Ireland suffered one of the biggest upsets in Rugby World Cup history as Japan repeated their Brighton miracle against South Africa on home soil to leave Joe Schmidt’s men stunned at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa.

Ireland supporters will have breathed a little easier on Saturday night following this victory at the Principality Stadium.

Jacob Stockdale’s interception of a wayward Aaron Shingler offload on 28 minutes was expertly finished by the Ireland wing to notch his second try of the first-half and establish a 12-point cushion that allowed the Irish to release the pressure valve that had been tightening for the past week.

The 2018 Grand Slam champions suffered a humiliating 57-15 defeat to England in London less than two weeks ago

England have beaten Ireland 57-15 in their World Cup warm-up Test at Twickenham.

The Ireland team to play England on Saturday has been announced and Ross Byrne is set to win his third cap.

Rory Best’s ankle injury has cleared up in time to allow him to have the send-off he hoped for, and the Ireland captain suspects he’ll be an emotional wreck when he says goodbye at the Kingspan Stadium tonight

No Jonathan Sexton, Rob Kearney on the bench and Jack McGrath given the weekend off.

Rhys Ruddock will captain the Leinster Rugby team taking on Ulster tomorrow, while Johnny Sexton has been ruled out following an injury.

Wales have completed the Grand Slam after beating Ireland 25-7 in their Guinness Six Nations match in Cardiff.

Joe Schmidt admits that the decision to start Robbie Henshaw at full-back against England in Saturday's Six Nations opener has been made with one eye on the upcoming World Cup in Japan.

It was a performance riddled with mistakes, so many of them elementary, but the side's reaction to adversity in the second-half, when coming from 13-0 down to claim the lead and hold out in the face of considerable pressure, was impressive.

Iain Henderson bustled and hustled his way to a try in each half as Ulster barnstormed to a bonus-point victory over Scarlets to keep their Heineken Champions Cup qualifying hopes very much alive.

Skipper Rory Best hailed Ulster’s second-half display as they dug in for a vital 24-10 win over Leicester Tigers to kick-start their Heineken Champions Cup campaign.

Ulster start rookie tight-head Ross Kane against a fired-up Ospreys at the Kingspan Stadium this evening.

Goosen played his last game in December 2016, when he controversially announced his retirement from playing, aged 24, to become a "commercial director".

Iain Henderson says Ulster players have to “fix” the problems of “being a bit lazy and not working hard enough” if they are to beat La Rochelle in Belfast this afternoon in the Champions Cup.

Veteran wing Tommy Bowe will be the centre of attention as Ulster seek to consolidate their Guinness PRO14 position when they travel to the compact and atmospheric Rodney Parade to face Bernard Jackman’s Dragons this evening.

It was not as if Leinster put Ulster to the sword in a lively, if disjointed Guinness PRO14 derby at the weekend, they simply sliced and diced them!

Rory Best is set to captain the British & Irish Lions against the Chiefs on Tuesday after Warren Gatland named a matchday squad missing tour skipper Sam Warburton in the final game before Saturday’s first Test with the All Blacks.

Captain Sam Warburton is willing to tell British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland he is not ready to play a Test match if he has not built up sufficient game time to operate to the best of his ability against the All Blacks.

The British and Irish Lions will welcome back tour captain Sam Warburton from injury on Tuesday when they take on the Highlanders in Dunedin.

Warren Gatland has thrown down a challenge to his Lions to get the tourists off to a winning start this Saturday after last night naming a strong team to face the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.

Ulster 24 Cardiff Blues 24: Cardiff Blues dented Ulster’s hopes of making the Guinness PRO12 play-offs when they carved out a share of the points at the Kingspan Stadium last night.

Ireland skipper Rory Best will lead Ulster for the first time this season when they face a strong Cardiff outfit at the Kingspan Stadium this evening (kick-off 7.35pm).

Joe Schmidt may wait until after training this morning at Carton House before finalising his Ireland team to face France in Dublin on Saturday.

Ireland centre Luke Marshall is determined to right recent wrongs this evening when a struggling Ulster side travel to Llanelli to face the Guinness PRO12’s in-form side unbeaten in eight games at Parc y Scarlets (7.35pm).

Pat Lam will bid to get rid of one of Connacht’s remaining hoodoos when he hopes to lead them to a first win in Belfast since 1960 this evening.

Ulster 39 Clermont 32: Ulster has enjoyed some spectacular victories in Europe but, surely, none can have matched this lunchtime encounter for excitement, unpredictability and high-class rugby.

Leinster's inexperienced fly-half Joey Carbery could make his Test debut when Ireland attempt to stop New Zealand extending their record match-winning streak in Chicago on Saturday.

The loss of Charles Piutau through injury has been softened by Tommy Bowe’s return to the Ulster side for the first time this season for tonight’s derby with Connacht at the Sportsground.

Ulster 9 Ospreys 7: Ulster’s Director of Rugby Les Kiss praised his side’s resilience and character as they clipped the Ospreys wings at the death of an extremely, absorbing Guinness PRO12 top-of-the-table contest at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening.

Ulster will roll out their strongest available line-out when they visit 2015 Guinness Pro12 winners Glasgow tonight.

Johnny Holland’s fine form for Munster has not gone unnoticed by Ireland coach Joe Schmidt who wants to see the out-half put himself into international contention next season.

Zebre 17 Ulster 47: Ireland wing, Tommy Bowe, made a try-scoring return, as Ulster boosted their hopes of a Guinness PRO12 play-off place, with a 47-17 victory over Zebre.

Tommy Bowe gets his first start of the season for Ulster when they travel to Zebre in the chase for a bonus-point win in the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi this afternoon.

Ulster 18 Connacht 10: For Ulster the misery of the a month which saw them slump to fifth ended in a hard-fought win in Belfast over a Connacht side which never took a backward step but was undone by injuries and some unforced errors.

The Six Nations league table may not reflect his views, but Jamie Heaslip believes Ireland weren’t far off the pace in this year’s championship.

Ireland's five-match unbeaten run against France came to a punishing end as Guy Noves' side edged home a tight Six Nations encounter at Stade de France today.

Ulster 56 Oyannax 3: Eight tries, all converted, and a clinically attacking Ulster got the bonus point win over Oyannax on Saturday at the Kingspan Stadium needed to prolong – for 24 hours at least – hopes of a Champions Cup quarter-final spot.

Ulster 38 Toulouse 0: Four times French giants Toulouse have visited Belfast, and each time left with the tails firmly stuck between their legs.

Leo Cullen believes Ian Madigan’s versatility, far from being a weight around his neck at Leinster, is actually benefiting the 26-year-old who has been the subject of rumoured interest from Harlequins and Bristol.

Ulster’s new director of rugby Less Kiss has named Rory Best and Ruan Pienaar on the bench for tomorrow’s Guinness PRO12 clash away to Newport Gwent Dragons.

Ireland boss Joe Schmidt toasted fly-half Johnny Sexton after his playmaker helped get his team's World Cup Pool D campaign off to a flying start with a seven-try rout of Canada.