RORY McILROY is undecided whether he will contest next year’s Irish Open.

THE FAI’s board of management has given approval to its chief executive John Delaney to press ahead with negotiations on a new contract for Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

MALCOLM GLADWELL’S damning profile of the relationship between American Football and brain injury, which he wrote for the New Yorker over two years ago, has stuck with me ever since.

NEW ZEALAND’S World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry yesterday ruled out the possibility of working with England and declared: “It is time to move on.”

LUKE FITZGERALD lifted the lid on his World Cup disappointment yesterday, two months to the day after being left out of the travelling party by Ireland coach Declan Kidney.

LAST Wednesday’s announcement that Martin Johnson had stepped down as England head coach/manager was not surprising and closed a horrible few months for English rugby after the fallout from their World Cup campaign.

ENGLAND’S RFU were last night offered some respite from the chaos that has engulfed Twickenham by posting a record financial performance of £8.7m (€10m) profit.

LEINSTER and Munster’s top brass have issued a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ response to the possibility of taking their Heineken Cup home matches overseas in the immediate future.

EIGHT years ago today, Peter Canavan sat in the lounge of a Dublin hotel to catch the end of the rugby World Cup final.

TWO years after a one-shot defeat to Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy return to Mission Hills in China bidding to capture the World Cup of Golf.

RORY McILROY arrived at the giant Mission Hills complex on Hainan Island to a welcome usually afforded a head of state.

PEOPLE should cast their minds back a year before declaring that Tiger Woods is on his way back to the top.

RAFAEL NADAL has hit back at Yannick Noah’s claims that Spanish sporting success is due to doping.

A FIRST ever British victory in the Emirates Melbourne Cup was prevented by the narrowest possible margin once again as Ed Dunlop’s Red Cadeaux succumbed to well-fancied French stayer Dunaden.

PAUL NICHOLLS was delighted to see Kauto Star show plenty of enthusiasm as the veteran chaser enjoyed a spin with stablemates Big Buck’s and Mon Parrain after racing at Exeter yesterday.

WORLD CUP final referee Craig Joubert is among the officials taking charge of Ireland’s matches in the upcoming Six Nations while the IRB have kept faith with controversial Irish whistler Alain Rolland for the tournament.

LONDON IRISH are considering playing a match overseas in the next few years, with Boston mentioned as a potential venue.

DEPARTING All Blacks coach Graham Henry has argued for continuity in New Zealand rugby, nominating his assistant Steve Hansen as the next man for the job.

SEÁN O’BRIEN is expected to be among a number of frontline World Cup players ushered back into the Leinster team to face Munster in the Rabobank PRO12 encounter at the Aviva Stadium on Friday evening.

ULSTER hope to include Ireland’s Rory Best and World Cup winner John Afoa in their starting line-up for Saturday’s RaboDirect Pro12 derby against Connacht at Ravenhill.