The Six Nations may be just 10 days away, but the World Cup in Japan this autumn looms large on the Irish rugby landscape.

SHANE BYRNE likes to take on a challenge.

A legend, a leader, a braveheart, a kind, loving and spiritual man were among the accolades used to describe Willie Duggan at his funeral Mass, when more than 1,000 people gathered to say farewell to a giant of Irish and international rugby.

Like so many of those who knew Anthony Foley, James Downey could not believe the news last October that his former boss had passed away so suddenly.

Danny O’Carroll A.K.A. (Buster Brady) has raised a staggering €50,000 for the victims of the Buncrana Pier Tragedy and Pieta House after an incredible fundraising night in Co Donegal.

The world of rugby and beyond yesterday has paid tribute to All Black legend Jonah Lomu, who passed away suddenly at the age of 40.

Check out our guide on the best of today's TV.

Here's the best of tonight's telly.

Check out our guide to what to watch on TV today.

Former Leinster stars Shane Byrne and Malcolm O’Kelly believe natural drive, a sharp rugby brain and sensible training can extend Paul O’Connell’s rugby career into 2016 at least.

Shane Byrne and Malcolm O’Kelly want the Tullow man kept in reserve against Italy.

‘Maybe This Christmas’

Síle Seoige and Friends

A wearable app that reports on its wearer’s position promises reliability in caring for the elderly, writes Trish Dromey

As the countdown continues to Ireland’s first game of the Guinness Series against South Africa on November 8, the competition for places is beginning to intensify.

Delighted campaigners behind plans for the country’s newest hospice have celebrated reaching their €3m fundraising target — with congratulations from a movie superstar.

A call for volunteers to join Ireland’s largest coastal clean-up and ensure Ireland’s beaches are in ship shape has been made as part of An Taisce’s Clean Coasts programme.

Dundalk’s excellent start to the season has received a major blow with the news that their captain Stephen O’Donnell’s campaign is over.

Stephen Kenny wants his Dundalk players to maintain their desire to help sustain their impressive start to the season.

Nothing like a bit of fun messing with the locals, is there? Especially when they've gone and entered a talent competition.

Cork City 4 Limerick FC 0

Featuring in a bizarre new ad campaign for Heineken Conor McGregor, Jennifer Maguire and Shane Byrne show off amazing skills we never knew they had.

A hidden talent search has been launched across Ireland with the aim of discovering one extraordinary person with the nation's most unusual talent.

A young man had such a quantity of anti-depressants, relaxants and alcohol that he could not remember breaking into a café at Blackrock village in Cork in the early hours of the morning.

She may be squat, wrinkled, and foul-mouthed but Agnes Brown could have outshone any Hollywood leading lady when she brought movie magic to Dublin’s Moore St yesterday.

Bafta winning comedian Brendan O’Carroll has claimed if critics could write as well as him they would not be critics.

Stuart Barnes (Former Lion and Sky Sports analyst)

CHRISTY Moore once wrote a song about climbing up the walls in the cold, grey reality of the aftermath of a serious bender.

Kildare 2-12 Wicklow 0-12

Former Leinster and Ireland hooker Shane Byrne fears “the floodgates could open” following news that Jonathan Sexton will be moving to France in the summer.

Dublin became a part of Hollywood yesterday when movie stars, directors, celebrities and fully paid-up members of the glitterati attended the European premiere of the new Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln in the city’s Savoy Cinema.

Bankrupt billionaire Seán Quinn was close to tears yesterday as more than 5,000 people came out in support in his hometown.

IN DUBLIN, the curtain has fallen on another Absolut Fringe festival.

Pic 1: Ronan, Linda and Gary Keating at the Marks & Spencer Marie Keating Foundation celebrity golf classic dinner at the K Club, Straffan, Co Kildare.

An 18-year-old Dublin man has been remanded in custody charged with assault in relation to an incident that has left a Galway man fighting for his life.

A man has been remanded in custody after appearing in court in Galway earlier today in connection with the serious assault of a man at the weekend.

SATURDAY

THEATREclub’s ethos of drama for the people underpins its new play, an exploration of what kinship means in Ireland, says Pádraic Killeen

Sanctuaire showed he had become the latest member of the Paul Nicholls team to have benefited from a breathing operation when bouncing back to his best in the Isle of Skye Blended Whisky Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr today.

FORMER Irish hooker Shane Byrne believes Scotland’s Peter Allan effectively ended his career as an international match official after his Millennium Stadium gaffe that could have cost Ireland a Triple Crown.