Irish Rugby

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Ulster make three changes from the win over Scarlets two weeks ago for Saturday's crucial United Rugby Championship contest against Dragons which includes the return of prop Tom O'Toole.

O'Toole takes over from Scott Wilson, who drops to the bench, with David McCann replacing Matty Rea in the back row and Nathan Doak in for Conor McKee at scrum-half.

McKee made his competitive debut when starting against Scarlets but won't feature at Rodney Parade as John Cooney - whose departure at the end of the season was announced earlier this week - is named on the bench.

Doak will partner Ulster Academy fly-half Jack Murphy in the half-backs as Aidan Morgan is included in the replacements.

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy admitted on Tuesday that his side "need to win" the contest against the bottom-placed club to maintain hopes of clinching a spot in the end-of-season play-offs.

The 12th-placed Irish province are only two points off a play-offs spot but losing to Dragons - who are marooned at the bottom of the table - would not be a promising sign in relation to Ulster's hopes of moving into the top eight with only five rounds of fixtures remaining after this weekend.

Ulster: Moore; Lowry, Hume, McCloskey, Stockdale; Murphy, Doak; Reid, Herring, O'Toole; O'Connor (capt), Dalton; McCann, Timoney, McNabney.

Replacements: Andrew, Crean, Wilson, Treadwell, Crothers, Cooney, Morgan, Ward.

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Forward Fiona Tuite says Ireland can "100%" defeat France in their Women's Six Nations opener in Belfast on Saturday.

France have finished second to all-conquering England in the last five Six Nations and missed out on last year's title after a final game defeat by the Red Roses.

Ireland, who finished third last year, last defeated the French in 2017 championship.

"We 100% believe we can win this game," said Ulster second row Tuite.

"We'll focus on ourselves and we'll take a lot from it, it's not all about the result.

"We're really focused on this being a journey and on ourselves. If the result comes, then absolutely, it's class. But do we think we can punch? Absolutely."

The 28-year-old has been named amongst the replacements alongside Cliodhna Moloney and squad captain Eden McMahon with head coach Scott Bemand opting for a 6:2 split on his bench.

Under Bemand, Ireland have qualified for this summer's World Cup and recorded famous victories over Australia and New Zealand last autumn.

Tuite said the step up in "physicality and aggression" were the main differences in playing the best teams in the world, and that is where Ireland would look to take a further step.

"We're not the biggest team but we're definitely aggressive. I think Hugh [Hogan, defence coach] calls us a middleweight team, where we have to punch hard and low.

"That's something we have been focusing on, that Irish physical dominance is something we wanted to bring into the game.

"We're really looking forward to bringing that against the French."

Tuite added France are a "tough team" and said Ireland had been building in training, becoming more "intense and competitive" as the weeks have progressed.

"They are fast, strong and quick. We've worked really hard but we will just focus on the game that we can bring, and we're looking forward to the challenge.

"We're looking forward to see how we go in the Six Nations and then on to the World Cup."

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Amee-Leigh Costigan will captain Ireland in their Women's Six Nations opener against France at the Kingspan Stadium.

Costigan previously captained Ireland Sevens but will lead Ireland for the first time in a Test match in Belfast with regular captain Edel McMahon on the bench.

Second row Ruth Campbell and openside flanker Erin King will make their Six Nations debuts for Scott Bemand's side in a game that will be live on BBC Northern Ireland as well as iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

The Ireland team shows four changes to the side that beat USA in the WXV Series in their last game in October as Campbell, Anna McGann, Eve Higgins and Dannah O'Brien are handed starts.

Stacey Flood and McGann join Costigan in the back three with McGann coming in for the retired Eimear Considine at right wing.

Eve Higgins and Aoife Dalton are selected as the midfield pairing whilst Emily Lane makes her first championship appearance since 2021 at scrum-half as O'Brien comes in for Nicole Fowley at out-half.

