As his six-and-a-half year stint in charge of Ireland draws to a close, Joe Schmidt hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to coaching in the distant future.

Garry Ringrose believes Ireland’s shock defeat to Japan can act as the catalyst for a successful assault on the knockout stages.

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

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 head coach Joe Schmidt was honoured by the Rugby Writers of Ireland at the annual Guinness Rugby Writers Awards, having been awarded the prestigious Tom Rooney award in recognition of his immense contribution to Irish rugby.

Joe Schmidt has been recognised for his contribution to Irish rugby.

A crucial detail to emerge from the ongoing row in the UK about the BBC taking away free TV licences for over-75s concerns the age of people who actually watch TV. The average age of a BBC1 viewer, it turns out, is 61, and a year older for BBC2. In other words, a large proportion of the Beeb’s customers do not pay for the service, hence the decision to make Grandma stump up for the Antiques Roadshow.

Ireland will not be losing sleep over Steve Hansen’s suggestion they are struggling with the pressure of being “top dog” since beating his All Blacks side last November, their coach Simon Easterby said.

Ireland will be without Joey Carbery and Robbie Henshaw for Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations home game with France but team management has insisted the dropped Sean Cronin still has a Test future despite his omission.

Ireland will attempt a return to winning ways in Edinburgh this Saturday with the challenge of handling the pressure that comes in the wake of their Guinness Six Nations mauling by England.

While witnessing new rugby heroes lift and warm the hearts of the nation this chilly spring, we couldn’t but think of past ones and how this was their achievement too, writes  Kieran Shannon.