Jonathan Sexton has faced the brickbats before.

Leo Cullen insists Johnny Sexton will prove his worth as Ireland captain, and has backed his out-half to come back stronger after last Sunday’s Six Nations defeat to England.

The English papers were chock-full of U2 puns as they revelled in what The Telegraph termed "redemption day".

Eddie Jones was understandably pleased as he emerged from a trying week having engineered the platform for a powerhouse England performance to which Ireland could find no answer.

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The some times invisible line between the summit and the basement of affairs in Division 2 was summed up at the end of this entertaining tussle of many twists before Laois finally turned for home with two precious points in their safe-keeping.

Johnny Sexton threw down the gauntlet to his Ireland team ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Twickenham, saying they will need to play even better there this time than in their Grand Slam-winning victory of 2018.

Ireland’s management has insisted the team will not miss a beat despite the late change to the pack for tomorrow’s Twickenham showdown.

Andy Farrell began this week by warning his Ireland squad of the danger of turning up at Twickenham merely hoping it goes well.

With 97 Test caps to his name, it is fair to say Cian Healy has seen his share of captaincy styles over the years and, in his mind, the current skipper is not doing too badly at all.

Clongowes Wood College will face Castleknock College in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final after they ran in eight tries to get the better of St Gerard’s, Bray at Donnybrook

So much for stormy weather. The clouds may have been gathering around Ireland as they prepared to face Grand Slam champions Wales in Dublin, and not just those being blown in by Storm Ciara. Yet when Johnny Sexton speaks, all becomes calm.

Clare saved their most disappointing performance of this year’s Division Two campaign as they hardly raised a gallop on their visit to a wet and windy Dr. Hyde Park.

This was a statement win for Ireland, Andy Farrell, and for his senior players, writes Tom Savage.

If last week was flat then this was full on.

It was only last week that Andrew Conway was asked whether, in light of the changes in the Ireland coaching ranks and the different lessons for players to learn, you could teach old dogs new tricks.

Tadhg Furlong did not think of himself much as a leader coming into the season.

When Dave Kilcoyne and Jack McGrath were named in Ireland’s matchday 23 to face Italy 12 months ago, Cian Healy lost no sleep.

Ronan O'Gara has tried to put himself in the Ireland boss’s shoes this week and he knows all too well that there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to team selection.

Martin Coppinger played an unbelievable second last shot of 287.5m which set him up to pip Aidan Murphy in a riveting Noel Phair Cup tie at Shannonvale.

Conor Murray or John Cooney? It’s the selection question that has polarised opinion at the outset of Ireland’s new era under Andy Farrell but it doesn’t always have to be one or the other.

If Andy Farrell proves to be nothing more than a lucky general, then Ireland supporters are in for one hell of a ride in the coming years.

Just as everything came right for Clare as they recovered from an 0-8 to 0-6 deficit early in the second half to hit five out of the last seven points for victory, it went horribly wrong for Kildare

Ireland were jaggy, a little confused structurally on both sides of the ball and under pressure in the scrum/maul, but they showed up to work in the hard moments in both halves and came out with a win, writes Tom Savage.

Clare dug deep to claim their first win of the National League campaign with a deserved one-point success over 14-man Kildare in Ennis.

Ireland have a number of injury issues as they start preparations today to face Wales in Dublin this Saturday following an attritional 19-12 opening-round Guinness Six Nations win over Scotland.

As shakedown games go, this one ended up being a little more shaky than Ireland might have expected. The final score said 19-12 to Ireland but that didn’t really tell the story of the game so much as gesture vaguely in the direction of the side that took their chances with more efficiency, writes Tom Savage.

It may have been Hogg with the schoolboy error but Ireland's report card is clear: must do better, writes Brendan O'Brien.

Stuart Hogg’s cock-up at a crucial moment was in stark contrast to Ireland’s new skipper Johnny Sexton, writes Simon Lewis.

Scotland threw everything at the hosts in the closing stages but some heroic defence saw Ireland hold on.

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

The question didn’t come from out of left field so much as the Far East. Where, asked the Japanese journalist, would you rank Ireland on a scale from one to 100 right now?

Ireland turn the page from one era to the next this week as the 2020 Guinness Six Nations gets underway with not just a new coaching team but also a fresh player leadership group.

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.

Simon Lewis identifies the three biggest talking points after new Ireland boss Any Farrell named his team to face Scotland on Saturday.

IRELAND’S implosion at the World Cup sent ripples in all sorts of directions.

The departure of head coach, Joe Schmidt, in November, also left a vacancy for someone to steer Ireland’s offensive gameplan and successor, Andy Farrell, reconnected with former fellow England assistant, Mike Catt.

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.

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.