Max Deegan was deemed to be the best player in the world at the U20 grade after his efforts at the World Junior Championships in 2016.

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

With the clock ticking and Munster trailing 13-6, the home side won a crucial penalty inside the Leinster 22 after a sustained period of pressure and kicked for the corner.

Caelan Doris is the right man in the right spot at the right time.

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.

Munster have moved to ease their fly-half problems by adding academy number 10 Ben Healy to their Heineken Champions Cup squad.

Jack Conan will miss the 2020 Six Nations after surgery on the foot injury that ended his World Cup early.

This isn’t the team that Joe Schmidt envisaged naming against Samoa.

Leinster are calling this block of Guinness PRO14 games ‘Own the Jersey’ – and Caelan Doris intends to do so with the No 8 shirt.

60 second on-the-whistle report from Kobe as Ireland secure bonus-point victory over Russia

Ireland got the bonus-point victory expected of them as they took a welcome step towards the World Cup quarter-finals on Thursday but this was not the bounce-back performance required following last Saturday’s defeat to Japan.

Johnny Sexton will return to the Ireland starting line-up on Thursday as Joe Schmidt’s team bids to reignite their World Cup Pool A campaign against Russia with a much-changed XV.

Leo Cullen says Ireland’s shock World Cup loss to Japan will only damage them if the players allow it to do so.

Leo Cullen says Leinster are “in the dark” over Jack Conan's foot injury.

Garry Ringrose could be pressed into a third successive World Cup start this Thursday after Ireland’s midfield stocks were reduced by a concussion for Chris Farrell.

Shock in Shizuoka as Japan claim vital win against Ireland

The home side also claimed tries from back-rower Greg Jones and full-back Matt Faddes, the new signing from New Zealand who crossed on his competitive debut for the Irish province.

Jamie Joseph makes four changes to the Brave Blossom starting XV that defeated Russia 30-10 in the World Cup opening match last Friday.

Donal Lenihan picks out three issues Ireland must address.

Ireland will welcome back Keith Earls and Rob Kearney to the back three for Saturday’s Pool A clash with Japan, but there will be no Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony, or Bundee Aki in the starting XV.

Ireland will take a fully fit squad to Japan for the World Cup.

Ireland supporters are about to discover whether their team’s trials and tribulations of the past few months will have been worth it when the World Cup squad gets put through its final paces before Japan at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow.

The Irish team to face Wales this Saturday has been announced.

In another unexpected move, head coach Schmidt preferred Luke McGrath as his back-up scrum-half over Conor Murray’s long-standing number two Kieran Marmion.

Jack Carty got the official prize, but who was your man-of-the-match?

Simon Lewis looks at how Wales and Ireland shape up ahead of their World Cup warm-up.

Joe Schmidt has urged his players not to go into their shells when Ireland get their chance to atone for their Twickenham nightmare against Wales tomorrow.

England in Dublin last February was a “mental failure”.

Ireland rugby head coach, Joe Schmidt, has put his front-line stars under pressure ahead of the Test against Wales, in Cardiff, this Saturday. He says his World Cup selection process is still wide-open.

Fly-half Byrne gets the chance of a lifetime in the absence of both Johnny Sexton and Joey Carbery with a first Ireland start in just his third Test.

Munster out-half Joey Carbery is part of the 40-man squad flying to Portugal today for an eight-day warm-weather training camp.

Ultan Dillane and Rory Scannell became the first players to be jettisoned from Ireland’s World Cup planning as Joe Schmidt’s training squad was trimmed ahead of Saturday’s opening summer Test against Italy.

The squad includes two uncapped players –Mike Haley and Jean Kleyn

Leo Cullen wasn’t the only Irish coach breathing a sigh of relief at the end of Saturday’s PRO14 final in Glasgow.

Leinster have won the Guinness PRO14 final after beating Glasgow 18-15 at Celtic Park.

Johnny Sexton has been recalled to the Leinster team for tomorrow's Guinness Pro14 final against Glasgow at Celtic Park.

The full-back's contract expires in November after the Rugby World Cup.

Munster and Leinster have named their teams for tomorrow’s Guinness PRO14 semi-final at the RDS Arena.

Not for Jordan Larmour the comforting blankets of self-pity or self-denial.

Brendan O’Brien Conan: We didn’t play the Leinster rugby that got us to the final

Nothing has typified the indomitable will of both Leinster and Ireland in recent years so much as their habit of sticking the knife into opponents in the moments and minutes approaching half-time.

Donal Lenihan on the players and performances that could shade today’s meeting of the European superpowers in Newcastle.

For years, the power and impact of Munster’s heroic exploits in Europe haunted Leinster.

Stuart Lancaster has no doubt but that Leinster will shed their recent inconsistencies and producing a monster performance against Saracens in a heavyweight European decider this Saturday.