Former teammates of Jim McCarthy, the Grand Slam-winning Irish rugby international, have paid tribute to their colleague’s dedication to the game, after his death this week at the age of 90.

Rugby is mourning another of its finest sons as Ireland, Munster and Lions star Jim McCarthy died yesterday, aged 90.

Captain Paul O'Connell hailed Ireland's historymakers after Joe Schmidt's side secured back-to-back RBS 6 Nations titles for the first time since 1949.

Ireland’s all-island bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 will be impossible to resist, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted.

I was privileged to meet the great Jack Kyle on several occasions and honoured to share a podium with him as we were both invited to speak at the gala 125-year anniversary celebrations of the IRFU.

Irish rugby legends have paid tribute to the one considered the greatest of them all as they joined friends and family of the late Jack Kyle at a special thanksgiving service.

The passing of two sportsmen this week gave everybody pause, and little wonder.

Wales finally cracked the code of success against major southern hemisphere opposition as full-back Leigh Halfpenny’s relentless goalkicking saw off Millennium Stadium visitors South Africa.

GUINNESS PRO12:

The great Jack Kyle passed yesterday, aged 88, but what a full life he lived and he knew it.

There are some images that resonate far beyond the confines of their subject matter or time.

Brian O’Driscoll has outlined how being overlooked for the 2009 IRB Player of the Year was one of the biggest disappointments of his career, while the Grand Slam win that year was one of the highlights.

Over 50 years have elapsed since Jack Kyle hung up his boots yet half a century later he remains one of Irish rugby’s most iconic figures.

To beat England at any level it is imperative that you match them in the set piece.

US OPEN champion Rory McIlroy was last night named RTÉ Sports Person of the Year for 2011.

FORMER Ireland and Lions star Mike Gibson has become the fifth Irishman to be inducted into the International Rugby Board’s Hall of Fame.

KEVIN DOYLE says that playing at the new Aviva Stadium, which is officially opened today, will be like a homecoming for Irish football.

TO generations of Irish people Jackie Kyle is a rugby icon but his heroics weren’t reserved for the oval ball.

ALMOST from day one of this season’s Leinster Schools Senior Cup campaign, Clongowes Wood and St. Michael’s were lined up as two of the big favourites to make this afternoon’s St. Patrick’s Day decider at the RDS (3.30).

RUGBY legend Jack Kyle believes there is more to come from Brian O’Driscoll’s Ireland and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the side capturing a rare back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slam title.

MUNSTER have opted to give John Hayes another week off and he will sit out Sunday’s Magners League game against the Scarlets at Musgrave Park. Meanwhile, they are keeping their fingers crossed that Marcus Horan will take a full part in Shannon’s AIB League game against St Mary’s College on Saturday.

WILLIE JOHN McBride has been voted the greatest ever Lion by best-selling magazine Rugby World – though there is no place in the Top 50 for 2009 captain, Paul O’Connell.

Internationally acclaimed playwright Brian Friel celebrated Bloomsday at James Joyce’s alma mater today where he received the university’s highest honour.

THE world of Irish rugby put aside thoughts of next Saturday’s Munster-Leinster match yesterday as it celebrated the life of the late Irish and Lions captain, Karl Mullen, who died last Sunday aged 82.

THE accolades continue to accumulate for Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning captain Brian O’Driscoll, who was yesterday named as the RBS Six Nations Player of the Championship for the third time.

FRENCH manager Jo Maso might have plenty on his plate to deal with after his side’s hammering at the hands of England last weekend but the 64-year-old still knows what it takes to win a Grand Slam.

Among the thousands of rugby fans descending on Cardiff this weekend is one who has waited longer than most for Ireland to clinch a second grand slam.

LEGENDARY rugby player and missionary doctor Jack Kyle was last night presented with a lifetime achievement award at this year’s Doctor Awards, known as the Irish “Medical Oscars.”

I WAS born into a rugby family and reared on the exploits of Jack Kyle and others. The memory of watching Mike Gibson play his first game for Ireland is still implanted on my brain, though it was more than 40 years ago.

Keith Wood became the sixth Ireland player to be inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame last night in London.

GIVEN that it took the peerless Jack Kyle from 1947 to 1958 to accumulate his 46 Irish caps, it is little wonder that Ronan O’Gara isn’t exactly getting carried away at winning his 40th against Wales tomorrow.

ULSTER keyman David Humphreys has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the side's Heineken Cup game against Biarritz on December 14 and will lead the province against Munster in the Celtic League semi-final at Thomond Park on Friday night, kick-off 7. 35.

DAVID HUMPHREYS is poised to captain Ireland on his record breaking appearance for Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

THERE were plenty who believed making a weekend round trip to eastern Siberia was a pain in the neck, but Ireland skipper Keith Wood took the sentiment literally.

Jack Kyle has been named as the greatest ever Irish rugby player in a public poll.