Greg Broderick and MHS Going Global flew two successful Furusiyya Series missions for Ireland recently in Lummen and La Baule, but it’s fair to say they did so under the radar.

On a recent trip to New Zealand former Cork player Conor McCarthy got up close with some of the country’s best rugby players and coaches. So how does the GAA compare...?

Qatar is failing to deliver on reforms for its migrant workers a year after the wealthy Gulf nation announced plans to improve conditions for low-paid labourers building its highways, hotels, stadiums and skyscrapers, Amnesty International has said.

Walk into a cobbler’s shop and the fragrance overwhelms your entire being. It’s impossible not to drink it in, and soak it up. Just like the Championship.

Paul O’Connell’s glorious Munster career will end in the next eight days — and he will play his final Thomond Park game tomorrow, sources have revealed to the Irish Examiner.

Official notice of Matt O’Connor’s exit from Leinster landed shortly after 10am yesterday, but the writing had been on the wall for the Australian head coach for a month.

Amidst the mountain of names mentioned yesterday as possible replacements for Matt O’Connor’s Leinster job, it was that of Robbie Deans that emerged on top with the New Zealander’s tumbling odds squaring with earlier smoke signals from sources.

Clare and Limerick? The only differences between us are those little idiosyncrasies, those unique emblems, which distinguish us all as our own separate little tribe in the wider hurling family.

Barcelona captain Xavi Hernandez has confirmed he will join Qatari side Al-Sadd this summer, ending his 24-year run with the Catalan giants.

While it had initially looked like Matt O’Connor would see out the final year of his contract with Leinster, yesterday’s news of his departure wasn’t all that surprising.

Twenty years ago, Loughnane’s Clare emerged from nowhere to set the summer alight. Are we there again, waiting for a bolter to win the All Ireland, a team to come from the clouds and cut a swathe through a mediocre field?

Is that the new thing now? Each season, inter-county management search for the extra inch. Rule-makers strive for the perfect rule And players do whatever it takes to win (in comfortable socks, of course). Here’s a few innovations for the Championship. Sort of.

Elizabeth O’Neill is delighted by the majestic city of Bath, the setting of Jane Austen’s novels and a world heritage site.

After more than a year on the sidelines with a foot injury, Donnacha Ryan is just pleased to be back on the field and in line to help Munster toward a Guinness Pro 12 title when they play Ospreys in Saturday’s semi-final at Thomond Park.

Ian Madigan admits to fears that he could slip out of Joe Schmidt’s World Cup plans, what with two of his main rivals for a place in the squad set to benefit from the opportunity to display their wares in the Pro12 play-offs.

The 2014/15 season proved a tough one for Leinster and Irish prop Cian Healy. Despite playing a significant part in Ireland’s Six Nations Championship success, a series of injuries limited the experienced tight head to nine appearances at provincial level.

Louis van Gaal produced the passion we don’t often see in the Old Trafford technical areas in a rousing, and amusing, speech at Manchester United’s awards evening.

Rory McIlroy has paid tribute to the role Alex Ferguson played in motivating him above all others on the European team at last September’s Ryder Cup.

Arsene Wenger accepts either Arsenal or Manchester United will have little option but to “deal with the consequences” of ending up in the Champions League qualifiers which can overshadow all pre-season preparations.

England will go into a World Cup campaign on home soil without star centre Manu Tuilagi after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer.