Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has made two enforced changes to the Ireland team to face Wales in Saturday's Six Nations clash.

If Andy Farrell proves to be nothing more than a lucky general, then Ireland supporters are in for one hell of a ride in the coming years.

Earlier in the week, new head coach Andy Farrell made the point that he wanted his Irish team to stand for something.

Ireland were jaggy, a little confused structurally on both sides of the ball and under pressure in the scrum/maul, but they showed up to work in the hard moments in both halves and came out with a win, writes Tom Savage.

As shakedown games go, this one ended up being a little more shaky than Ireland might have expected. The final score said 19-12 to Ireland but that didn’t really tell the story of the game so much as gesture vaguely in the direction of the side that took their chances with more efficiency, writes Tom Savage.

It may have been Hogg with the schoolboy error but Ireland's report card is clear: must do better, writes Brendan O'Brien.

Johnny Sexton starred on his first outing as permanent Ireland captain as Andy Farrell’s tenure as head coach began with an unconvincing 19-12 victory over Scotland.

Stuart Hogg has apologised to his Scotland teammates for messing up what should have been a certain try against Ireland in Saturday's Six Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium.

Scotland threw everything at the hosts in the closing stages but some heroic defence saw Ireland hold on.

There are two debutants today and they both happen to be No 8s – but whereas Caelan Doris has come through that well-established development pathway of Blackrock College, the Leinster Academy and the Leinster senior side, Scotland’s new face is a bolter from the blue.

Ronan O'Gara rates the six teams vying for Six Nations glory this spring.

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.

Supporting Scotland is tough going at the best of times, but the last four-and-a-bit months — since that abrupt wake-up call delivered by Ireland on the opening weekend of the 2019 World Cup — has been particularly fraught.

Saturday’s Six Nation’s opener between Ireland and Scotland brings together two coaches at different stages of their journey. Both will be feeling the pressure, but for different reasons, writes Donal Lenihan

So here we are again, on the cusp of another championship, the first of the decade.

Head coach Dave Rennie will almost certainly leave Glasgow Warriors at the end of this season, most likely to take charge of Australia, although he has also been linked with the New Zealand and Italy jobs. His legacy in Scotland will depend almost entirely on how his team fares in this European Champions Cup campaign, which kicks-off when Sale Sharks visit Scotstoun tomorrow afternoon.

Head coach Dave Rennie will almost certainly leave Glasgow Warriors at the end of this season, most likely to take charge of Australia, although he has also been linked with the New Zealand and Italy jobs. His legacy in Scotland will depend almost entirely on how his team fairs in this European Champions Cup campaign, which kicks-off when Sale Sharks visit Scotstoun Saturday afternoon.

An hour's drive north of Yokohama, where tomorrow's Rugby World Cup final will be played, lies the Ajinamoto Stadium.

Zander Fagersoninsists GregorTownsend is still the man to lead Scotland forward.

Scotland have urged World Cup bosses to see sense and push their win-or-bust showdown with Japan out of Typhoon Hagibis’ path of destruction.

Reports have emerged in Scotland that the Scottish Rugby Union is “ready to take legal action” against World Rugby if their clash with Japan on Sunday is cancelled.

A friend texted me Wednesday night indicating France’s final World Cup Pool C game against England was going to fall victim to the typhoon hammering Japan.

Us Scots have had to grimly accept the gently triumphalist banter — before smirking discreetly behind cupped hands when Ireland got their comeuppance against Japan on Saturday

Not that Ireland haven’t enough to be getting on with, but there was little evidence in Scotland’s 34-0 defeat of Samoa in Kobe today that Gregor Townsend’s men are ready to rain on Japan’s World Cup parade come their decisive Pool A clash at the World Cup on Sunday October 13th.

Scotland have claimed all five points on offer with a 34-0 defeat of Samoa in the sweat box that was the Kobe Misaki Stadium on Monday but it took them over 76 minutes to do so.

That breathless Wales-Australia World Cup classic this morning had enough about it to turn Saturday’s Shizuoka shocker into the realm of a bad dream.

Uwe Helu gave a wicked little grin as he lit the fuse. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Those of us with an emotional investment in Scottish rugby have a complex relationship with the concept of hope.

Forty-five minutes before kick-off, Joe Schmidt and Gregor Townsend shot the breeze on the side of the pitch while their respective squads warmed up in intense humidity behind them.

Simon Lewis reports from Yokohama.

Our rugby analyst on where Ireland must get it right against Scotland

TOKYO — It has been decidedly low-key this week in and around the Scotland team base in the opulent Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo. Not in a bad way. It just feels like after nearly three months of training camps and ever-increasing hype, there is nothing left to say or do — it is now time to get into the action. And while they might not be shouting it from the rooftops, there is definitely a deep-rooted sense of belief within the group that tomorrow’s World Cup opener against Ireland is a match they can win.

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

Ireland aren’t the only country to have embraced the residency ruling.

We’d been warned about the trains. Or, to be more accurate, the stations. People with experience of Japan looked on us with pity, like raw recruits being sent over the top to impending doom. Ominous warnings were sounded and tales told of underground labyrinths teeming with commuters and the odd tourist rooted to the spot in awe and confusion.

Joe Schmidt has revealed Ireland’s 2019 Six Nations title defence took second place in priority to this autumn’s bid for a first World Cup semi-final place.

These are the hours Joe Schmidt has been dreading.

Richie Gray made the decision to opt out of World Cup selection with Scotland, according to assistant coach Danny Wilson.

Scotland bounced back from last weekend’s humiliation in Nice with a gritty 17-14 win over France at Murrayfield.

Scotland defence coach Matt Taylor has taken the blame for their horror show in Nice after admitting he failed to fire up the Dark Blues before facing France.

Coach Gregor Townsend says Scotland are keeping a close eye on Ireland as both sides prepare for their opening weekend showdown at the World Cup in Japan next month.

Scotland’s World Cup preparations got off to a nightmare start as they were crushed 32-3 by France in Nice.

And before we know it, another season comes to a sudden and dramatic end.