Andy Farrell has made seven changes in personnel and three positional switches to the Ireland team to face Wales in Friday's Autumn Nations Cup opener. One of the most striking aspects of an exciting-looking, redesigned Irish XV is that it features 11 Leinster players. James Lowe will become the 11th player to represent Ireland through the residency ruling when he makes his Test debut at the Aviva Stadium. Gordon D'Arcy believes Farrell's challenge is getting player buy-in to incremental change: "The coach hasn't a hope if the players do not buy into his methods. Farrell gets this. Ireland are trying to manipulate opposing defences to create mismatches. It is a simple enough game plan where they are being asked to think on the fly more than replicate precise movements."
Rory McIlroy, once again bidding to complete the final leg of a career Grand Slam, will begin his US Masters campaign on Thursday alongside Dustin Johnson and Patrick Cantlay while Shane Lowry will play alongside defending champion Tiger Woods and US amateur winner Andy Ogletree in the first two rounds. Check out all of the groupings and tee-times here. McIlroy is coming in under the radar this week at Augusta National, he spoke to the media on Tuesday: "This week, it's take advantage of the holes that you can, play smart on the other ones. And if you can do that and think a little bit better and concentrate a little bit more, and just limit your mistakes, that's always a good thing around here."
In his column this morning, Darragh Ó Sé (Subscriber Only) explains how Kerry's attitude looked suspect in Sunday's Munster final defeat to Cork: "If the defensive system was the reason for Kerry's defeat, I'd be the first to call them out for it. But that's not what cost them the game. Kerry missed too much and Cork refused to go away. In those circumstances, a dropping ball in the square can catch any team out." With four rounds of fixtures gone since the intercounty resumption, Seán Moran breaks down how each of the football championship's contenders have fared. Mayo and Galway's horizon is now uncluttered by the prospect of Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Meanwhile, ahead of this week's friendly against England the FAI has confirmed that one player has returned a positive result in the latest round of testing for coronavirus. The player had been isolated from the rest of the group who have all tested negative. Borussia Dortmund's 17 year-old midfielder Jude Bellingham has been called up by Gareth Southgate for England's matches against Ireland, Belgium and Iceland - he would become the country's third youngest international if he were to feature.
