Sit steady and stop fidgeting. The World Cup is about to get properly serious.

Driving down the motorway yesterday from Dublin to Newbridge, the road to Munster stretched out in front. The gravitational pull of Cork.

NEED to know how the Lions mess with your head? On the morning of Warren Gatland’s tour squad announcement I was watching Sky Sports News thinking ‘my name could get called out here’.

CORK and Dublin don’t share much in the way of recent championship history but John O’Leary is more qualified than most when it comes to untangling the few strands that drew the counties together twice in 1983 and once again 12 years later.