Irish lock Quinn Roux is a doubt for Connacht’s PRO14 quarter-final with Ulster on Saturday week.

Ulster have signed Ireland eligible prop Gareth Milasinovich from Worcester Warriors.

Johann van Graan’s bid to get his first full European campaign off to a winning start could not have come in more difficult circumstances, yet the Munster head coach has learned enough in his short time in charge to expect the unexpected on Heineken Champions Cup away days.

Irish rugby, to borrow a phrase made famous by Harold McMillan, has never had it so good, says Brendan O’Brien.

Donncha O’Callaghan is hoping he can boost the work of Unicef Ireland by donating all the monies raised by a Testimonial Gala Ball in his honour in November to the organisation he has long served as an ambassador.

"I cannot describe how it feels to have lived that dream for nearly all my life."

It’s fair to say that the selection of Kieran Keane over a year ago as successor to Pat Lam was greeted with a level of shock in the west that has only now been matched by his dismissal two days after leading Connacht to a record win over Leinster.

Ulster Rugby got the head coach they wanted in Dan McFarland yesterday and the province is now hopeful the former Connacht man will take the reins much sooner than the mid-January date the Scottish Rugby Union are holding him to.

Donncha O'Callaghan has announced his retirement from professional rugby.

Callum Black would love nothing more than to leave Ulster in the same shape he found them back in 2012. And he aims to help move things in that direction tomorrow evening in a vital Guinness PRO14 game at the Kingspan Stadium against a revitalised Ospreys side.

In total there are five changes to the side defeated by Scotland at Murrayfield.

Blair Kinghorn will make his first start for Scotland on Saturday after being named in Gregor Townsend's side for their pivotal NatWest 6 Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.

Munster legend Donncha O’Callaghan has issued a warning to Ireland about the potential ‘banana skin’ that awaits them at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

It is seven years since Peter Stringer packed his Ireland kit bag for what would be his final Six Nations campaign but that does not stop that annual championship feeling from taking a firm grip on the veteran scrum-half.

Is it any wonder the structure of the professional game in Ireland is the envy of so many of our international counterparts at present?

Munster captain Peter O’Mahony, an injury doubt for Sunday’s Champions Cup clash with Castres, says he and his squad will stand by Gerbrandt Grobler, as the debate continues over the decision to sign a player who served a two-year doping ban.

Challenge Cup Pool 5

Connacht can seal a spot in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup this weekend by beating Worcester Warriors, but they will have to do it without lock James Cannon.

CJ Stander believes Johann van Graan will have headaches finalising his back-row trio for next Sunday’s all-important European Champions Cup game against Racing 92.

Your lunchtime news bulletin.

Professional rugby player Donncha O’Callaghan has played for Munster, Ireland and the Lions and has recently renewed his contract with Worcester Warriors. He will bow out of the pro-game

Munster props James Cronin and Brian Scott, Connacht second-row Quinn Roux and Leinster’s Jordi Murphy make their first starts in the famous colours of the Barbarians who face Tonga at Thomond Park tonight (7.30pm).

As if interprovincial rivalry was not enough to get the juices flowing in Galway this evening, a controversial Ireland squad announcement is sure to further add to the intensity in both camps as Munster take on Connacht at the Sportsground.

New Connacht coach Kieran Keane is looking forward to his first home derby of his reign tomorrow night against Munster, and knows his players use these games as a platform for international recognition.

Connacht captain John Muldoon said that Simon Zebo has probably put his international career ‘on the back burner’ by going to France, but the veteran star can understand why he has made the move.

Former Munster and Ireland lock Donnacha O’Callaghan will bring the curtain down on his illustrious career at the end of this season.

Connacht 15 Worcester Warriors 8: You suspect the more Kieran Keane settles into life in Galway the more he appreciates exactly what his predecessor Pat Lam achieved, not just with limited resources but the manner in which he got them to play in the difficult climatic conditions.

Former Ireland international Donncha O’Callaghan says he is looking to earn the respect of the opposition when he steps out opposite Connacht at the Sportsground tomorrow.

Former Irish scrum-half Peter Stringer said he feels as fit now as he did 10 or 15 years ago and is determined to keep on playing as long as he has the opportunity.

There are tributes and then there is the Donncha O’Callaghan variety, as hundreds of mourners learned yesterday at the funeral Mass for the late Munster Rugby media manager Pat Geraghty, 62, in Celbridge, Co Kildare.

Munster 34 Benetton Rugby 3: New league, new season, same old Italians.

Former Irish lock Donncha O’Callaghan said that getting through his 20th preseason campaign as a professional was made all worthwhile when he was this week named as captain of Worcester Warriors for the season.

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Donnacha Ryan will join Ronan O’Gara as part of Racing 92’s contingent bidding to conquer fortress Thomond Park in Munster’s first home European fixture of the season, which was announced yesterday.

Rassie Erasmus' Munster have been drawn against their old mate Ronan O'Gara and his Racing 92 outfit in the Champions Cup 2017/18 group stages.

Munster and Irish second row forward, Donncha O'Callaghan has been announced as May’s ‘Cork Person of the Month’.

Donncha O’Callaghan has been hailed as one of the most professional rugby players in the world after the 38-year-old former Munster legend signed on for another season in the English Premiership with Worcester Warriors.

Ireland fly-half Ian Madigan is set to sign for Bristol in a big-money switch from Bordeaux-Bègles that looks set to continue the playmaker’s exile from Test rugby.