day 14 of #RWC2019

Since the advent of professionalism and the rise in the status of the Rugby World Cup after its rushed introduction in 1987 against the wishes of the four unions in Britain and Ireland, the sport at international level now tends to operate in four-year cycles.

Michael Cheika picked a fight with the World Cup organisers yesterday over their banning of Reece Hodge, adamant that Australia had been singled out for special treatment.

The South American minnows, who were playing their first game of the tournament, condemned the Pacific Islanders to their second defeat in five days to leave their Pool D qualification hopes in tatters.

They were patting down sweat-filled brows around RTÉ’s control bunker yesterday as Montrose battled technical glitches at the start of Hugh Cahill and Donal Lenihan’s television commentary from Yokohama.

Australia held off a late rally from Somoa to complete their World Cup warm-up with a 34-15 win in Parramatta.

Had a thought this morning. If Joe Schmidt was offered a pass on tomorrow’s final World Cup warm-up game against Warren Gatland’s Wales in Dublin, would he take it?

It wasn’t the choice of venue for this season’s Guinness PRO14 final that caught me by surprise when it was announced last week

Stephen Larkham has come to Munster with a mission to make a difference as the province looks to make the leap from being merely good to becoming a championship side.

Having established that today’s summer showdown at Twickenham is about as far removed from a “warm-up” as a summer showdown can be, both the English and Irish camps have also made clear that this is a Test match that dare not be treated in isolation of the bigger picture.

Ireland’s win over Italy at the weekend told us little about the eventual destination of the Webb Ellis trophy this year – for that you had to look to the other side of the world.

Stephen Larkham has been labelled a “signature signing” for Munster and one that can help the province’s talented backline to click and the team to reconnect with a style that delivered a pair of Heineken Cups.

Christian Lealiifano steered Australia to a 16-10 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina upon returning to the Test stage following his battle with leukaemia.

Australia have the potential to cause yet another Rugby World Cup surprise later this year in Japan, according to former New Zealand captain Richie McCaw.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen named four uncapped players in an extended 39-man squad for the Rugby Championship as he looks to finalise his World Cup selections over the next six weeks.

Ireland head coach Noel McNamara has made two enforced changes to his starting line-up for today’s crunch World Rugby U20 Championship Pool B clash with Australia in Santa Fe, Argentina (2.30pm Irish time).

The world-leading coach educator Wayne Goldsmith has worked with everyone from the All Blacks to the US Olympic swimming team of Phelps and Lochte and the top sides in the AFL, but his driving passion as he visits Ireland is that parents and coaches at the grassroots help keep kids playing and enjoying sport

A former teammate of Israel Folau has said it is time for the player "to be moved on".

Rugby Australia and New South Wales have said their position regarding Israel Folau is "unchanged" following a meeting with the fullback.

Towards the end of last season, Johnny McNicholl asked himself a rhetorical question: “Am I Welsh? It’s a tough question to answer. I don’t know.”

The powerbrokers of world rugby converge on Dublin today with their agenda dominated by the biggest single offer in the history of the sport — £500m (€585m) for a 30% stake in the Six Nations.

As difficult as defeat is to swallow for an Ireland side so used to being on the right side of the competitive ledger, the bruising loss to England must be digested very quickly.