Stephen Larkham has come to Munster with a mission to make a difference as the province looks to make the leap from being merely good to becoming a championship side.

Peter Jackson picks his XV for the Heineken Champions Cup Team of the Tournament.

Pat Fitzpatrick gets under the wrapping to see what makes a good bar of chocolate and asks an expert if it is actually better than sex.

The man who rules European rugby astride a turbo-charged zimmer frame is contracted to make his last stand next year at the age of 37, assuming he lasts that long.

The Conrad Hotel, Dublin.

Kya deLongchamps reveals Ireland’s special claim to fame and the dramatic role it played in colonising the Earth before the Age of the Dinosaur

Launched in 1992, the Ford Mondeo chalks up its 25th anniversary this year.

Ever wondered when spring has actually sprung? Dr Naomi Lavelle may have the answers as she takes us through the Spring equiox.

Dick Warner takes a look at the importance of the Winter Solstice to nature and its wildlife.

Wexford have gambled by hiring Davy Fitzgerald, writes PM O’Sullivan.

There’s a reason Cork is the country’s winningest sporting county. Superior genes? Unlikely. Superior belief?

Graham Henry can see a day when Joe Schmidt returns home to coach in New Zealand but the World Cup-winning mastermind believes there is no need for the Ireland supremo to start packing his bags right away.

It’s more than a quarter of a century since the Berlin Wall came down and communism was rolled up like a musty carpet across Eastern Europe.

Simon Reeve’s new BBC series has him staying closer to home than his usual locations, says Keeley Bolger

After a thrilling weekend of World Cup quarter-finals in England, we are finally down to the business end of the tournament but, of course, Ireland will not be there.

EASY like a Sunday morning. And Buenos Aires does them easier than most places. So when little Luisa Marie Connery, all 15 months of her, accompanies her father Michael into a drinking den on Sunday morning draped in a tricolour, few will bat an eyelid.

AN ITALIAN restaurant in Temple Bar? Keep still thy beating heart and quell thy cynicism. 

* With the possible exception of the equator, everything begins somewhere. [CS Lewis]

A big scary-sounding asteroid is no longer even a remote threat to smash into Earth in about 20 years, NASA says.

With a Grand Slam and two Heineken Cup successes on his resumé, Paul O’Connell is pretty much in the “been there, done that”, category of rugby players.

The Wikileaks founder is being sheltered by a nation that cracks down on journalists, but Ecuador is no stranger to facing down world powers, writes Dan Buckley

THE flooding that devastated parts of Cork and other places was unexpected, coming as it did in the final days of June.

Soon to retire, Munster and Ireland stalwart Mick O’Driscoll captains the Barbarians against his countrymen tonight in Gloucester (7.45pm) but all eyes will be on those in the Ireland XV looking to take their last chance to earn a ticket to New Zealand.

ALL THIS talk of getting a good summer because the frog-spawn is early or the dolphins are staying north makes Gerald Fleming a bit impatient.

IT is not always heavenly in Paradise, the imaginative name of the makeshift ‘resort’ at which we are staying on Sri Lanka’s south coast.

FRANKEL has been officially rated 4lb clear of the field as the best racehorse on the planet after the announcement of the World Thoroughbred Rankings.

IT’S dim up north — so people living at higher latitudes have bigger eyes and brains, research has suggested.

LIBYAN rebels claimed two of their fighters were killed and more than 12 injured after NATO airstrikes mistakenly bombed their forces yesterday as anger over the co-ordination effort escalated.

A 16-year-old Australian girl who spent seven months at sea in her pink yacht sailed across the finish line of her round-the-world journey today, becoming the youngest sailor to circle the globe solo, non-stop and unassisted.

LAKES of liquid water existed on Mars at a time when the planet was previously thought to be a frozen desert.

PADDY WALLACE has backed up Neil Best’s criticisms of the Ulster set-up in years gone by but insists that standards off the field have improved immeasurably since the flanker’s departure.

ISA NACEWA seems well settled in Ireland. A native of Auckland, or the “big smoke” as he calls it, it was easy to adapt to city life in Dublin and he’s expecting the arrival of new twins on New Year’s Eve.

TEENAGER Mike Perham said his dream had come true as he became the youngest person to sail solo around the world with assistance.

ARCTIC earned a crack at the listed Curragh Stakes when making a successful debut in the opening Irish Stallion Farms 2-Y-0 Maiden over five furlongs at Bellewstown last night.

THE Francis Flood-trained Slievecorragh got off the mark on the flat when landing the featured Kedrah House Stud Well Chosen Tipperary Perpetual Cup at Clonmel last night.

TABAAHI may prove the solution to the New Club Stand Opening This Evening Handicap at Clonmel tonight.

IRELAND flanker Stephen Ferris says it is an awesome feeling to be selected to travel with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in the summer.

THE hype for the next three weeks will veer towards the ridiculous at times but Rocky Elsom won’t be adding to it. Ask the Australian about the all-Ireland Heineken Cup semi-final on May 2 and all he can muster is: “It should be good”.

THOUGH only a Dublin resident a matter of weeks, CJ van der Linde is well able to empathise with his Leinster colleagues’ pitiful record in Murrayfield, a venue they visit again this Saturday for their opening Heineken Cup match of the season.