Leo Cullen believes every one of the 15 Leinster players who featured in Ireland’s disappointing Six Nations campaign will feel they have a point to prove when the province faces Ulster in a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final on Saturday evening.

There will come a point soon, after the Six Nations is done for another 12 months and Leinster’s elite return to the day job for another battle on two fronts, that the question of hunger will surface.

To his team-mates, Ian McKinley is an inspiration, but as the Irishman turned Italian prepares to face his old friends at Soldier Field, this Saturday’s Test is not about him but the Azzurri doing themselves proud against Six Nations rivals.

They may constitute Leinster’s old brigade but Johnny Sexton and Cian Healy are not finished yet, at least not if you listen to their ambitions for greater success.

It is a good job Josh van der Flier is a glass-half-full type of character. Only someone of a positive and optimistic disposition could view sitting in the stands in Bilbao this weekend as a sign of progress.

If Ireland’s players required a warning against complacency ahead of this Saturday’s NatWest 6 Nations opener in Paris, then forwards coach Simon Easterby is happy to provide a reminder of the dire consequences that greeted such thoughts on this weekend a year ago.

Fledgling international star Jacob Stockdale will be back in Ulster’s colours when the next stage of the Champions Cup gets underway for Les Kiss’s side on Sunday when they face in-form Harlequins at The Stoop.

Jordi Cruyff says he is “touched” by the messages of support and tributes to his father Johan, who lost his battle with cancer on Thursday.

Barcelona and Ajax have sent their best wishes to former star Johan Cruyff, who is suffering from lung cancer.

Just 18 months have passed since Jordi Murphy made his senior bow for Ireland with six minutes against England in the Six Nations, and yet the Leinster back row believes he is a very different beast now to the one that debuted at test level.

It would be no surprise to pick up a tabloid newspaper today and see Conor Murray mocked up to resemble John Wayne’s Sean Thornton character in The Quiet Man. Most likely in that scene where he biffs Victor McLaglen.

Joe Schmidt has rolled the dice for tomorrow’s RBS 6 Nations opener in Italy as his Ireland squad begins its title defence at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

“We certainly didn’t necessarily see Sean (O’Brien) starting this week but we felt he did well in the Wolfhounds game.“

While celebrations were in full flow in the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin, Irish rugby star Jordi Murphy had no idea that his medal was in the hands of a rugby-mad granny a few miles across the city.

Leinster’s dynamic back row duo of Jordi Murphy and Rhys Ruddock are ready, willing and able to step up to the plate for Ireland against Italy should Peter O’Mahony’s hamstring strain sideline him next month.

Winning a Triple Crown at Twickenham tomorrow will give Ireland’s players a massive confidence boost after five years without any silverware, says Joe Schmidt, but the head coach has warned they will have to roll their sleeves up to beat England.

Cardiff City 1 Wigan Athletic 2

“Follow that,” quipped Robin Copeland two days ago as he wrapped up his media duties at Ireland’s team base and breezed out the door past Tommy O’Donnell.

The last time Rhys Ruddock’s contract came up for discussion there was talk of a move to Munster but the Leinster back row has nipped any similar speculation in the bud by nailing his colours to his current club’s mast.

Ireland flanker Sean O’Brien could miss the entire RBS 6 Nations championship after Leinster warned he faces a long lay-off with a dislocated shoulder.

Tiger, tiger burning bright — no, not that one.. instead Esther N McCarthy opines on the design-led, pound shop ethos of Tiger...amongst other beautiful things.

QPR 1 Wigan Athletic 1

Barcelona today announced Tito Vilanova’s operation on his parotid gland had gone “as expected” as the 44-year-old began a second battle with cancer.

Club Brugge 2 Newcastle 2

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew made eight changes as the Magpies attempted to edge closer to the knock-out stages of the Europa League in Belgium.

Newcastle 1 Club Brugge 0

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez accused referee Howard Webb of inconsistency after seeing his 10 men slip to defeat at Sunderland.

Spanish boss Vicente Del Bosque was his typical modest self after his side had steamrolled Italy 4-0 to win Euro 2012 in Kiev last night.

Jordi Alba’s €14m transfer to Barcelona that was completed on Wednesday has taken the number of Barca players in the current Spanish squad to eight and he has been welcomed with open arms by another new team-mate who did not make it to the European Championship.

THE parents of the captain killed in the Cork air disaster insist he was an excellent pilot and urge people not to blame him for the tragedy.

BOLTON boss Owen Coyle has heaped praise on Johan Elmander for the way the striker has turned his Trotters career around.

Mick McCarthy made no attempt to defend the tackle from Karl Henry that earned the Wolves captain a red card and set Wigan on the way to a valuable 2-0 win at the DW Stadium this afternoon.

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has wasted no time in making his first signing as a Premier League manager with the capture of Espanyol midfielder Jordi Gomez.

THE merger of IAWS and Hiestand of Switzerland to form Aryzta, based in Switzerland, marks a significant step forward in the evolution of IAWS, which will trade for the last time today on the Irish Stock Exchange.

Bolton will have to endure a nervy trip to Marseille next week following a goalless and bad tempered first-leg draw at the Reebok in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.

Bolton 1 Sevilla 1

Former Manchester United midfielder Jordi Cruyff has linked up with Bolton on their week-long training camp in Bormio, Italy.

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