Ireland

France head coach Guy Noves has made six changes for Saturday's RBS 6 Nations clash with Ireland after his team's nervy opening win against Italy.

Ireland must shut down Sevens star Virimi Vakatawa at source to pull off back-to-back victories in France for the first time in 89 years, according to Dave Kearney.

Ireland are unlikely to call on Cian Healy and Mike Ross to shore up their scrum in Saturday's RBS 6 Nations clash in France, according to Richie Murphy.

Paul O'Connell has been forced to retire without playing a game for new club Toulon, unable to beat the hamstring injury that ended his World Cup prematurely.

Keith Earls suffered a suspected concussion in Ireland's 16-16 RBS 6 Nations draw with Wales and could miss the second-round clash in France.

Wales could know more in the next 24 hours or so about fly-half Dan Biggar's prospects of facing RBS 6 Nations opponents Scotland next Saturday.

A 74th minute Johnny Sexton penalty preserved an injury-hit Ireland's unbeaten RBS 6 Nations home record under Joe Schmidt and stalled Wales' stirring fightback to ensure both sides left Dublin with an equal share of the points on offer.

South Africa-born flanker CJ Stander will make his international debut for his adopted Ireland in Sunday's RBS 6 Nations opener against Wales, with Sean O'Brien and Rob Kearney joining a further seven Irish stars ruled out the game with injury.

Ireland cannot "copy and paste" former captain Paul O'Connell's talismanic traits into their RBS 6 Nations campaign, according to Donnacha Ryan.

Liam Williams is set to be involved in Wales' RBS 6 Nations opener against Ireland on Sunday - despite only playing marginally over an hour of rugby since last year's World Cup.

Luke Fitzgerald will miss the RBS 6 Nations in its entirety after a "fairly innocuous but very unfortunate" knee ligament injury has ruled him out of action for up to the next two months.

hree Ireland has announced that it is giving Focus Ireland a million Euro marketing campaign entitled “Let’s All Tackle Homelessness”.

Munster have convinced winger Simon Zebo to turn down a move to France and the Top 14, with the Ireland international instead committing his future to Thomond Park until June 2018.

The U20 Six Nations is a tournament growing in popularity and offers plenty for fans to watch out for while its senior counterpart also takes place.

The Rugby World Cup may have ended in misery for the European nations but the Six Nations is finally here and, thankfully, it can’t be won by a southern hemisphere nation.

Ireland boss Joe Schmidt believes the reigning double champions may have to settle for a mid-table RBS 6 Nations finish.

Joe Schmidt has declared Johnny Sexton fully fit to start Ireland's RBS 6 Nations campaign after the fly-half's latest concussion scare.

Ireland and Leinster prop Marty Moore has agreed to join Wasps ahead of the 2016/17 season.

Munster finished their European Champions Cup campaign with a dominant bonus-point victory, 28-5, at Benetton Treviso.

Robbie Henshaw handed Ireland an RBS 6 Nations fitness boost as Connacht thrashed Enisei-STM 47-5 to qualify for the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals.