Ireland

Ireland have suffered a triple injury blow after Sean O'Brien, Dave Kearney and Mike McCarthy were ruled out of the remainder of the RBS 6 Nations.

Ireland back Jared Payne has signed a new contract with the Irish Rugby Football Union that will keep him at Ulster until 2018.

Leinster and Ireland prop Cian Healy has signed a new three-year Irish Rugby Football Union contract, which will see him remain with the province until the end of the 2019 World Cup.

Robbie Henshaw has opted to leave Irish province Connacht for Pro 12 rivals Leinster this summer, on signing his first Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) national contract.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has revealed fly-half Johnny Sexton suffered a "whiplash injury" to his neck and shoulder in Ireland's 10-9 RBS 6 Nations defeat to France.

With two rounds of the 2016 RBS Six Nations in the books, there has been plenty to talk about over the last couple of weeks.

Joe Schmidt has admitted Ireland have only a "very, very outside chance" of now retaining their RBS 6 Nations title.

France overturned a 9-3 half-time deficit to grind out a 10-9 win over Ireland in Paris and make it two RBS Six Nations win out of two.

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”.