Arigo Sacchi, the great Italian football coach, once said football is the “most important of the least important things in life”.

Tommy Bowe scored 30 tries in 69 appearances for Ireland so how excited is he by the back three that starts on Saturday, what does he expect to see from Mike Catt’s attack as the Guinness Six Nations progresses and how does he feel about that Croke Park loss to the Scots ten years ago?

They once boasted one of the strongest playing rosters in European rugby and were famously labelled the ‘Galacticos’ of Welsh rugby.

The competition in Ulster’s back three means a shiny new three-year contract guarantees Rob Lyttle nothing — but he is more than willing to fight for every chance he can get.

As Ireland hunkers down for the arrival Thursday of Hurricane Lorenzo (has a weather event ever sounded as masculine?), over in Japan the boys in green are slowly moving on from the wreckage of last Saturday’s storm in Shizuoka.

Joe Schmidt has made a lot of changes to his Ireland set up since the 2015 World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina.

Eir sport has unveiled a "new and fresh" looking Rugby World Cup team of experts, with Gordon D’Arcy, Peter Stringer and Jerry Flannery fronting studio analysis for Japan in the autumn.

Tommy Bowe believes Ireland’s players will have been “rattled” by their Six Nations defeat to Wales last March.

Tommy Bowe expects Ireland to deliver their best display of the year in Cardiff this weekend.

Ireland underlined their World Cup credentials with victory against New Zealand on Saturday.

The three strands of Darren Hughes’ life come together to sustain the Monaghan midfielder; football, family, and farming as he shares a day in a way of life that is rapidly diminishing in rural Ireland.

Former Olympian Derval O’Rourke has said that people treated her like she had died when she retired from running.

Once upon a time, former senior manager Jack O’Connor thought it would be a good idea to bring in a sport psychologist to do a group session with the Kerry players of the last decade.

Andrew Trimble last night called time on an illustrious playing career with Ulster and Ireland by announcing he will retire at the end of the season.

Ulster start rookie tight-head Ross Kane against a fired-up Ospreys at the Kingspan Stadium this evening.

This Grand Slam is the start of something very exciting, writes Stephen Ferris.

As Six Nations’ Grand Slams go, the one Rory Best collected amid the snowflakes at Twickenham beats them all.

What are your plans for tomorrow?

Jacob Stockdale has made history and set Ireland firmly on course for a third ever Grand Slam.

Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh picks an Irish XV comprising of the 2009 Grand Slam team and the team that will chase that title on Saturday. 

Jacob Stockdale was just 13 years of age when he saw his Ireland heroes claim Ireland’s Grand Slam of 2009.

Duncan Weir's last-gasp drop goal secured four vital points for Edinburgh in the Guinness PRO14 as they won 17-16 at Ulster.

Meanwhile, Finlay Bealham returns from a knee injury to make his 100th appearance for Connacht.

It’s less than a decade since Declan Kidney’s Irish team secured that famous Grand Slam but it may as well be a page ripped out of an ancient history textbook as Joe Schmidt’s current generation of players go about writing their own chapters.

TV3 set its stall out on Ireland AM by booking a stylist to select the perfect match outfit. These people know Rugby Country alright.

Christy Ring doesn’t often spring to mind on Six Nations weekends, but the great one’s remark about the GAA being half-dressed without a strong Tipperary could be easily tweaked for France, such is its importance to rugby as another championship dawns and Ireland make the trip to Paris unburdened by the terror of old.

Prop Wiehahn Herbst could be set for a recall when Ulster face Wasps in Sunday’s decisive Champions Cup Pool One game in Coventry.

Ireland and Lions winger Tommy Bowe faces up to eight weeks out of the game after suffering a shoulder injury when he came on as a replacement in Ulster’s thumping 38-7 defeat by Leinster at the RDS on Saturday evening.

Whatever the demands in Munster for a return to winning ways after a chastening home defeat to Leinster, it is up in Ulster where the need for atonement is felt much deeper ahead of this evening’s sold-out PRO14 derby clash in Belfast, writes Simon Lewis

“You always feel pressure, and that noise has been out there for a while, but there’s a weird nature in us beasts in that you almost revel in criticism and stand up and fight against it.”

Iain Henderson’s agent may be in the midst of his contract negotiations with the IRFU but the Ulster forward wasn’t exactly fluttering his eyes at any English or French suitors yesterday when asked for an update.

Peter Jackson analyses the good and bad from the Champions Cup...

Tommy Bowe, injured in Sunday’s Champions Cup win at Harlequins, is out of Friday’s return leg with the Premiership side in Belfast.

Veteran wing Tommy Bowe will be the centre of attention as Ulster seek to consolidate their Guinness PRO14 position when they travel to the compact and atmospheric Rodney Parade to face Bernard Jackman’s Dragons this evening.

Lions star Iain Henderson will lead Ulster for the first time when a so far stingless Wasps side fly into Belfast for the opening Champions Cup Pool 1 clash at the Kingspan Stadium this evening.