Joe Schmidt has made 12 changes to his Ireland XV for Saturday's Test against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium (6.30pm), following last weekend's 54-7 win over Italy in Chicago. Jordan Larmour, Bundee Aki and Jacob Stockdale are the three players to retain their places, with Rob Kearney, Garry Ringrose and Conor Murray the only high-profile absentees. Among those returning to the fold are Rory Best, Iain Henderson, Cian Healy and - after a near 12-month absence - Seán O'Brien. O'Brien missed Ireland's Grand Slam victory as well as the summer tour to Australia through injury, but Schmidt believes the backrow is returning to somewhere approaching his best: "In my experiences of coaching him for eight and a half years - or for intervals in that eight and a half years - it does take a couple of games for him to get up and running. But he is up and running. I'd be hopeful that he is going to take another step."

Meanwhile in his column today Liam Toland has suggested Ireland need to be dragged into the trenches by Argentina and the All Blacks this November ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup. He writes: "Can we see Ireland getting into a tough place the next two Saturdays and negotiating their way out of same? If we see that, where for instance the All Blacks are ahead with 30 or 20 or 10 minutes to go and the Irish collective manage, in some way, to get their noses in front, then the autumn series is a marvellous success. In a way, we need Argentina and New Zealand to put us into that dark place to make this November."

Arsenal are through to the knockout stages of the Europa League after a goalless draw with Sporting at the Emirates last night - however the Group E clash was marred by a serious injury to Danny Welbeck, with the striker stretchered off during the first half. Elsewhere Celtic breathed life into their campaign with a 2-1 win over RB Leipzig at Parkhead, while Chelsea are also through after an Olivier Giroud header gave Mauricio Sarri's side a 1-0 win away to BATE Borisov.

And ahead of next week's Fenway Classic - which will see Clare, Cork, Wexford and All-Ireland champions Limerick head to Boston - the Banner's Podge Collins has reflected on a season which saw his county return to Croke Park for the first time since 2013. "I suppose when you're getting knocked out of the championship early the morale around the panel and the county is very low and you're listening to a lot of it and it is very draining," he said. "Then, when you have a good year and things start going well there is a buzz there and the buzz starts filtering through and the morale comes back and the crack starts happening a lot easier."