It is fascinating from a collisions point of view watching Ma’a Nonu, pictured, and Mathieu Bastareaud. How will Munster check them, asks Ronan O’Gara

It is the nature of the beast that when rugby players delve into the memory banks of games past, it is the disappointments they reach first.

Republic of Ireland 1 Azerbaijan 0: It took until the last second of the final minute in injury time but U21 defender Shaun Donnellan ensured the good times for Irish underage football continued last night.

Young Galway rider Michael Duffy could hardly have hoped for a better debut in the Global Champions League when he represented the mostly-Irish Miami Celtics team, riding Efs Top Contender in the opening round of the season in Mexico City at the weekend.

Ryan Giggs defended Gareth Bale’s contribution after he suffered his first defeat as Wales manager to Uruguay in the China Cup final.

Raheem Sterling wants to feel the love from England fans ahead of the World Cup as he sets his sights on replicating his Manchester City form on the international stage.

Jonathan Sexton has been eager for a crack at Saracens for a while.

Our man inside the game struggles to watch international friendles, but this week he tried

We have all been Billy Murphy for a good 10 days.

Here are some things that shouldn’t work but somehow do. Dancing with the Stars. Daniel and Majella roaming the highways and byways of Ireland channelling their inner Jack Kerouac. Chocolate with raspberry. The Trump White House (Loosely speaking).

Ireland will not participate at next year’s World Cup after suffering an agonising defeat to Afghanistan in their all-or-nothing encounter in Harare.

Ireland’s Cricket World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan is playing away on the TV in the background as Rob Ryan sits in the Clanna Gael Fontenoy clubhouse in Dublin, gripping a hurley, and holding court on all things American football.

No real ‘dawn of a new era’ headlines from Turkey, I’m afraid, as Ireland went down 1-0 on a night which, above all, was a reminder that neither of these teams will be starring in Russia in a few months.

My gambling career, while undeniably short-lived, was pretty momentous.

Behind every team there’s another team.

Wednesday morning on Dublin’s southside and the brain is having to compute a few new realities.

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.