Connacht have announced the signing of powerful 28-year-old front-row Tom McCartney from The Super Rugby side the Blues.

An RNLI lifeboat rescued five people, including an elderly man and a teenage boy from a sinking boat, in two separate incidents on Lough Derg on Saturday.

SCIENTISTS have found scores of fossils which evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 160 years.

An Australian MP has been accused of using an official credit card to pay for prostitutes, sparking a political scandal that could bring down the government.

AN elderly man with a medical condition spent the night stranded on his boat when it ran aground on Lough Derg in Co Tipperary.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has made 11 changes from the side that lost in Treviso last weekend for tomorrow night’s Magners League clash with Edinburgh at Thomond Park Stadium, kick-of 7.50pm.

IRELAND and Connacht front-row sensation Sean Cronin is poised to join Leinster next season.

THREE men were rescued on Lough Derg in Co Tipperary on Tuesday night after the engine on their motor cruiser failed in rough weather.

Actress Heather Locklear got a Los Angeles court date next month on misdemeanour hit-and-run charges after an early-morning crash knocked down a street sign.

Former 'Dynasty' and 'TJ Hooker' actress Heather Locklear evaded charges of driving while intoxicated by pleading to a lesser offence.

Blackrock College 28 Terenure College 3, Stradbrook

Authorities say guards have shot and killed two inmates at a US federal prison after up to 200 inmates battled with homemade weapons in a fight that appeared to be racially motivated.

Hooker Steve Thompson still has hopes of a return to the England team, less than a year after a serious neck injury forced him to retire.

Scotland coach Steve McCormack has included six uncapped players in a provisional 26-man squad for their autumn internationals.

Hooker Neil Hanna has made a disastrous start to his Ulster career by absorbing a knee injury.

SHANNON and UL Bohemians will mark the end of an era at Thomond Park on Saturday.

Hooker Bernard Jackman continues his remarkable resurgence by being voted the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Player of the Month for January.

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Hooker John Fogarty will captain Connacht for the new season.

FRANCE coach Bernard Laporte has recalled hooker Dimitri Szarzewski to his 22-man squad to play England in the Six Nations tournament at the Stade de France on March 12.

Scotland have made three changes to the starting XV from their last match against Wales for their RBS Six Nations Championship meeting with England at Murrayfield.

France coach Bernard Laporte has made five changes to his team for Saturday’s RBS Six Nations Championship clash with Ireland in Paris and brought back veterans Raphael Ibanez and Olivier Magne.

All Black record try-scorer Christian Cullen will make his debut for Munster against the Neath/Swansea Ospreys in the Celtic League at Musgrave Park on Friday.

ERIC ELWOOD is back to lead the Connacht challenge for a place in the Celtic Cup final at the Sportsground, Galway, tomorrow (2.p.m.), but there is no place for captain Tim Allnutt.

Scotland were aiming to put a difficult start to the World Cup behind them as they took on the powerful American Eagles in their second Pool B match in Brisbane today.

MATT WILLIAMS was in surprisingly upbeat mood at Dublin Airport yesterday given Leinster’s onerous task .

The remains of a dinosaur have been unveiled after being discovered by archaeologists in a clay pit.

The veteran blues singer John Lee Hooker has died in his sleep at the age of 83.

A man accused of stalking Nicole Kidman was ordered by a US court to stay away from the actress for at least three years.

Nicole Kidman, separated from superstar Tom Cruise, has gone to court to protect her and a children from a man she claims is a stalker.