As Six Nations’ Grand Slams go, the one Rory Best collected amid the snowflakes at Twickenham beats them all.

Ireland’s form this season is remarkable, we’re now 11 wins in a row, we’re number two in the world, already we’re champions with a game in hand so these are great days and we should embrace it for what it is.

A legend, a leader, a braveheart, a kind, loving and spiritual man were among the accolades used to describe Willie Duggan at his funeral Mass, when more than 1,000 people gathered to say farewell to a giant of Irish and international rugby.

For all the superlatives rightly thrown in the direction of Joe Schmidt’s team the past couple of days, one aspect of Soldier Field has probably still not been fully appreciated.

1. Seisiun singing Sing Out Sunday takes over Dublin’s Helix Theatre this weekend for an event never before seen in Ireland, a ‘mass choir get-together’ led by The Voice UK’s vocal coach Mark De-Lisser.

JAY has been raised by his mother on a diet of ‘gods, monsters, lambs, virgins and fillums, fillums, fillums.’

Legends from soccer, GAA and rugby have come out in support of a campaign to raise funds for a memorial for a footballer who was the first Irish man to play for Manchester United.

The debate rages from day to day, week to week, month to month... Ian Keatley or JJ Hanrahan at out-half for Munster? It puts those of us old enough to remember in mind of the Ollie Campbell-Tony Ward argument back in the 1980s.

You heard the views of the Irish camp after losing to New Zealand last November.

Ollie Campbell described Warren Gatland’s axing of Brian O’Driscoll as “arguably the biggest and most controversial decision in the long history of the Lions.”

Ollie Campbell believes Munster can create another Heineken Cup upset by beating Harlequins at the Stoop on Sunday.

Form and fitness may be accepted prerequisites when choosing any squad but Warren Gatland will have little of either to go on in the case of Jonathan Sexton when he announces his British and Irish Lions touring party next month.

Anyone expecting the French to pitch up in Dublin on Saturday and roll over after losing their opening three games in the Six Nations for the first time since 1982 had better think again.

Former Irish and Lions legend Ollie Campbell is surprised at Ronan O’Gara’s treatment by national coach Declan Kidney with only weeks to go to the completion of the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

How ironic that a decision by the Welsh Rugby Union to swell their coffers by adding an additional fixture to their schedule could now end up costing them a fortune.

THE Irish back-row, in the hot kitchen, with a mish-mash: this game of Cleudo carried no mysteries for Inspector Hook.

THE touch judge who mistakenly advised Jonathan Kaplan to award Wales’ try against Ireland on Saturday is likely to be sanctioned by the IRB today.

FORMER Irish star Ollie Campbell has called for a thorough and transparent inquiry into Wales’ try at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

A BIG funeral for a giant of a man.

I OFTEN wondered what those people working in the high-rise office block behind the Shelbourne Hotel thought of it all.

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

TWO former Irish rugby stars believe there will be no serious fall-out from Saturday’s Croke Park loss to Scotland.

AS A KID in South Africa he knew the names. Lansdowne Road.

DECLAN KIDNEY knew when he handed Jonathan Sexton the number 10 jersey against Fiji that he could be presenting himself with a major selection headache.

IAN McGEECHAN has turned to seven of Ireland’s Grand Slam heroes to rescue an ailing Lions Series, but Ollie Campbell believes there’s likely to be a backlash against the Irish contingent should the match go pear-shaped in Pretoria.

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.

WHAT A tumultuous 12 months for Irish rugby: the provinces excelling and the national team winning just seven matches from 14.

FORMER Irish out-half Ollie Campbell yesterday praised the timing of Eddie O’Sullivan’s resignation announcement and predicted that Declan Kidney would be the next head Irish coach.

EOIN REDDAN or Peter Stringer as Ireland’s scrum-half? That’s a conundrum fixating Ireland’s rugby public since September 17 when Eddie O’Sullivan named Reddan ahead of Stringer for the crucial World Cup clash with France.

IT’S HARD to find anybody who’ll back against Munster’s home advantage, as John Riordan found out.

AS SURE as night follows day, rugby players retire and fresh talent emerges. I was extremely fortunate to kickstart my international career in the company of some of the greats of Irish rugby including Moss Keane, Fergus Slattery, Willie Duggan and Ollie Campbell.

Clonakilty 8 Old Belvedere 10

TOMORROW will be an emotional day at Lansdowne Road, the day when fans and players, former and present, say goodbye to international rugby at the rickety old stadium.

THE last throw of the dice for Ireland to prove they’re up there with the big boys.

FORMER Irish rugby star Ollie Campbell believes the possible closure of Thomond Park would be a disaster for sport in this country.

The Irish Rugby Football Union last night confirmed its 2006 summer tour schedule in which the Irish team will play New Zealand twice and Australia once on the trip to the Southern Hemisphere.

RONAN O’GARA has been tipped to head the Lions challenge in New Zealand next summer by one of the best out halves the world has known.

TRIPLE CROWN winners are a small and illustrious cartel. With six titles in the vault, the last in 1985, the current membership figures don’t venture into the treble digits.

It remains the most famous Irish try of them all. Everyone who was at Twickenham in 1982 swears the Irish pack pushed Gerry McLoughlin over the line. ‘Ginger’ sees it differently! Diarmuid O'Flynn reports.

THE MAGNIFICENCE of Ireland’s triumphant march towards Triple Crown glory has captured the imagination of the country.

AMIDST all the recent and highly justified hoopla about All-Ireland finals and Ryder Cups, world titles won in rowing and showjumping, one continuing heroic Irish performance is lost.

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