A legal dispute that threatened to have "serious implications" on the Pacific Island nation of Tonga's preparations for this year's Rugby World Cup has been withdrawn.

A legal dispute which has "serious implications" for preparations by the Pacific Island nation of Tonga for this year's Rugby World Cup has come before the High Court.

Towards the end of last season, Johnny McNicholl asked himself a rhetorical question: “Am I Welsh? It’s a tough question to answer. I don’t know.”

Is the dam on the brink of bursting? Is international rugby ready to sell its soul? The haste with which a proposed new 12-team World League is being introduced smacks of panic. There is even talk of the tournament running in 2020. Surely not?

Like many Pacific Islanders in his native Auckland, Edgar’s parents moved there in search of a better life for themselves and their families. This is the case for many players of Pacific heritage who now ply their trade in Europe. While I had played alongside Casey Laulala and Francis Saili at Munster, I was largely ignorant of “Islander” culture and what it entailed.

Tyler Morgan looks set to line up for Wales this autumn just five months after he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

“I am so excited I can barely hold my phone”

The couple arrived in Sydney on Monday ahead of a 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

Scratch beneath the political permafrost and the frozen vials of Russian urine, set aside a far-from-thawed Cold War, and a Winter Olympics is threatening to break out in Pyeongchang.

New Year’s celebrations across the world ushered in 2017 with dazzling fireworks displays and crowded streets amid tightened security measures for the festivities.

Carl Hoeft, a key member of the Maori All Black management team preparing for Friday’s sold-out clash with Munster at Thomond Park, is under no illusions about the challenge awaiting his side.

And the boat couldn't have been closer.

Mark this down on your bucket list.

Des O’Sullivan reports on an exhibition showcasing James Glen Wilson.

Some of the stranger stories from around the world

The Cayman Islands are an idyllic Caribbean hideaway situated south of Cuba and west of Jamaica. In recent years, it has become home to hundreds of Irish people who left home in search of work.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has said women in countries hit by the Zika virus should have access to birth control methods, dropping laws against abortion in some cases.

THE Garden Room Restaurant in Killarney’s Malton Hotel is a magnificent setting even if it is a perfect example of the styles, ambitions and the gilded ostentation of another time.

Rugby gaming

The impression of Romanian rugby has long been one of a once proud nation trapped in a spiral of decline. Long gone are those halcyon days when they sometimes scalped but almost always scared the Five Nations.

The sound of crashing waves is the norm for Valentia Island off south Kerry and Loop Head off west Clare, where lighthouses guide mariners to safe havens.

Kevin McCloud spends time with a family who have escaped the rat race and are now living in Tonga.

All the news you need this lunchtime: Bailey verdict could be delivered today, FF: Irish Water to delete council tenant data, Shane Long calls for fortress Aviva, earthquake in South Pacific, Donohue: Aer Lingus talks to end in next few weeks

Anthony Foley believes Paul O’Connell’s selfless nature will be the key factor in the Ireland captain’s decision on his rugby-playing future.

A volcanic eruption in Tonga has created a new island – although scientists say it could soon disappear.

Pope Francis yesterday named 20 new cardinals from around the world to the elite group at the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, including 15 who can enter a conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation.

Amateur ham radio operators from around Munster will wind turn back the clock this weekend when they attempt to communicate via radio and Morse code with hundreds of radio clubs throughout the world.

It’s the eve of an all-Irish Rabo Direct pro 12 final, again underlining just how strong the provincial game remains in this country.

I LOVE the glamour and romance of old railway hotels.

Scott Johnson has been appointed Scotland interim head coach for the RBS 6 Nations and summer tour to South Africa, the Scottish Rugby Union has announced.

The draw for the pool stage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup takes place in London today. Ireland are in 'tier two'.

The Pacific islands may have been beautiful but were never peaceful, less so when western slavers arrived. Tim Severin on empire and destruction

Irish schoolchildren are among the most physically active in the world, with teenage girls topping the list of the globe’s best exercisers.

Tonga will hold a state funeral for its king on March 28.

The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club

SINCE Graham Henry took over the All Blacks in 2004, they have an 85% winning record in tests.

A LOOK at the world’s most powerful earthquakes and tsunamis:

FIFA executive committee members Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii have been suspended from all football-related activity for three years and one year respectively in relation to allegations of corruption regarding World Cup votes.

Ryan Jones has regained the Wales captaincy and will take charge of a much-changed team against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night.

Connacht 12 Toulon 19

The tsunami from Chile’s deadly earthquake hit Japan’s main islands and the shores of Russia today but the smaller-than-expected waves prompted the lifting of a Pacific-wide alert.

The first tsunami from an earthquake in Chile hit Japan’s outlying islands today, but while the initial waves were small and most of the Pacific islands already in its path were spared damage, officials warned a bigger surge could follow.

A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early today, shattering buildings and bridges, killing at least 122 people and setting off a tsunami that threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean – roughly a quarter of the globe.