What does it take to win a Grand Slam? Upset a president for a start...

Ireland beware… this English team is hurting and it makes a change from where they were coming from at the start of the Six Nations when they were looking to sweep all before them.

After this momentous win, who knows what this Irish squad is capable of achieving.

Every year in Trinity College Dublin, John Scally, a lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religions, organises a conference on the ethics of sport, writes Paul Rouse.

They give the impression of having it all — the world’s most charismatic player, match-winners all over the pitch, and an Irish skills coach better versed than anyone else in the art of conquering Europe.

Rugby World Cup Pool A

David Pocock believes Australian rugby looks past size when it comes to back-row forwards thanks to pioneers Phil Waugh and George Smith.

Keith Wood believes Ireland are a better team than England, but fears that edge may not be apparent as soon as this Sunday.

My memory of a lot of things from my career wouldn’t be perfect, but Ireland v England at Croke Park in 2007 is as clear as it gets.

Ireland’s hopes of securing hosting rights for the 2023 Rugby World Cup were given a boost yesterday when the chief executive of World Rugby (formerly the IRB) indicated that the tournament is likely to end up in, or near, Dublin’s time zone.

It feels strange for the Millennium Stadium to host a Heineken Cup decider this weekend without an Irish province in sight. Of the 18 finals to date, Cardiff has staged six, including the first two in 1996 and 1997 won by Toulouse and Brive respectively.

His Munster career goes back to the 90s, 244 games ago. But patronise Donncha O’Callaghan about being a great servant at your peril. He wants game time. Like tomorrow in Marseille. Munster’s lifer lock opens up on friends and family.

Differing contests in so many ways yet equally compelling.

Peter Stringer is poised to write his name into the history books as only the third player to secure 100 caps in European competitions should he get the nod to start in Bath’s Amlin Challenge Cup game against Rugby Mogliano tomorrow.

Warren Gatland has come out fighting ahead of the British & Irish Lions’ series decider with Australia, questioning whether the Wallabies can reach the necessary emotional peak for Saturday’s third Test.

Michael Bradley has left his position as Edinburgh head coach with immediate effect.

Edinburgh Rugby are searching for a new head coach after informing Michael Bradley they will not renew his contract at the end of the season.

Ian Keatley is under no illusions of the task ahead in his first Heineken Cup start at out-half in Thomond Park tomorrow afternoon.

As a man of Munster but also head coach of Edinburgh, Michael Bradley is drawing encouragement from both teams ahead of tomorrow’s crucial Heineken Cup clash at Thomond Park.

Rob Penney has declared Munster’s period of transition to be well and truly over as the province turns its focus towards Saturday’s meeting with Leinster and, beyond that, the opening rounds of the Heineken Cup.

Leinster 22 Edinburgh 16

Today, at the RDS, it will be Tom Denton’s turn.

Leinster played some sparkling rugby when they spanked Cardiff in the Heineken Cup quarter-final on Saturday, but, according to out-half Ian Madigan, there’s even better to come.

“LIFE is too short to hold a grudge, also too long,” a wise man once reflected, clearly outside the earshot of Angelo Mosca and Joe Kapp — the two septuagenarian ex-football players, who made news worldwide this week when they brawled at a Canadian Football League alumni lunch, over an incident that happened in 1963.

Clive Woodward has claimed the RFU has reduced England to a “laughing stock” and is doomed to make the same mistakes again as they seek to replace Martin Johnson.

HARLEQUINS and Munster have a European rugby relationship that goes way back. In 1997, Harlequins arrived to play their final pool match in Thomond Park with a quarter-final place in the bag looking to confirm a home draw.

LEO CULLEN won a Premiership title and EDF Energy Cup and also played in a Heineken Cup final with Leicester Tigers but some of the Leinster captain’s fondest memories of his time in the East Midlands are reserved for his days on the club’s training pitches.

James Haskell has dismissed taunts from the Ireland camp that the rest of the rugby world will be behind their bid to ruin England’s Grand Slam party on Saturday.

MONTHS of rehab sapped Jerry Flannery’s appetite for the sideline, so last month the choice was easy.

Ulster 19 Leeds Carnegie 16, Ravenhill

ENGLAND like to bully teams. It’s their modus operandi. Throughout international rugby history, successful English sides have usually been aggressors.

THIS Irish rugby squad is fast becoming a victim of its own success with expectation levels at home at an all time high coming into this year’s Six Nations. We have also become a treasured scalp for even the top teams. Nothing illustrated this more than the sight of a French side doing a lap of honour after beating Ireland in Paris.

Lewis Moody has warned England they will need all the “dog, heart and enthusiasm” in their armoury if they are to beat Italy in Rome this Sunday.

Martin Johnson is confident England head into the RBS 6 Nations with the strongest squad he has been able to select during an often-troubled 18-month reign.

A HOST of big names will take part in the first ever Stuart Mangan Memorial match between England and Ireland Legends at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday, February 26 – the night before the countries meet in the Six Nations at Twickenham.

IN the professional environment of a rugby-mad country where bulk is almost a condition of employment, Heinrich Brussow doesn’t quite fit the bill.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL yesterday admitted his squad felt ‘disappointed and deflated’ after the Republic of Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat to France on Wednesday night.

RUGBY fans should well remember what Neil Back did to Munster in 2002. It was the closing minutes of the Heineken Cup final between the Irish team and his side, Leicester. The English side is winning by 15 points to 9, but Munster have a scrum in front of the Leicester posts, in a perfect position to launch a final assault on the Leicester line, to score a try that would have left Munster with a conversion to win the cup.

THERE probably isn’t enough ink to do justice to an afternoon with Stuart Barnes. The former England international and Lion rolls out the stories and anecdotes — the late Keith Floyd figures in a few — in a steady stream.

Joe Worsley will make his first start for England since the group stages of the 2007 World Cup after being selected at open-side flanker for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations game against Wales.

Keith Wood believes England are suffering from a lack of star players and insists it will take all of Martin Johnson’s fabled leadership skills to change their fortunes.

Rob Andrew has revealed injured fly-half Danny Cipriani is unlikely to be included in England’s elite player squad for next season.

Former World Cup-winning South Africa coach Jake White is the most high-profile name on a list of contenders to take over at Leicester after the departure of head coach Marcelo Loffreda.