#ireland-v-england-2006

#ireland-v-england-2006

Dublin would have been better off losing to Wicklow last week, if only to get some recovery time for their injured players.

Sale Sharks wasted no time in getting on the board through Dugdale, who benefited from a lovely interchange between Jacques Vermeulen and Rekeiti Ma'asi-White as the Harlequins defence was caught narrow.

Derry City will line out at Celtic Park for the very first time after securing a temporary move to the home of GAA in the Oak Leaf County while the Ryan McBride Brandywell pitch undergoes work.

In one of sport's weirder coincidences, England are about to play must-win games against Scotland in both rugby and cricket on the same day. The forecast 3C temperatures for the Calcutta Cup encounter may be cooler than in Kolkata appropriately the venue for the T20 World Cup group fixture but a white-hot contest inside a chilly Murrayfield can be absolutely guaranteed.

Changes galore, and notable ones at that, across both matchday squads. Steve Borthwick hands fan and media darling (and bloody good player) Henry Pollock his first start in the back row, where he will be joined by the returning Tom Curry. In the backs Tommy Freeman returns to a wing berth at the expense of Tom Roebuck, which brings Ollie Lawrence back into the centres. The bench is a 6:2, with Jack Van Poortvliet and Marcus Smith as the backs options.

However, according to the FAI, Gardai (Irish police) have advised that the game can be "staged safely at the Aviva Stadium". The teams are also scheduled to face each other in a return fixture on 27 September. The Israeli FA has said it hopes to host the Republic of Ireland in Tel Aviv, but a venue is yet to be confirmed.

No. It's out of our hands really. We can only do a certain amount. It's a game for us to play against an opponent that's had the upper hand on us for years. We're playing them away from home. They've got a brilliant record at home. It's a challenge but a real opportunity for us to go and deliver an even better performance than we did last week.

Tony Ward, voted the first European Player of the Year two months earlier, was dropped. He had won the award largely for his dazzling form in that season's Five Nations Championship. Then, ahead of the First Test on Ireland's tour of Australia, he was canned. It made the six o'clock news. Ward was a gifted footballer. He would go on to play in the League of Ireland for Limerick United FC, starring for them against Southampton in the Uefa Cup.

Our rugby jury answer the key questions ahead of Andy Farrell naming his team to face France

The template for beating England in their own backyard was laid out by head coach Andrew Browne and his Irish U-20 charges as they stunned their fancied hosts in front of 13,000 at the Rec in Bath.