Niamh O'Dowd, Neve Jones, who has been selected as vice-captain, and Linda Djougang make up the front row, with Campbell preferred to Fiona Tuite at lock alongside Dorothy Wall.

Brittany Hogan, King and Aoife Wafer complete Ireland's back row.

Bemand has opted for a 6:2 split on the bench and can call upon the likes of Cliodhna Moloney, Siobhan McCarthy, Christy Haney, Grace Moore, Tuite and McMahon as forward reinforcements, with Aoibheann Reilly and Enya Breen the backline replacements.

Ireland were beaten 38-17 by France in last year's Six Nations as they finished third in the table.

Ireland team: Flood, McGann, Dalton, Higgins, Costigan (capt); O'Brien, Lane; O'Dowd, Jones, Djougang, Campbell, Wall, Hogan, King, Wafer.

Replacements: Moloney, McCarthy, Haney, Moore, Tuite, McMahon, Reilly, Breen.

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Centre Eve Higgins says Ireland have "huge belief" heading into their Women's Six Nations opener with France in Belfast (13:00 GMT).

Ireland have had a strong year of progress under head coach Scott Bemand and a third place finish in last year's Six Nations secured qualification for the World Cup.

That was then backed up by a win over Australia in Belfast and a shock, historic victory in WXV1 against New Zealand in Vancouver.

"That has grown a huge belief in this squad," Higgins said on Ireland's progress in 2024.

"Every single one of us is looking forward to going into the Six Nations and building on last year."

Higgins said Ireland trained against France, who are led by star scum-half scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus, in the lead-up to their win over New Zealand.

France finished second in last year's Six Nations after losing to England in a Grand Slam shootout in the final round.

"In the week heading into the New Zealand game we had our heaviest session against them," added the 25-year-old.

"We have not only had playing against them in the Six Nations, but also to train against them and focus on key areas.

"It put us in a great place heading into the New Zealand game.

"They have some star players and a power game, but the team has gained a lot of confidence from training against them."

After their opener with France, Ireland travel to Italy, host England and round out the tournament away to Wales and Scotland.

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Ireland internationals James Lowe and Jamie Osborne have signed new deals to remain at United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster.

Wing Lowe joined Leinster from the Chiefs in his native New Zealand before the 2017-18 season.

Lowe is the second highest try scorer in Leinster's history, eight behind Shane Horgan's record of 69 tries.

Now Irish-qualified, the 32-year-old is a key player for Ireland and helped them win back-to-back Six Nations titles, as well as the Triple Crown in 2025.

Osborne, who can play at full-back, centre or on the wing, came through Leinster's academy and made his senior debut in January 2021.

The 23-year-old made his Ireland debut against South Africa in July and scored a try in Cardiff as Ireland beat Wales to win the Triple Crown in this year's Six Nations.

The pair join Ireland backs Jack Conan and Ryan Baird in extending their contracts with Leo Cullen's side.

Leinster are unbeaten in the United Rugby Championship after 12 matches and face Harlequins in the last-16 of the Champions Cup in April.

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says his side "need to win" to keep their hopes of finishing in the top eight of the United Rugby Championship alive.

A top-eight finish will not only secure a play-off position but also a place in the Champions Cup for next season.

Ulster sit 12th after a disappointing campaign but are just two points off a play-off position with six matches remaining.

Murphy's side head into Saturday's game in Wales off the back off a dramatic win over Scarlets in Belfast on 1 March.

"If we want to keep our hopes up of playing at the business end of the season then we need to win, there's no doubt," said Murphy.

"The Dragons' league position shows they are at the bottom but they have been very competitive, especially at home."

Cooney 'will be missed' in Belfast

Murphy added that he feels the race for the play-offs will "definitely go right to the wire".

After Ulster travel to Dragons on Saturday, Murphy's side face the Stormers, Leinster, Sharks, Munster and Edinburgh to round off the URC regular season.

"The teams in the middle are roughly four to five points off where they were last year.

"Last year it was 50 points to get into the play-offs, we finished on 51, but you could see 46 or 47 getting you in this year.

