#Andrew Porter

Of the 26 titles handed out over the course of the Heineken Champions Cup, 13 of them sit in the bottom half of this season's quarter-final draw. The last eight of this years competition is interestingly split. One one side of the draw you have Racing 92, Sale Sharks, La Rochelle and Montpellier - new money and new challengers. On the bottom half…

Last Christmas Joe McCarthy was chilling with his feet up with no inkling of the breakthrough year that lay ahead. All that has changed for the 21-year-old Leinster tyro as he prepares for his first taste of St Stephen's Day battle against Munster at Thomond Park. Twelve months ago, McCarthy was in the Blues' academy and enjoying a week off. Andrew…

Scott Barrett has been replaced at blindside flanker by Akira Ioane, with Tupou Vaa'i moving onto the bench, while Karl Tu'inukuafe replaces prop Aidan Ross on the bench. Barrett is understood to have an Achilles injury which has hampered him all week. Seconds out, round three. After the poor display and historic loss in Dunedin last weekend, the…

Scotland recorded their first win over England in a decade a fortnight ago, Huw Jones' first-half double and a try from Sean Maitland leaving the defending champions reeling. England could not mount a comeback and lost 25-13, only their second defeat since the 2015 Rugby World Cup debacle. The result echoed around Ireland and Joe Schmidt's side…

IRELAND have secured their first ever win in New Zealand as they overcame a 14-man All Blacks side. Andrew Porter scored an early try for the Irish and their chances have now dramatically improved after Angus Ta'avao was given a red card for a head-on-head collision. Beauden Barrett then scored on the stroke of half time to get the All Blacks back…

One of these sides' hopes of a Grand Slam will come to an end on Saturday, as the two bookies' favourites to win the Six Nations go head-to-head in Paris Arguably the two best sides in the Six Nations go head-to-head on Saturday afternoon, as France welcome Ireland to Paris for their second match of the tournament. Both sides harbour hopes not just…

IT IS a top-of-the-table interpro clash in the URC this weekend as Leinster welcome Ulster to the RDS. Leinster are first in the table with a 100% record from eight games while Ulster sits second having won six of their seven games to date. The sides have already met this season with Leo Cullen's men getting the win in Belfast. A victory, coupled…

Ireland follow up their outstanding win over world champions South Africa by taking on Fiji n an autumn international this weekend. Here's all you need to know about the match. Where and when is it on? Saturday's match takes place at the Aviva Stadium on Lansdowne Road in Dublin with a 1.00pm kick-off. Where can I watch the match? The game will be…

The annual Autumn Internationals rugby carnival is underway, with England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland to be tested by the best the southern hemisphere has to offer. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina are all in action over a five-week period, which began with Scotland's narrow defeat to Australia at Murrayfield last…

Ireland take on world champions South Africa in an autumn international this weekend. Here's all you need to know about the match. Where and when is it on? Saturday's match takes place at the Aviva Stadium on Lansdowne Road in Dublin with a 5.30pm kick-off. Where can I watch the match? The game will be shown live on Virgin Media Two with coverage…

Ireland kept their hopes of a Six Nations title alive as they finally saw off a valiant, spirited England who played 78 minutes with 14 men after Charlie Ewels' red card. Ewels was dismissed with just 82 seconds on the clock after clashing heads with James Ryan in an attempted tackle. Ireland, the pre-match favourites, seemed set for a procession.…

1902 total views, 1902 views today Connacht wouldn't have had too much time to enjoy their win against Munster last weekend as preparations for the arrival of Leinster would have dominated the thoughts of coaches and players this week. Arguably the toughest test in the URC but also the greatest win if you can pull it off. The Visitors: Leinster…

Saturday, May 28th. Kick-off is at 4.45pm Irish time (5.45pm local) at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. Can I watch? You can indeed. BT Sport as usual has the rights to European matches, but both Virgin Media 2 and Channel 4 always get one free-to-air game a week, and the final is no exception. You can also follow on our liveblog which will get…

FULL TIME: Ireland 23 New Zealand 12 A historic day for Irish rugby. Ireland deserved winners as Ta'avao's red card proved costly for the All Blacks. Big heroes across the pitch from Peter O'Mahony to Tadhg Beirne, to two-try hero Andrew Porter. The scoreline could have been more as they executed their game plan perfectly. Read Gerry Thornley's…

We were treated to a stunning spectacle of rugby last weekend which saw all four Southern Hemisphere nations take the chocolates, while France was the only team from up north to collect a win. With several series on the line can England, Ireland or Wales fight their way to victory in Game 2? Read on for all the line-ups and key team news as it…

New Zealand could not cope with the precision and accuracy of Ireland's phase-play Clearly, courage is a fairly valuable attribute in rugby union. But, to cite Commodus, the villain of Ridley Scott's epic film'Gladiator', played wonderfully by Joaquin Phoenix, there are many forms of courage. The C-word was obviously an in-house theme of Ireland's…

After the logistical omnishambles of the pool stage foreshadowed the intriguing introduction of two-legged ties in the last 16, we have a compelling line-up of Champions Cup quarter-finals. Headlining it is a meeting between Leicester Tigers and Leinster. For a number of reasons, this clash already feels like a European classic in the making. Given…