Shane Horgan has warned that Ireland are too dependent on Jonathan Sexton and believes there is a case for Joey Carbery to play beside the out-half in what would be a huge departure for the team under Joe Schmidt.

We had the Holy Communion in the house last week, our two boys decked out in their three-piece suits like they were about to appear on The Sunday Game, and along with the rest of their classmates, they enjoyed the ceremony and celebrations under gorgeous May sunshine.

Gordon D’Arcy remembers when angst was the daily diet in Dublin.

Brian O'Driscoll has said the manner in which Tadhg Beirne won a penalty for Munster in the Champions Cup quarter-final is "not a good look" for rugby.

It’s a big evening on the channel that used to be TV3 — Virgin Media One, in case you weren’t sure (and for the record I wasn’t, not fully).

Tonight will tell Stuart Lancaster a lot.

Taking and giving a five or 10-metre pass is a fundamental part of the game yet the skills required to deliver under pressure are often overlooked, writes Donal Lenihan.

Jamie Heaslip’s recent retirement has left a vacancy for the title of rugby’s ‘Mr Indestructible’ and one look through the Saracens duty roster for the season to date makes a persuasive case for Alex Goode as the heir apparent.

Montpellier 14 - Leinster 23: To think, just a few months back, this was the Pool of Death to kill all other Pools of death.

TV3 is to change its name as part of a major rebranding of the station later this year.

John Fintan Daly jnr and Matthew Dilworth produced brilliant attacking performances as Knocknagree bridged a 26-year gap, landing the Cork JAFC title, overcoming Erin’s Own in the final yesterday.

It’s a decade since soccer made its Croke Park debut when Ireland faced Wales but the occasion didn’t have the same impact as rugby’s appearances at GAA HQ.

Ireland, their Six Nations hopes still alive, will enter the white heat of a Friday night appointment at the Principality Stadium with head coach Joe Schmidt trusting his leaders in an unchanged team to keep emotions in check on what promises to be another high-octane showdown with Wales.

Here's your morning bulletin.

Irish comedy star Sharon Horgan has revealed she is penning a new movie for Oscar-winning actress/producer Reese Witherspoon.

Shane Horgan has challenged both Munster and Leinster to follow the example of Guinness Pro12 champions Connacht and attack the new season with a more exciting brand of ball-in-hand rugby.

A potent mix of old rivalries, family ties and fervent patriotic values will make life very uncomfortable for Ireland’s three South African-born players with former Springbok Thinus Delport predicting a hostile reception on their return.

Conor Murray has received Shane Horgan’s backing to cope with the pressure of being one of Ireland’s key figures against South Africa, but fears the team are becoming too reliant on the Munster scrum-half.

CJ Stander must fill the Munster leadership vacuum if the province are to succeed in Europe this season and he is to force his way into an Ireland jersey, says double European winner Shane Horgan.

Keeping up with the blur of moves made by players this past year or so has been an impossible task, but the scale of the migrations and the quality of the players involved are evident just from those involving Leinster’s Champions Cup pool opponents this term.

Ireland and Leinster rugby star Jamie Heaslip has described some rugby pundits as “cowboys”.

Jonathan Sexton will be hoping referee Nigel Owens can offer him protection this weekend from French heads and elbows that have previously left him battered and bruised.

Why does nothing this cool ever happen in our local?

Irish coach Joe Schmidt insisted during the week that places in the World Cup squad were still up for grabs. After yet another defeat to the Barbarians at Thomond Park last night, he will go home for another re-think after a performance he described as “a bit inaccurate.”

While it had initially looked like Matt O’Connor would see out the final year of his contract with Leinster, yesterday’s news of his departure wasn’t all that surprising.

Ireland must conquer the “step-up in psychological pressure” to become genuine World Cup contenders, according to Shane Horgan.

This may be the Rugby Champions Cup’s inaugural season, but the feeling this weekend, as the two semi-finals are contested on French soil, is one of familiarity, given the identities of the four clubs involved.

The Top 14’s financial watchdog this week released a report showing France’s top 30 clubs have an accumulated debt of almost €34 million — yet nobody here batted an eyelid, writes Ronan O’Gara.

Captain Blackadder: It’s the same plan that we used last time and the 17 times before that.

It’s attention to detail that makes Ireland a bit special, writes Kieran Shannon.

Robbie Henshaw saw that it was on. When Craig Joubert raised his arm to signify a potential penalty for Ireland just outside England’s 22, Henshaw’s mind backtracked to the countless hours spent in Carton House preparing for just such a situation with his scrum-half.

After Round 3 it was celebrations for Ireland as they defeated an England side who were almost unrecognisable to the side that dismantled Wales in Cardiff just a few weeks ago.

Six Nations fever is set to grip nation once again at the weekend as Ireland welcome England to the Aviva Stadium in what could be a Championship deciding clash.

Only three Irish players have ever had more experience of days and games like this but by now, Peter Stringer has become reluctantly accustomed to looking in from the outside on them.

Cork football star Valerie Mulcahy will reveal how she came to terms with her sexuality in a television documentary next week.