THERE will be a reunion of sorts when Ireland and Italy’s front rows lock horns on Sunday and Irish scrum coach Greg Feek expects his band of brothers to present a much improved challenge to the one the Azzurri faced in Rome eight months ago.

WHEN you are as happy to be at this World Cup as Donnacha Ryan is, it may come as a surprise to learn the Munster and Ireland utility forward has no problem about when to switch on to the task at hand.

A FRENETIC, wildly unpredictable final day at the Tour Championship ultimately ended with Bill Haas winning both the tournament and FedExCup honours, though it took a while for his double success to sink in.

TIGER WOODS has hired Joe LaCava to be his third full-time caddie.

ALISON NICHOLAS would love to see the Solheim Cup return to Ireland – but she won’t even be captain when Europe look to win on American soil for the first time in Colorado two years from now.

VICTORIOUS European Solheim Cup captain Alison Nicholas was crowned the queen of Killeen Castle and the emotions flowed as freely as the rain and the champagne in County Meath yesterday evening.

LEINSTER coach Joe Schmidt is worried their Heineken Cup qualification next year could be under threat unless they pick up sufficient results in the RaboDirect PRO12 while their frontline players are away.

FRANCE Coach Marc Lievremont has rounded on journalists covering the French World Cup campaign, saying some of them take delight in seeing the French team lose.

SCOTLAND’S dejected players immediately turned their attentions to beating England in Auckland on Saturday after a loss to Argentina left them facing World Cup elimination.

THE owner of a second New Zealand bar revealed he had footage of England star Mike Tindall canoodling with a mystery blonde.

JAMIE HEASLIP looked ahead to next weekend’s World Cup showdown with Italy and said Ireland must ignore the slide rule and go all out to win.

FORGET the Australia win, Ireland touched down in Dunedin this morning to prepare for what will be the biggest week of their World Cup to date.

RONAN O’GARA gave Declan Kidney another strong hint he is the man to take Ireland into the World Cup quarter-finals as the starting fly-half for next Sunday’s winner takes all pool finale against Italy.

FROM the sublime to the Soviets.

THE Michael Winters-trained Rebel Fitz, a costly failure at Galway previously, showed his true colours with a smooth success in the Novice Hurdle at Clonmel yesterday.

BLUE was the colour for Europe at Killeen Castle yesterday — and pacesetter Suzann Pettersen saw more than enough to fuel her belief that the home team can win the Solheim Cup for the first time in four attempts.

WRITING up an Ian Turner interview this week ahead of today’s EA Sports Cup final between Cork City and Derry, I had a rare moment of inspiration.

MANCHESTER UNITED have rejected Owen Hargreaves’ claims he was incorrectly given injections to cure long-standing knee problems during his time at Old Trafford.

MANCHESTER UNITED manager Alex Ferguson has no intention of joining the army of critics who have followed the Stoke bandwagon since it arrived in the Premier League four seasons ago.

FOR some it’s a match to get out of the way, for others it could be the entirety of their World Cup campaign.