#ireland-vs-south-africa

#ireland-vs-south-africa

Dublin would derive nutritional value from Leinster Championship success, with Wicklow first on the menu.

Next month marks the 15th anniversary of that surreal Sunday when James Horan made his first summer statement as Mayo manager. The start of a riotous, roller-coaster decade embracing seven All-Ireland finals, one draw, six defeats and an infinity of 'what ifs'.

Gabriel Adebambo is on the hunt for a golden ticket to see Ireland in Prague on Thursday night, joining thousands of supporters making the trip.

The Republic of Ireland earned a spot in their UEFA play-off path by finishing second in qualifying Group F. Troy Parrott's sensational hat-trick in Budapest ensured that the Boys in Green clinched second ahead of Hungary.

Nathan Collins is having a good season. Captain of both Brentford and the Republic of Ireland, Collins is dreaming of Europe with his club and the World Cup with his country. Despite losing long-time manager Thomas Frank and strikers Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa in the summer, Brentford go into the weekend seventh in the Premier League.

Ireland are comforted to the return of full fitness of Courtney Brosnan, even if her side had successfully negotiated the Belgium promotion play-offs without her, albeit not without some fraught moments for Grace Moloney. The other two changes from that last-gasp aggregate success in Leuven saw Megan Connolly displace Ruesha Littlejohn, who has played effectively no football since, while Anna Patten came in for Jess Stapleton.

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.

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.

This week's squad will tell us if Irish head coach is planning to stick with his gradual evolution, or whether he thinks the project needs a sharp shock

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

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.

Winter Olympics Tanya Aldred, Billy Munday and James Wallace buckle up for day 15 of these compelling Games, which brings the prospect of a British curling gold medal. Bruce Mouat and his rink of Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie face Canada in the final (6.05pm-9. 20pm) looking to upgrade the silver they won in Beijing four years ago. Other highlights include the opening two heats of the four-man bobsleigh (9am and 10.57am),