Connacht coach Andy Friend says they must park their European Challenge Cup quarter-final qualification and the call-up of half-a-dozen of his squad for Six Nations duty and concentrate on a crunch PRO14 clash in Cardiff on Saturday.

Connacht have only managed to do the double over an Irish province on one occasion, but victory at the Sportsground this evening (7.35pm) against Ulster would help soften the blow of not putting Leinster away last weekend.

“I don’t think there’s another Joe out there,” says Ronan O’Gara, when guided toward the topic of life after Joe Schmidt.

Andy Friend is hoping his first pre-season as Connacht head coach has brought the clarity to his players he feels is the key to a successful PRO14 campaign.

Connacht backs’ coach Nigel Carolan says Australian international Kyle Godwin is the first of a number of big signings for the province.

Connacht will hope that a home win over a 15th different French club at the Sportsground today will not only confirm a home quarter-final in the Challenge Cup but might also be enough to ensure a potential semi-final would also be back in Galway.

Connacht return to their happiest hunting ground in the league this evening, bidding for their seventh win in 16 visits to Rodney Parade when they take on Dragons.

Kieran Marmion may have won 10 of his 16 Irish caps since November in a rich vein of form but he knows that the immediate impact made by his former Connacht team-mate John Cooney in Ulster will not go unnoticed.

The South African government have approved a €170m guarantee to strengthen the country’s chances of hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

From a Munster Schools Senior Cup winning back row to a Waikato Premier A front row, Jack Dineen admits his life in rugby has taken the road less travelled.

Ahead of Ireland’s opening game in the World Rugby U20 Championship against Italy tomorrow at the AIA Arena in Kutaisi, Jack Kelly revealed that being released from his original role of team captain has taken some pressure off his shoulders.

Ireland U20 head coach Peter Malone is looking forward to having another crack at New Zealand as he prepares to bring his side into battle for this summer’s World Rugby U20 Championships in Georgia, writes Daire Walsh.

Connacht coach Pat Lam will make an immediate return to the Sportsground this summer with his new club Bristol.

Connacht may have managed to hold on to most of their frontline players for next season but there will be a significant shift in personnel at the Sportsground for the start of the Kieran Keane era.

Ireland 10 England 14: Gavin Coombes’ late try was not enough to deny England U-20s a Grand Slam as Nigel Carolan’s side fell just short in Donnybrook.

The Ireland Under-20s outperformed their English counterparts in a pulsating encounter but just fell short of a final round win at a wind-hit Donnybrook.

Ireland U20 coach Nigel Carolan insists his side wouldn’t lack for motivation against Grand Slam- chasing England at Donnybrook this evening (6pm).

Ireland 27 France 22: Not a performance to shout about, but Ireland’s U20s did just about enough to make it three wins from three in this year’s Six Nations at Donnybrook last night.

Bill Johnston made an eagerly anticipated return to rugby last Friday when he featured for Garryowen against Young Munster but the gifted out-half is to be eased back into the provincial and international arenas.

The Stadio Zaffanella in Viadana lay close to empty and torpid under the June sun as Ireland’s U20s eked out a narrow win over Scotland to finish seventh at the 2015 Junior World Cup.

It is believed that an escape clause which required Pat Lam to give six months notice was the primary reason why the Connacht coach made the announcement yesterday that he was departing the Sportsground at the end of the season.

Both Munster and Ireland will have confidence soaring after success against All Black sides, writes Donal Lenihan. 

Irish captain James Ryan expressed his pride in his teammates’ performances at the World Rugby U-20 Championship and will look back on great memories from the event, but was bitterly disappointed to come up short in the final.

England 45 Ireland 21: Twenty-one points was enough to win each of the two previous World Rugby U20 Championship finals and only twice has a team scored more than that and lost, but you got the impression at the AJ Bell Stadium on Saturday evening that no matter what Ireland scored, England would nab more.

Coach Nigel Carolan has urged his men to play the game and not the occasion when they take on England this evening (7pm) in the World Rugby U20 Championship at the AJ Bell Stadium in Greater Manchester.

Former Westmeath minor footballer Conor O’Brien might this week be preparing for a Leinster SFC semi-final showdown with Kildare in Croke Park, but instead it’s the World Rugby U20 Championship final.

Ireland 37 Argentina 7: Irish coach Nigel Carolan says they will treat next Saturday’s World Rugby U-20 Championship final in much the same way as they have approached every other game in the tournament and try not to dwell on the significance of their appearance.

The strength of the squad available to Irish U20 coach Nigel Carolan was apparent on Tuesday night when he made 13 changes and still brushed Georgia aside 35-7.