Donal Lenihan looks at the recipe for opening day success in the 2020 Six Nations.

Just five training sessions into his tenure as Ireland attack coach, Mike Catt is nevertheless expecting “some good stuff” from Andy Farrell’s team against Scotland in Dublin tomorrow.

Tadhg Furlong is nominated for the third year in a row.

DAN McFarland was looking forward to a day of watching rugby on the couch yesterday as the extent of the challenge awaiting Ulster in the spring slowly unfolded in front of his eyes.

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline.

England suffered an injury scare just three weeks before the Six Nations when Anthony Watson limped out of Bath’s 25-19 Heineken Champions Cup defeat against Harlequins.

Exeter have revealed receipt of a £350,000 share following the £5.36million fine imposed on Gallagher Premiership rivals Saracens for breaching salary cap regulations.

The Guinness PRO14 rarely fares well when observers from across the Irish Sea compare it to their own Gallagher Premiership.

Bath’s nightmare Heineken Champions Cup campaign continued as Stuart Hooper’s men were hammered 52-26 by Clermont Auvergne.

Munster won’t want for incentive in London this weekend. In Jean Kleyn’s permutations, beating Saracens at Allianz Park Saturday not only keeps Munster’s hopes alive of Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final qualification, but also offers the opportunity to extinguish the aspirations of the defending champions.

One man’s setback appears to be an opportunity for a couple of his team-mates as Johnny Sexton’s likely absence from the start of the Six Nations seems to have opened the door for a pair of Munster stars to take centre-stage with Ireland in the coming weeks.

The ghosts of Christmases past will be circling around the four provinces this weekend as they prepare for the unique demands that come with the traditional back-to-back December rounds in the Heineken Champions Cup.

Stuart Lancaster believes the disappointment felt by Ireland’s World Cup contingent can spur the four provinces to memorable heights in Europe, just as it did their English counterparts four years ago.

At the risk of redefining the delusional practice of clutching at straws, perhaps there is something to be said after all for making an early exit from the World Cup.

Exeter Chiefs got their Champions Cup campaign off to a winning start with a 31-12 bonus point victory over La Rochelle at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.

Whatever about losing the World Cup final, English rugby had every right to be feeling good about itself and the future of the game after a successful tournament in Japan — until, of course, they found themselves with a PR nightmare on their hands with revelations about Saracens and their manipulation of the Premiership salary cap.

Graham Cummins has left Cork City after the completion of his contract, as the club announced two signings from their Under-19 ranks.

Gregor Townsend has opted to name an experienced line-up ahead of Scotland’s World Cup opener against Ireland.

World Cup-bound Lewis Ludlam was considering his options outside of rugby a year ago as he reflected on a career that was in danger of fading away.

Manchester United fans were involved in more football-related arrests where racism was an aggravating factor or a feature than any other club in England in the four seasons up to 2017-18, data from the UK Home Office shows.

For years, there had been a reliance on IRFU assistance to facilitate loan repayment negotiations on the debt arising from the Thomond Park redevelopment,

There has been a surge in stories lately about who’s going to end up where in 2020 and not all of it has been about your columnist.

The sound of Irishmen baying for blood isn’t going to bother Saracens in the slightest this weekend.

Jack Carty stands alone among Irish goalkickers this season with not even Johnny Sexton able to keep him

Munster touched down in the Scottish capital yesterday ready to make their European pedigree tell against a talented, up-and-coming team lacking their experience of closing out big games such as today’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final.

A stranger perusing the team sheets in advance of this afternoon’s opening Champions Cup quarter-final might be forgiven for thinking that a Currie Cup fixture has been transported from Cape Town to Edinburgh.

It’s 10 years now since Felipe Contepomi’s knee crumpled and Jonathan Sexton stepped into the breach for a European knockout fixture in Dublin against an interprovincial rival.

Conor Murray is primed for a “brilliant performance” when he returns to Munster colours for Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final with Edinburgh, Johann van Graan has declared.

Wipe the slate clean and move on to the next job. That is the way Johann van Graan, like many head coaches, operates but as his Munster side transitions into this European knockout rugby week, his mantra of forgetting the past and resetting to zero on a Monday has never seemed so apt.

Johann van Graan had bad news for the majority of Munster players who earned a bonus-point Guinness PRO14 victory over Zebre at Thomond Park on Saturday night, he had already decided on his starting line-up for this weekend’s European quarter-final trip to Edinburgh.

Finally, the pieces are falling into place for Ireland, just as their Guinness Six Nations campaign draws to a close.

It was their 12th successive win, setting an all-time national record, breaking the previous best sequence that had stood for 109 years.

When Ireland last fielded their front line troops at the Aviva Stadium, against New Zealand in November, the rapturous response from players and fans alike at the final whistle could not have been more exuberant. Unbridled joy. Kings of the world.

Tyler Bleyendaal is confident the dark days of injury are behind him.

Munster booked their place in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals for an 18th time as they ground out a dogged victory over English league leaders Exeter at a sold-out Thomond Park on Saturday night.

You can hear the excitement in Ian Whitten’s voice as he described the feeling of being in an Exeter Chiefs back-line when everything comes together. The bad news for Munster is that the Ulsterman experienced that buzz only last weekend as the Chiefs put Castres to the sword to set up tomorrow’s pivotal Heineken Champions Cup pool finale at Thomond Park.

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline.

Richard Cockerill found out a long time ago that when one door opened another was always liable to smash him in the face.

Munster reclaimed their grip on Pool 2 and took a giant step towards an 18th European quarter-final as they claimed a bonus-point Heineken Champions Cup win over Gloucester with a stunning performance at Kingsholm.

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline.

Over the years, when their backs were firmly pressed against the wall, Munster always found a way to prevail in Europe, writes Donal Lenihan.

Munster put the “Sold Out” signs up at Thomond Park yesterday as supporters snapped up the last of the tickets for the Heineken Champions Cup pool finale with Exeter Chiefs but it is the penultimate game this Friday night that is occupying Johann van Graan.

Leinster forwards coach John Fogarty has described the upcoming interpros as “a defining part of our season.”

Neither Bath nor Leinster have taken a scalpel to their fifteens this week. The weather, that brutal cocktail of wind, rain and cold, will be more of the same. Talk to Leo Cullen, though, and he will tell you that little else stays the same come the second of these back-to-back European encounters.