Here are your morning headlines for Wednesday 17 March.
O'Mahony breaks silence of red card against Wales
Ireland back-rower Peter O'Mahony has broken his silence over the red card he received during his side's defeat to Wales at the start of the Six Nations.
O'Mahony was sent off in the first half after connecting with the head of Tomas Francis whilst clearing out a ruck.
His suspension is now over and he is available for the final game against England.
He accepts that he was in the wrong but insists that he has always played hard but fair.
“When it comes to breakdown and it comes to international rugby you have got to be incredibly urgent, you have got to be incredibly accurate and you have got to bring physicality and these incidents happen,” O'Mahony said..
“It’s a very physical game. I have always played hard, I have always played fairly in my opinion.
"Look, I 100 per cent was wrong in what happened in the incident but the guys know better than anyone, my teammates know that I was acting on the best intent to make the best intention for the team that day and unfortunately that is what happened.
“I don’t think they will be looking for me to put in any different performance that I go out any other week to play for Ireland, that would be unjust to the jersey. I go out every time to play as best as I can and more importantly than anyone the lads around me know that."
Sheedy admits learning from Biggar is 'special'
Callum Sheedy admits he's enjoying learning from Dan Biggar and is happy being his understudy on the replacements bench if it means Wales keep on winning.
Many have called for Sheedy to start following a string of impressive cameos off the bench, but Pivac has stuck with the experience of Biggar so far.
And Sheedy says he's enjoying the current dynamic with the Northampton fly-half.
"Biggs is a fantastic player," he said.
"He’s had a great tournament. He was brilliant on Saturday.
"For me to be able to learn from someone like him, who’s got 90-plus caps, I can really see why he’s had that and why he’s at the top of the game in world rugby. For me to learn from him is special.
"It’s working well at the moment with.him starting and me coming off the bench. We’ve got a big job to do this weekend and we’ll see how it goes.
"Obviously, you don’t want to be known as a bench player but the important thing is the team wins. If the team wins by Biggs starting and me coming off the bench, so be it.
"There’s no egos here. If we do it that way, I’m more than happy."
Sexton hopes for perfect Stander send-off
Johnny Sexton says he is stunned by CJ Stander’s decision to retire and hopes Ireland can provide a fitting send-off with victory over England.
Stander announced on Tuesday morning that he will call time on his career at the end of the season due to family reasons.
He is set to pull on the Irish jersey for the 51st and final time when Eddie Jones’ side visit Dublin for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations finale but could yet be involved in this summer’s British and Irish Lions tour against South Africa.
“(I was) shocked – didn’t see it coming,” Sexton admitted. “They called into a meeting yesterday morning, him, Faz (head coach Andy Farrell); it was the last thing I thought I was getting called in for.
“Literally, if you gave me a thousand things to guess, it wouldn’t have even registered on it.
“He’s done things for the right reasons – his wife and daughter are back in South Africa at the moment, they’ve been there for a few months and they went back for the last lockdown as well, so it takes its toll.
“He’s just taking the decision on family reasons and we respect him for that but he’s a big loss to Munster and Irish rugby, he’s been huge for both teams over the last five, six years.
“Very shocked but we wish him well and we hope that his last game in green will be one to remember.”
European fixtures revealed for Welsh sides
The Welsh sides have discovered their the time and dates for their European knockout fixtures.
All four sides are involved in the Round of 16. You can view their fixtures below:
Champions Cup fixtures
Sunday 4 April
Scarlets v Sale Sharks - Parc y Scarlets (17.30) - BT Sport/beIN SPORTS
Challenge Cup fixtures
Friday 2 April
London Irish v Cardiff Blues - Brentford Community Stadium (17.30) - BT Sport
Saturday 3 April
Ospreys v Newcastle Falcons - Liberty Stadium (15.00) - S4C/BT Sport
Dragons v Northampton Saints - Rodney Parade (17.30) - S4C/BT Sport
