A Women’s World Cup on Irish soil in 2017 has every chance of success and boosting the bid for the men’s 2023 event, IRFU chief executive Philip Browne has said, after submitting a bid to host the tournament in two years.

Sirens wailed and people bowed their heads and wept along Japan’s devastated north-east coast today as they marked a month since the devastating tsunami which killed up to 25,000 people and unleashed a nuclear crisis.