Ireland prop Mike Ross is eyeing up a new two-year contract to take him into his late 30s and with the shortage of Test-ready tightheads in these parts there may not be a better time to ask for it.

Cian Healy will be fit and raring to go toe-to-toe when Leinster meet a Northampton pack scrum coach Greg Feek ranks with the very best in Europe.

Cian Healy has welcomed the increasing competition for places among Leinster’s front row as the province turns attention from Heineken Cup duties to Saturday’s Pro12 derby against Connacht.

It was only 18 months ago that Declan Kidney stood in the bowels of Twickenham and bemoaned the alarming dearth of quality tighthead props in Ireland.

GREG FEEK has earned his crust since leaving New Zealand and his post with the Hurricanes by moving to Dublin to find a cure for Leinster — and then Ireland’s — ailing scrums.

“A bloody focus” is the phrase Leinster forwards coach Jono Gibbes uses to describe what his pack need to counter the threat that comes from the Ospreys scrum on Friday.

A Swiss pilot aiming to become the first person to complete an intercontinental crossing using a jet-powered wing was forced to ditch into the sea today.

SWISS adventurer Yves Rossy cracked open the champagne yesterday as he toasted becoming the first person to fly solo across the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing.