Anthony Foley believes Paul O’Connell’s selfless nature will be the key factor in the Ireland captain’s decision on his rugby-playing future.

New Munster loanee Pat Howard will be a man on a mission when he makes his home debut against Ulster on Friday night, looking to impress his coaches on two continents.

Western Province director of rugby Gert Smal has revealed South Africa captain and former Munster star Jean de Villiers set up the deal that will bring centre Pat Howard to Ireland on a three-month loan deal.

The visitors hold all the aces in terms of recent form, preparation, settled combinations and the confidence that stems from beating New Zealand last time out.

Springboks talisman Victor Matfield has hailed Ireland captain Paul O’Connell as “the best player I’ve played against”.

Saying ‘yes’ was the easy part, but having fulfilled his ambition to be Munster head coach Anthony Foley will lean on the coaches he faithfully served as he prepares to take charge of his beloved province next season.

Mike Prendergast believes Anthony Foley is the right man to take over from Rob Penney as Munster coach.

Paul O’Connell will be available to face Samoa on Saturday but doubts remains over the lock’s ability to last the 80 minutes of his first Ireland Test in 19 months.

Joe Schmidt may be only maintaining a watching brief on the North American tour, but no-one should mistake that for not being busy. It seems like he’s going to scan the globe for a forwards coach, while the other vacant position in a reconfigured Irish backroom team would be a skills/kicking coach.

Joe Schmidt hopes to have his coaching team in place by the end of next month and announced in August after he confirmed he has spoken to a host of candidates about becoming part of his ticket.

Munster have tied down the services of forwards coach Anthony Foley for another season, ending speculation the 2006 Heineken Cup-winning captain was set to join Joe Schmidt’s Ireland management team on a full-time basis.

Joe Schmidt will be given carte blanche to appoint his own backroom staff and, like Declan Kidney before him, the new Ireland coach will be told to scour the world for the best and brightest rugby minds to assist him over the next three years.

Joe Schmidt has described the challenge of leading the Ireland rugby team as "intimidating" after agreeing a three-year contract.

Joe Schmidt has been confirmed as the new Ireland head coach, the Irish Rugby Football Union has announced today.

Former Ireland winger Denis Hickie believes the Irish Rugby Football Union has a tough task to find the right man to replace Declan Kidney.

The IRFU were today beginning their search for a head coach after deciding to part company with Declan Kidney.

George Hook believes that the Irish Rugby Football Union are about to make a mistake after they sacked Ireland head coach Declan Kidney today.

The IRFU have sacked Ireland coach Declan Kidney.

It will be business as usual for Ireland head coach Declan Kidney as he picks over the wreckage of a disappointing and unprecedented RBS 6 Nations campaign and begins planning for a summer tour to North America.

Peter O’Mahony has warned France not to expect Ireland to take a backward step in tomorrow’s clash of the vanquished at the Aviva Stadium.

As expected, payment for Cardiff’s heroics was still being made by a number of Ireland’s players yesterday but team management expressed confidence that a clean bill of health will be achievable by Friday at the latest.

The Six Nations hasn’t compared favourably in terms of quality with the Heineken Cup in recent years.

Where Cardiff clash will be won and lost

Munster loosehead prop Dave Kilcoyne looks set to start for Ireland against Fiji at Thomond Park on Saturday with national team forwards coach Gert Smal backing his “little killer” to shine.

Former Irish rugby manager and captain, Donal Lenihan has criticised the IRFU for the hasty manner with which it has made New Zealand prop Michael Bent eligible for Ireland.

It’s hard to believe that four years have passed since Declan Kidney was handed the poisoned chalice of having to beat Argentina to retain a top-eight IRB seeding a few weeks prior to the 2011 World Cup pool draw.

If Michael Bent’s abilities as a player are half as impressive as his back story then Ireland’s lack of depth at the troublesome tighthead prop position will have eased dramatically with the Kiwi’s arrival.

It’s unlikely that it crossed Declan Kidney’s mind as he announced his latest squad at the Aviva Stadium yesterday but he did so whilst sat in the very same seat from which Giovanni Trapattoni felt the wrath of the Irish media 12 days earlier.

Munster coach Rob Penney has quickly bought into the Irish way of doing things, evidenced by his reaction to losing nine players and a key backroom colleague to Ireland yesterday.

Having ruled out any imminent possibility of succeeding Declan Kidney at Ireland, Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt signed a one-year contract extension that will see the New Zealander remain with the European champions until the end of the 2013/’14 campaign.

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt has left the door ajar on coaching Ireland in the future — but says his current job “is pretty fulfilling and all-encompassing”.

His team is undoubtedly struggling and ticket sales for the November series are somewhat sluggish, but Declan Kidney was quick to find fault yesterday with the assumption there is a disconnect right now between his Ireland outfit and the general public.

Declan Kidney and the full Ireland management team will take charge of the Ireland XV squad to face Fiji at Thomond Park on November 17, the IRFU has announced.

Ronan O’Gara, Conor Murray and Keith Earls have all been made available for Munster’s trip to Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday evening.

Ireland hooker Rory Best has backed his Ulster team-mate Declan Fitzpatrick to shine on his international debut against New Zealand tomorrow.

After Leinster’s success, can we expect the same kind of upsurge in the national team’s fortunes?

Gert Smal will rejoin the Ireland management team for next month’s three test series against New Zealand.

Anthony Foley will be announced as Munster’s new director of rugby/head coach in the next week or so, Evening Echo writer Conor George has reported today.

Munster could be without their frontline second row for Saturday’s RaboDirect Pro12 top of the table derby clash with Leinster after Donnacha Ryan joined captain Paul O’Connell on the list of injury doubts for the Thomond Park showdown.

Those who believe Declan Kidney will be quickly able to find alternatives and back-up support for Cian Healy, Mike Ross and Tom Court, the trio who have carried the scrummaging responsibilities throughout the RBS 6 Nations Championship, will have to think again.

Saturday’s game against England at Twickenham will be Ireland’s 14th test game in eight months and will have a defining influence on how that period is judged.

1 THE SECOND ROW

Ireland’s bruising RBS 6 Nations campaign will not force Declan Kidney to make sweeping changes today when he names his team to face Scotland this Saturday, a game just six days after the physically intense contest with France last weekend.

Ireland’s troubled RBS 6 Nations campaign today endured fresh torment when it was announced that captain Paul O’Connell will play no further part.