Another difficult international window draws to a close for the Republic of Ireland tonight, as they face Qatar in a friendly in Debrecen, Hungary (kick-off 7.45pm). Stephen Kenny's side head into the game on the back of consecutive World Cup qualifier defeats to Serbia and Luxembourg, with the manager looking for his first win in charge at the 10th time of asking. This means tonight's fixture, against the controversial hosts of the 2022 tournament, now takes on far greater importance. Emmet Malone writes: "Ireland's qualification prospects would be revived somewhat in the event the Serbs or Portuguese slip up in games away to the group's lower seeds on Tuesday but, as things stand, the Irish players would probably do well to seize the moment in Debrecen if they intend to do anything to highlight the ongoing abuses suffered by migrant workers in Qatar." Kenny is likely to make changes from the side beaten at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening, with Matt Doherty and Enda Stevens both ruled out through injury. One player likely to retain his place however is Jason Knight, and the 20-year-old Derby County midfielder has given his support to the manager: "We can all see as players that he's trying to implement an attractive style of play for the senior international team and that's going to take time like anything does."
In his column this morning Gerry Thornley has reflected on the Six Nations Championship, which was won by Wales after France's defeat to Scotland in Paris last Friday night. As you have probably heard, it was a tournament like no other due to empty stadiums - but the absence of fans didn't stop there being excitement on the pitch. He writes: "Instead rugby, and especially the 2021 Six Nations, provided a level of drama and entertainment that defied forecasts given the widespread criticism which greeted the rearranged fag ends of the 2020 tournament and, save for the final weekend, the dreary Autumn Nations Cup." However he also suggests the Championship was "distorted by the overt influence of officials." Indeed, there were a record 16 yellow and five red cards shown throughout, compared to the eight sendings off in tournament history before 2021.
Elsewhere European rugby returns this weekend, with Leinster and Munster in Champions Cup action while Connacht and Ulster both face trips to England in the Challenge Cup. Four-time winners Leinster will meet Toulon in the opening last-16 fixture on Friday evening (kick-off 5pm), and Johnny Sexton is expected to be available despite being forced off with a head injury during the Pro14 final win over Munster. There have also been concerns about the fitness of Ross Byrne, but yesterday Stuart Lancaster brought an end to the brief outhalf crisis: "I'm pretty confident they'll be fine. Johnny is flying through the protocols. It wasn't a particularly big incident. He got a bang on the nose. Ross trained today. So, he had a bang and there was a bit of a doubt about whether he would train, but he trained and he was fine."
Meanwhile Munster have confirmed the departures of JJ Hanrahan and Darren Sweetnam - neither of whom were offered a new contract by the province. They will head for Clermont Auvergne and La Rochelle respectively, while Munster also look to be on the verge of making a puzzling signing in the form of 25-year-old South African lock Jason Jenkins.
And former All-Ireland winning Down manager Peter McGrath has spoken to Seán Moran about the Ulster county's long wait for silverware at provincial and national level. McGrath steered Down to Sam Maguire in 1991 and 1994 - but they haven't managed it since. "There is no sort of one sentence answer to explain why 26/27 years has elapsed without Down winning an Ulster senior championship title," he said.
