Ireland will take on France this weekend without their captain and outhalf Johnny Sexton. Andy Farrell has named his team for Saturday's Six Nations clash at a sold out Stade de France, with Joey Carbery replacing the injured Sexton and Robbie Henshaw and Iain Henderson returning to the matchday 23, while Jack Carty provides outhalf cover. Gerry Thornley writes, the time is now for a primed Joey Carbery ahead of what will be his first Six Nations start. In URC action tonight, Dave Kearney returns to the Leinster team as they host Edinburgh, and Munster make eight changes for their trip to Glasgow. The Irish Under-20s take on France at 8pm (Irish time).
The chase goes on as Liverpool won the first of their two games in hand last night to close the gap on Manchester City to nine points. Jurgen Klopp's team dominated Leicester City in a 2-0 win, with Diogo Jota bagging a double, Luis Díaz making his first start, and Mohamed Salah making a dazzling return off the bench. In the night's other Premier League clash Arsenal survived a fourth red card in six matches to beat Wolves 1-0. Johnny Watterson explains in his column this morning, clubs are failing to equip their stars with the skills needed to stay out of legal trouble: "Coming off the back of Manchester United player, Mason Greenwood's recent brush with the law, Zouma is the latest in a line of privileged young footballers outdoing each other in base behaviour."
GAA director general Tom Ryan has intimated that Dublin can expect a reduction in games development funding under proposals from a review of current funding models, but he would not be drawn into specifics. In last night's Sigerson Cup semi-finals, NUIG need extra-time to overcome MTU Kerry 0-18 to 0-15, while David Clifford stepped up with two late points as UL edged DCU.
Meanwhile, the Irish Open has announced a new title sponsor and an almost doubling of the prizefund. With new life injected into the old tournament, the Horizon Irish Open at Mount Juliet on June 30th-July 3rd will again feature as one of the main tournaments on the DP World Tour.
