Niall will lead a team that includes his younger brother Rory and their cousin, Jack O'Sullivan.

Ireland target a Triple Crown on Sunday at Twickenham against England, as they bid to maintain their perfect record in the tournament.

The head coach retained 23 players for a two-day camp in Cork last week, while 13 others returned were released back to their provinces to get game-time.

Conference A leaders Leinster continued their unbeaten season with a 36-12 bonus-point win over Cheetahs at a rain-lashed RDS.

THE RDS promises to deliver more than the usual fare tomorrow for a Six Nations down-week.

Chris Farrell and Jack O’Donoghue return to Munster.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has made two enforced changes to the Ireland team to face Wales in Saturday's Six Nations clash.

Meanwhile, uncapped Leinster back-row Will Connors has been drafted into Andy Farrell's squad.

Earlier in the week, new head coach Andy Farrell made the point that he wanted his Irish team to stand for something.

Johnny Sexton starred on his first outing as permanent Ireland captain as Andy Farrell’s tenure as head coach began with an unconvincing 19-12 victory over Scotland.

Simon Easterby knows what it is to be dropped in at the deep end.

The Leinster out-half was named Ireland captain by Andy Farrell for the upcoming Six Nations, replacing Rory Best, who retired after last year’s World Cup.

Saturday’s Six Nation’s opener between Ireland and Scotland brings together two coaches at different stages of their journey. Both will be feeling the pressure, but for different reasons, writes Donal Lenihan

That Conor Murray gets the nod at scrum-half for Ireland's Six Nations opener against Scotland on Saturday - despite the clamour for the in-form John Cooney - was predictable, writes Donal Lenihan.

Andy Farrell has handed Leinster No.8 Caelan Doris a Test debut against Scotland this Saturday at the expense of Peter O’Mahony.

Andy Farrell believes he will be leading Ireland into a new era with a squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations he believes has got the lot.

Andy Farrell's first squad was not one named for shock value, though the omissions are as notable as the new additions.

The coaching group have also named four development players who will train with the squad.

Johnny Sexton remains on track to be fit for Andy Farrell's Six Nations baptism next month – but he will not feature against Benetton this weekend.

As Joey Carbery and Jacob Stockdale lined up against each other at Ravenhill, it was noted that four years ago, at the time of the 2015 World Cup, neither had made their provincial debuts.

Leinster are poised to present a batch of fresh and inexperienced faces when they take on Munster this weekend but James Tracy won’t be among the boys in blue experiencing Thomond Park for the first time.

There's no room for Rob Kearney, Seán Cronin, Jordi Murphy, Jack Carty, John Ryan or Kieran Marmion – with newly eligible Jamison Gibson-Park jumping ahead of the Connacht man at scrum-half.

With the Six Nations kicking off in less than two months, it is the first squad meet-up since the national team returned from Japan.

‘Tis the season for Christmas jumpers, blue Santa hats, and Leinster at the Aviva.

Saracens have named an almost totally different side to face Munster at Allianz Park tomorrow, while the Reds make one change from their 10-3 home win.

Joe Schmidt appears to be the sacrificial lamb, thrown under the bus not only by Nucifora but later in the day by his captain Rory Best. Long live the king.

The four Irish provinces have named their teams for this weekend's Champions Cup clashes.

For Leinster this week it will be a case of out with the new and in with the old. More or less, anyway.

Brian Ashton was a prophet in a land that couldn’t understand his message when he took over as Ireland head coach in the 1990s.

The World Cup may be long over, but the ripple effect is set to spill into the upcoming bout of festive PRO14 fixtures with a larger-than-usual

There are three changes to the team that defeated Ospreys.

The IRFU’s World Cup post-mortem will go on for some time yet but the evidence of the weekend just passed would suggest that many of the players involved have turned the page.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen hailed his returning international contingent after their 33-19 bonus point victory over Benetton Rugby in their Heineken Champions Cup Pool One opener.

Garry Ringrose is still sporting a bandage to cover the head injury he picked up in Japan but a hat-trick of tries in this bonus-point Heineken Champions Cup win in Dublin suggests that there is no lingering hangover from Ireland's dismal World Cup showing.

Sean O’Brien was among a handful of former Leinster stars who returned to the team HQ this week to set the scene for the province’s ‘drive for five’ ahead of today’s Heineken Champions Cup opener against Benetton.

Keith Earls will make his first Munster appearance of the season in tomorrow's Champions Cup opener against the Ospreys.

Anyone who has ever over-indulged on a night out knows that the extent of the hangover isn’t always directly related to the number of drinks downed before the head hits the pillow.

Leo Cullen makes nine changes to the Leinster team which edged past Zebre 3-0 for tomorrow's game against the Dragons.

Leinster strung together four second-half tries as they handed Edinburgh a 40-14 defeat at the RDS Main Arena that ended the Scots’ winning start to the Guinness PRO14 season.

Leinster maintained their 100% start to the Guinness PRO14 season in a game of two halves at a blustery RDS.

Leo Cullen has braced his players for an altogether more challenging Friday night at the RDS tonight (kick-off 7.35pm), a week on from their eight-try hammering of Ospreys.

The full-back's contract expires in November after the Rugby World Cup.

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, Bryan Byrne was playing in the B&I Cup final at Ealing’s Trailfinders Sports Ground in front of 1,386 fans.

Both Leinster and Ulster have named their teams ahead of their clash tomorrow at the Kingspan stadium.