"That all goes on in the background. You're always thinking about them but all we can do this week is play for a maximum of five points."

Murphy also paid tribute to long-serving scrum-half John Cooney, who will join French side Brive at the end of the season.

The 34-year-old became a fan favourite after joining from Connacht in 2017 and Murphy said he had been "incredible" for the club.

"Obviously I've only been here for a year but I've known John since he was 15 or 16 coming out of school," added Murphy.

"I've known him for a long time and he has stood up on some really big nights with some incredible performances.

"He'll be missed around the place. It's like when he came in and took over from Ruan Pienaar. It'll be big shoes to fill and now someone else will get that opportunity."

Wallace High won the Ulster Schools' Cup final for the first time in their history with a 24-15 victory over Royal School Armagh at Kingspan Stadium.

The Lisburn school had been beaten finalists on five occasions and had also reached the St Patrick's Day showpiece in 2020 only to see the game cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They got the better of an entertaining final at the home of Ulster Rugby with their pack particularly impressive.

The front-row accounted for three of their side's four tries with Rio McDonagh crossing twice and James Gould also scoring in a strong performance.

Armagh fly-half Evan Hughes opened the scoring with a penalty but Derek Suffern's side hit back quickly through McDonagh.

The loose-head prop had won a penalty at the breakdown before barging over from close range following the subsequent kick to the corner.

Armagh responded when a sharp offload from Hughes put Cameron Cummings for a score.

Wallace's forwards were particularly to the fore as they took control of the game.

Gould put them in the lead for good with another score from close range and the hooker was centrally involved in McDonagh's second touchdown after a huge burst through the middle.

Armagh had a chance to close the 17-10 gap just before the turn but Wallace scrambled back well to force Hughes into touch.

The first score of the second half always seemed likely to be key and Wallace got it 10 minutes after the restart through centre Luke Dillon with Gould providing the assist.

Armagh reduced the deficit to nine points when, after Gould had fantastically managed to halt Charlie Reaney on the line, Armagh captain Thomas Dougan was on hand to score once the ball was recycled.

Wallace, however, were able to hold firm over the final seven minutes to claim victory.

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The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) has refused to comment on reports linking Ireland's interim coach Simon Easterby with a role as part of Andy Farrell's British and Irish Lions coaching ticket for this summer's tour of Australia.

A report in the Daily Telegraph, external said that Farrell, who is on a sabbatical from his Ireland head coach role as he plans for the Lions tour, was set to appoint Easterby to his coaching team.

Easterby has been expected to lead Ireland's summer tour of Georgia and Portugal.

When contacted about the report on Monday morning, an IRFU spokesman replied: "At this point, we have no comment to make".

Farrell is expected to confirm the composition of his Lions coaching team later this month.

Speaking before the Lions link emerged, Easterby said he was "committed" to Ireland and "pretty happy where I am" after rumours of succeeding Warren Gatland as Wales coach swirled earlier in the championship.

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Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan says the side want to make sure they have "no regrets" come the end of the Six Nations.

Simon Easterby's side finish their campaign against Italy in Rome on Saturday afternoon knowing that they need a victory and results elsewhere to go their way if they are to win the title for the third year in succession.

No longer in control of their own destiny after last weekend's loss to France in Dublin, Keenan is hoping Ireland can at least put the pressure on England and Les Bleus in the final day's later kick-offs.

"We're just looking after what we can control," said the 28-year-old.

"Likelihood isn't great [for a title win] but we want to know that we have no regrets, that we've done all we can and gotten the performance that we're chasing.

"Hopefully there'll be some nervous watching."

Wins over England, Scotland and Wales to start the campaign mean Ireland have already won the Triple Crown but Keenan believes they are a better side than they have shown across the whole campaign.

"There's been good performances, but consistently over the Six Nations we know there's a lot more in us," he added.

"Can we take not only the learnings from France but the other games and put it all together?

"It's exciting because [Italy is] a tough place to go."