Ireland door stays open for Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding

IRFU performance director David Nucifora has not ruled out a return to the Ireland team for sacked internationals Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, should they return home to play for a province in the future.

Jackson and Olding had each been cleared of rape charges in unanimous verdicts at the end of a 42-day trial at Belfast’s Laganside courthouse in March.

Both men had denied raping the same woman in Mr Jackson’s house in the early hours of June 28, 2016, but their reputations were damaged by the introduction of a number of WhatsApp messages, involving explicit sexual language, into the court case as evidence.