It was a performance riddled with mistakes, so many of them elementary, but the side's reaction to adversity in the second-half, when coming from 13-0 down to claim the lead and hold out in the face of considerable pressure, was impressive.

Scrum-half issues further up the chain have impacted on Munster A head coach Peter Malone’s selection for the visit of Dragons A to Cork this afternoon for this Celtic Cup third round game (5:30pm).

Munster hit the new ground running last night as they won their opening pre-season game on Musgrave Park’s freshly installed playing surface to defeat Declan Kidney’s London Irish.

Ireland coach Adam Griggs admitted his side were well below their best after Scotland secured a surprise victory in yesterday’s Women’s Six Nations Championship at Donnybrook.

Ahead of their meeting in the Women’s Six Nations at Donnybrook tomorrow afternoon (1pm kick-off), Niamh Briggs acknowledged that Scotland are becoming a dangerous proposition for Ireland.

Ireland 35 Wales 12: Adam Griggs sang the praises of the “immense” Claire Molloy, after she secured a brace of tries in Ireland’s bonus-point victory over Wales in the Women’s Six Nations Championship at Donnybrook yesterday.

Wexford native Katie Fitzhenry is hoping that Ireland can build on victory over Italy when they welcome Wales to Donnybrook Stadium tomorrow afternoon (3pm).

The prospect of an Irish U20s jersey must have seemed a distant dream to a 16-year-old Tom O’Toole, as he looked out the window of Campbell College, in Belfast, on his first night at the school, and thought about the family he had left 10,000 miles behind, in Australia.

New Ireland women’s head coach Adam Griggs believes a daunting test in France tonight will be the making of his team.

Rugby star Sophie Spence wants female Irish players to “receive an equal level of respect and treatment” as their male counterparts.

Connacht 15 Worcester Warriors 8: You suspect the more Kieran Keane settles into life in Galway the more he appreciates exactly what his predecessor Pat Lam achieved, not just with limited resources but the manner in which he got them to play in the difficult climatic conditions.

Ulster 52 Dragons 25: Ballymena’s Nick Timoney marked his first Ulster start with a double helping as the home side charged virtually unopposed to the top of Conference B following a comprehensive eight-try drubbing of a dreadful Dragons outfit at the Kingspan Stadium last night.

Leo Cullen is expecting a Dragons side revitalised under new ownership and the guidance of former team-mate Bernard Jackman when Leinster open their Guinness Pro14 campaign at Rodney Parade in Newport this afternoon (3:15pm).

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Chris Ashton and Danny Cipriani have failed to make the cut for Eddie Jones' 45-man provisional England squad for the forthcoming Autumn series.

Worcester Warriors 20 Leicester Tigers 29: There was a nice moment about an hour before kick-off at Sixways Stadium on Saturday when Donncha O’Callaghan and Geordan Murphy found themselves in the same part of the pitch as the sides limbered up for this Premiership clash.

It’s only five months since Ireland made history at the Women’s Rugby World Cup by beating New Zealand in the pool stages and reaching the semi-finals, but the personnel changes since have been seismic.

Munster enjoyed the time of their lives for 40 minutes in last night’s Rabo Direct Pro12 clash with the Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park.

Off the field business has provided another unwelcome diversion from Munster’s crucial RaboDirect Pro12 clash with Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park tonight, with news of a second loan move by Peter Stringer fromSaracens to Newcastle Falcons.

Ulster’s Nevin Spence hopes to avoid the blues when he runs-up against Gavin Henson in Cardiff’s traditional Arms Park home tonight.

High hopes of Connacht repeating their famous victory of 10 years ago in Cardiff Arms Park were dashed last night when the Blues claimed victory on home soil.

Connacht coach Eric Elwood rallied his side for tonight’s clash with Cardiff Blues by urging them to show the spirit they showed in Europe this season.

A FIRST-HALF double by centre Darren Cave sent Ulster top of the RaboDirect Pro12 League with a deserved win over previous leaders Cardiff Blues at Ravenhill last night.

JAMES COUGHLAN scored the game’s only try but it was Munster’s defence that saw them put one foot in the Magners League play-offs in Cardiff last night.

LEINSTER coach Joe Schmidt has admitted that the next fortnight will be crucial to his team’s hopes of reaching the Magners League play-offs.

LEO CULLEN will become only the fifth player in Leinster’s history to reach the 150 cap mark when he leads the side out for tonight’s Magners League clash away to third-placed Cardiff Blues at the Cardiff Park Stadium (kick-off 6.30pm).

NORTHAMPTON maintained their perfect Heineken Cup Pool 1 record in a thriller at the Cardiff City Stadium after the Blues were hit by the second-half dismissal of Xavier Rush.

SOUTH AFRICAN rugby has reversed its policy of refusing to play against the New Zealand Maori, paving the way for match-ups between the two sides.

Ryan Jones has kept his Wales place despite losing the captaincy for Saturday’s Millennium Stadium clash against New Zealand.

WINGER Bryan Habana’s fractured a bone in his hand during training and will take no further part in South Africa’s tour of Britain and Ireland.

Ryan Jones has regained the Wales captaincy and will take charge of a much-changed team against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night.

Wales’ most-capped forward of all time – Cardiff Blues flanker Martyn Williams - has failed to win a starting place for the autumn Test series opener against Australia on Saturday.

Ireland internationals Alan Quinlan and Malcolm O’Kelly will face their countrymen as part of the Barbarians line-up for Friday’s non-cap international at Thomond Park in Limerick.

Former Munster prop Timmy Ryan has made the replacements bench on the Toulon squad to play Cardiff Blues in the Amlin Challenge Cup final in Marseilles tomorrow.

FRUSTRATED Ulster skipper Chris Henry is determined to lift his side following a flat performance last week when they lost to the Cardiff Blues.

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SCOTLAND team doctor James Robson has confirmed Thom Evans, Chris Paterson and Rory Lamont will miss the rest of the Six Nations after all suffered serious injuries in Saturday’s dramatic defeat by Wales in Cardiff.

Wales coach Warren Gatland has made two changes for the RBS 6 Nations clash against Scotland on Saturday – but lock Alun-Wyn Jones keeps his place.

MARTIN JOHNSON hailed England’s 30-17 Six Nations victory over Wales as a major step forward in the development of his team.