They say a picture paints a thousand words. That certainly rang true when studying the crestfallen appearance of new Ireland coach Andy Farrell, writes Donal Lenihan.

Joe Marler’s attempt to emulate Vinny Jones’ notorious ‘nut-cracker’ grab at a teenaged Paul Gascoigne (Wimbledon v Newcastle, February 1988) exposes the England prop to the risk of a 12-week ban at the very least.

Manu Tuilagi red card however overshadows England’s Six Nations win over Wales.

Leo Cullen insists Johnny Sexton will prove his worth as Ireland captain, and has backed his out-half to come back stronger after last Sunday’s Six Nations defeat to England.

Loose lips sink ships and so it has come to pass that foolish tweets on Sunday evening have ended Tim O’Leary’s relationship with the Mayo GAA executive.

It was a miserable day of injury news for Cian Healy and Joey Carbery, yesterday, as the duo suffered set-backs.

THERE’S a quiet revolution taking place in the background to this season’s Six Nations that could have huge repercussions for Irish rugby.

After watching England’s Saracens stars bully Ireland last Sunday, Peter Dooley says Leinster will have to front up physically if they are to keep their European Champions Cup hopes alive.

The injury denies Healy the chance to become Ireland's sixth player to reach 100 caps in this Six Nations campaign.

Mayo GAA have cut off all official ties with benefactor Tim O’Leary after he appeared to call for James Horan to be removed in a tweet.

Credit for that lies in part with the Irishmen who re-energised their team, which had been overrun before half-time, trailing 17-0 at the break.

Andy Farrell is unequivocal in his belief Ireland can still find a way to win this year’s Six Nations, but there remain several other questions about his squad he will have to address in the coming days.

Eddie Jones was understandably pleased as he emerged from a trying week having engineered the platform for a powerhouse England performance to which Ireland could find no answer.

It is not the first time in recent memory that Ireland’s players have been asked to explain a costly sluggish start against a more physical England side but both Andrew Conway and Keith Earls were prepared to say this was a blip from which they can rebound.

Last night, Andy Farrell said Ireland were still chasing the 2020 Guinness Six Nations title, despite their humbling defeat to England at Twickenham.

THE journey takes less than a minute but it’s the moment you know you’ve arrived at one of the best arenas in world rugby.

Peter Jackson gets over the gainline, behind the headline

Paul O’Connell’s presence in Ireland camp got both of Ireland’s contenders for the starting hooker’s role thinking this week.

Johnny Sexton threw down the gauntlet to his Ireland team ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Twickenham, saying they will need to play even better there this time than in their Grand Slam-winning victory of 2018.

Ireland’s management has insisted the team will not miss a beat despite the late change to the pack for tomorrow’s Twickenham showdown.

TWO defeats against England in 2019 mean Andy Farrell faces big challenges tomorrow afternoon at Twickenham. So what needs to happen for Ireland to win?

Andy Farrell began this week by warning his Ireland squad of the danger of turning up at Twickenham merely hoping it goes well.

The big second row's international career appeared to be all but over when Joe Schmidt cut him loose from the Ireland squad that would travel to Japan for the World Cup but he starts for the first time in six months for his country on Sunday against England in Twickenham.

Quite a lot was achieved in Ireland’s last Six Nations victory over Wales in Dublin.

With 97 Test caps to his name, it is fair to say Cian Healy has seen his share of captaincy styles over the years and, in his mind, the current skipper is not doing too badly at all.

Twickenham is a strange mix of the magnificent and the meh.It’s an oddly unloveable place but maybe that’s just down to experience, writes Brendan O'Brien.

CJ Stander paid tribute to the late Garrett Fitzgerald yesterday, speaking fondly of the former Munster chief executive who played an instrumental part in bringing the back-rower from South Africa to Ireland.

If Joe Schmidt could get a mulligan for one moment of what turned out to be a fairly average 2019 for Ireland, you’d guess it would be the first 20 minutes of the Six Nations campaign.

Bundee Aki believes Ireland are going to have to bring their 'A' game to Twickenham on Sunday if they are to continue their winning start to the 2020 Guinness Six Nations.

Wales picked out Tadhg Furlong for special criticism.

Robin McBryde thinks Ireland’s hammering at Twickenham last August will make life easier for Andy Farrell when the team returns to London on Sunday.

Ireland target a Triple Crown on Sunday at Twickenham against England, as they bid to maintain their perfect record in the tournament.

The head coach retained 23 players for a two-day camp in Cork last week, while 13 others returned were released back to their provinces to get game-time.

IT has been a fresh start for Keith Earls in more ways than one, these past few months since the World Cup.

When your son is the England captain and you are the Ireland boss, meetings between the two sides tend to be intriguing and more than a little awkward, unless you’re Andy or Owen Farrell that is.

‘Narrative’ is not a word that pops up too often in media interviews, but Andrew Conway had it locked and loaded when he sat down for a sponsor’s event in Dublin. First was the, yes, narrative.