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.

Whether it is facing the bright young things of English rugby or training against the likes of Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray, Ireland Under-20 fly-half Jack Crowley treats it with the same mantra: respect all, fear no-one.

Ireland have won their Six Nations clash with Wales by 24-14 to record a second successive victory under new head coach Andy Farrell.

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.

Before this game, Leinster repeatedly talked up the difficulty involved in getting one over their Italian opponents.

Leinster clinched top-seed status and a home Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final as they made it a record-breaking 16 wins in a row in all competitions this season with an 18-0 victory at Benetton.

Nash has been named to start on the wing as Keith Earls misses out due to a minor knee injury in one of two changes to Johann van Graan's side.

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

The Munster head coach was able to select JJ Hanahan as his starting fly-half to face Racing 92 in Sunday’s crucial Heineken Champions Cup pool clash at La Défense Arena.

Joey Carbery has been left gutted to face a return to the treatment table so soon after completing his comeback from injury.

Given the trail of destruction Leinster have left in their wake on visits to opposition grounds this season, it would be easy to portray Munster as just another hapless victim of a superbly efficient rugby machine.

Johann van Graan was left to rue Munster’s failure to break down Leinster’s defences as Leo Cullen’s defending champions continued their 100 per cent start to the Guinness PRO14 campaign with a hard-fought victory at Thomond Park.

With the clock ticking and Munster trailing 13-6, the home side won a crucial penalty inside the Leinster 22 after a sustained period of pressure and kicked for the corner.

There’s something iconic about the mix of red and blue.

Carbery has spent the last two months rehabbing an ankle injury.

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.

Seven tries last week, another seven tonight.

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

The Leinster out-half suffered a knee injury during last Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup win away to Northampton Saints.

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.

Jonathan Sexton has been ruled out of Leinster's Heineken Champions Cup meeting with Northampton Saints this weekend but the full extent of his knee injury has yet to be determined.

Northampton has been a happy hunting ground for Leinster in the past and they have the scent of a quarter-final berth in their nostrils yet again after this impressive win.

Leinster extended their winning run and with it their lead at the top of Guinness Pro14 Conference A with a 23-10 victory over Glasgow in a repeat of last season’s final.

There are three changes to the team that defeated Ospreys.

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.

Leinster are calling this block of Guinness PRO14 games ‘Own the Jersey’ – and Caelan Doris intends to do so with the No 8 shirt.

Joe Schmidt backed a cool and calm Jack Carty to run the Ireland show in Johnny Sexton’s absence as part of the head coach’s plan to ruin Japan’s World Cup party at Stadium Ecopa tomorrow (8.15am Irish time).

So now the real work begins. The debates over squad selection are over, at least inside the Irish camp, and now comes the business end of Joe Schmidt’s preparations for Japan and the 2019 World Cup.

Jack Carty extended his 27th birthday celebrations into an extra day yesterday with the news he had been included in Ireland’s 2019 World Cup squad.

Joe Schmidt described the difficulty of narrowing his Ireland 2019 World Cup squad down from 45 over the course of the summer before making his final cut to bring the number to 31 on Monday.

In another unexpected move, head coach Schmidt preferred Luke McGrath as his back-up scrum-half over Conor Murray’s long-standing number two Kieran Marmion.

Fly-half Byrne gets the chance of a lifetime in the absence of both Johnny Sexton and Joey Carbery with a first Ireland start in just his third Test.

Josh van der Flier has backed “calm, controlled” Ross Byrne to take his Twickenham start for Ireland in his stride tomorrow, just as the fly-half hit the ground running with Leinster.

Ross Byrne will get the chance to nail down his World Cup place at Twickenham tomorrow as Joe Schmidt juggles his fly-half options for next month’s final cut.

So that’s nearly Thursday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Joe Schmidt has called on Ross Byrne to make the most of his opportunity and stake a claim to a place in Ireland’s World Cup squad after handing the fly-half his first Test start against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Ireland team to play England on Saturday has been announced and Ross Byrne is set to win his third cap.

It does not take a mathematician to realise seven into five won’t go but the task facing Ireland team management as they juggle their half-back permutations for the upcoming World Cup may be up there with the work of the best Nobel Prize winners.

Ireland could be ready to hand inexperienced fly-halves Jack Carty and Ross Byrne their chances to capitalise on Joey Carbery’s injury with valuable game time in the toughest circumstances against England at Twickenham this Saturday.