Judges selected Munster's free-flowing effort in the win over Cardiff Blues

O'Connell was at the helm for the Lions' last series against the Springboks in 2009 and in Farrell he sees a veteran of two tours with the authority and drive sought by head coach Warren Gatland.

There could be a debut off the bench for Ireland Sevens international Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.

Goal-line drop-outs have also been approved by World Rugby

Zebo's switch back to Limerick has been “co-funded” by the province and an IRFU spared the expense of a contract for the retiring CJ Stander

The squad is entirely amateur and forward Lyndsey Peat is a mother. Asking players to isolate from family and work would be an enormous headache on an individual and collective basis

Female students were offered limited exposure to the sport during her time at Kilkenny College

“There’s everything to gain and plenty to lose in this.”

The other interesting aspect to Zebo’s return is that it is on a one-year contract

The Corkman is on his way back to his home province

Leinster's Champions Cup semi-final opponents La Rochelle have five nominees

Costello has been working in England for the past five years, first as head coach with Nottingham in the Championship and, since 2018, as defence coach with Wasps

Currently employed as a performance nutritionist with English Rugby League outfit Leeds Rhinos, basketball was Delany’s first love when growing up, winning 10 schools All-Irelands

The tourists are due to face Japan on June 26, the same day as the Premiership final in London

Gregor Townsend declared Sexton to be “very much in the mix”

“One moment you’re Nora Stapleton the rugby player, the next moment you’re nobody.”

Second row excited to face Les Bleus after impressive Irish win over Wales  

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara will be hoping to orchestrate the Blues' semi-final downfall en route to his club's first Champions Cup success as he did with Munster in 2006

Ulster will face Connacht on the opening night of action (Friday, April 23rd) with Leinster hosting Munster on Saturday, April 24th at the RDS (7.35pm).

The Ireland head coach has decided to stick with the day job while Munster's Graham Rowntree has opted against taking part as his family settles into life in Limerick

Ulster officials have this morning announced that they and the player "have reached a mutual agreement to part ways on Friday 30 April."

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, his assistant Steve Tandy, Leinster’s Robin McBryde and Wales’ Neil Jenkins are those entrusted with coming with the nuance and detail to take down the Boks.

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland has unveiled the coaches who will work alongside him on the tour to South Africa this summer. Here, the PA news agency looks at the appointments and their records.

The French put 53 points on Wales in the opening round and, like Ireland, kept a clean sheet doing it

Alaalatoa, who has played five times for Samoa, will join the province this summer in time for pre-season training

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has intimated that elite athlete will be granted dispensations from mandatory hotel quarantine rules

The back row has played all 14 years of his career with his home province and racked up 186 appearances since his debut  in 2007

“What we are offering the Government” Leinster CEO Mick Dawson explained, “is a pilot test event that meets all the recommendations of the Rapid Testing Groups’ Report. 

Scrum-half Nick McCarthy is to leave Munster and rejoin Leinster, where he began his career. 

With a little help from his friends, Healy has turned it into such a thriving cottage industry that he now stands within sight of doing what no professional rugby player has ever done, winning five Champions’ Cup finals. Only Johnny Sexton can match that, concussion protocols permitting

Simon Lewis picks out four talking points from the weekend's Champions Cup action

Adam Griggs insists his Ireland women’s side will have to improve significantly to beat France, despite annihilating Wales 45-0 in Cardiff.

Leo Cullen described Leinster’s away trip to La Rochelle in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals as a great challenge after the draw sent the head coach into a head-to-head with former Ireland team-mate Ronan O’Gara.

There is no way to overplay this one. Hyperbole holds no ground here.

It means more Champions Cup disappointment for Racing's Donnacha Ryan, who started in the second-row, and injury absentee Simon Zebo

Leinster’s quest for a fifth European title will have to take them past Ronan O’Gara after Sunday’s draw for the Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals handed them an away tie with La Rochelle.

Ireland’s decision to add France, among other countries, to its list of nations requiring mandatory quarantine periods on entry has put next Saturday’s Women’s Test between the Six Nations rivals into question

European Challenge Cup quarter-final Northampton Saints 27 Ulster 35 Ulster dug deep to produce ...

Leo Cullen praised Ross Byrne’s contribution off the bench in Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final win at Exeter Chiefs on Saturday as he steered the four-time champions into Sunday’s last-four draw.

Robbie Henshaw believes Leinster will have to go up at least another level if they are to become five-time European champions.

Leo Cullen's side was 14 points adrift in the blink of an eye, lost Johnny Sexton to injury, and still swept into the semi-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup at the expense of the holders

LEINSTER.   15. Hugo Keenan - The Leinster fullback just keeps showing up with calm, almost effortless excellence. It’s anything but. 8/10. 14.

In normal circumstances Irish rugby international Hannah Tyrrell had more pressing plans for the second week in April. But a global pandemic came along and turned things upside down and inside out.

Women's Six Nations Wales 0 Ireland 45 IRELAND Women began their Six Nations campaign with a bang as they demolished a very poor Wales side in Cardiff.

Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final La Rochelle 45  Sale Sharks 21  Ronan O’Gara’s hopes of ...

Prop Vakh Abdaladze marked his first match in a year and a half after a back injury with a try for the visitors

Ireland coach Andy Farrell will not be part of Warren Gatland’s management team for this year’s Lions Tour according to reports.

This will be the fifth meeting of the sides and the Irish province has won all four to date. None have been easy though...

A rare Englishman in Irish ranks, home for his young family was a quirky little muse house in Sandymount within walking distance of the strand.

Lowry, 22, has been one of the undoubted success stories of Ulster’s season having made a successful conversion from fly-half to fullback