Leavy lasted only 11 minutes of Saturday's Champions Cup quarter-final victory over Ulster before he was carried from the pitch on a stretcher having replaced Sean O'Brien in the second-half.

The outgoing Wales coach was named head coach for the 2021 tour of South Africa on Friday, having already led the Lions to victory in Australia and a drawn series in New Zealand last time out.

Joe Schmidt has suffered a World Cup injury blow with veteran flanker Seán O'Brien ruled out of the tournament in Japan with a hip injury. His set for six months on the sidelines.

Catt is expected to join Ireland as attack coach after the autumn's Rugby World Cup. The former England coach has agreed a deal to trade Italy for Ireland's set-up, it is understand.

England want all three available to take on Ireland to offset any need to pitch Billy Vunipola into a third Test in as many weeks. All three trained on Wednesday at England's Pennyhill Park camp.

Over a long and distinguished career, Brian O'Driscoll became adept at dealing with everything and anything thrown his way.

RORY KEANE IN SHIZUOKA: Carty starts only his second Test in place of conductor-in-chief Johnny Sexton, who is out with a groin injury. Schmidt reckons Carty has the right stuff.

Japan claimed one of the greatest upsets in rugby history, four years after their historic win over South Africa. 

Brian O'Driscoll praised Japan and poured scorn on Ireland's performance after the Brave Blossoms produced a stunning World Cup upset. 

RORY KEANE IN SHIZUOKA: Japan shocked the globe for the second time in four years by stunning Ireland 19-12 to light a bomb under Pool A and a fire under their home World Cup.

With prop Demba Bamba out with a thigh problem, France announced on social media that Uini Atonio (below) would replace him. But they deleted the tweet after discovering he was injured.

Ireland picked up the bonus point they needed but were made to work hard for it by a stubborn Russian side. Russia spent 20 minutes down to 14 men in the middle of the match.

RORY KEANE IN KOBE: There was a moment in the second half which pretty much summed up Ireland's performance under the closed roof here at Kobe Misaki Stadium.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RORY KEANE IN FUKUOKA: The 48-year-old is now head coach of Samoa, the final obstacle in Ireland's quest to qualify for the knockout stages at the Rugby World Cup.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: This game will be massive. So far in Anglo-Australian encounters at World Cups we have one victory apiece in the final, two England quarter-final wins and two Aussie pool wins.

Johnny Sexton has questioned the 'strange' negativity around Ireland's World Cup campaign, insisting Joe Schmidt's men are ready to peak for the All Blacks.

All Blacks boss Steve Hansen lit the fuse on a potentially explosive week on Monday by vowing to lay false traps for Ireland's master tactician and head coach Joe Schmidt.

'Sean aggravated a pre-existing neck muscle complaint and has been ruled out of the remainder of RWC19,' read an Irish Rugby Football Union statement.

WORLD CUP DIARY BY WILL KELLEHER: England v Wales is not quite the intense rivalry of old off the field any more. Some club-mates have been meeting up for coffees.

All Blacks take on Ireland in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash in Japan as they look to progress to the semi-final to take on either England or Australia. Follow LIVE ACTION RIGHT HERE.

Caelan Doris has been backed to make a huge impact for Ireland on his Six Nations debut against Scotland on Saturday, with assistant coach Simon Easterby saying the No 8 is 'made for this level'.

WILL KELLEHER AT THE AVIVA STADIUM: Johnny Sexton cannot wait to exact revenge on England after two recent thrashings when unbeaten Ireland travel to Twickenham next.

England will bottle the feeling of seeing Ireland win the Six Nations Grand Slam at Twickenham two years ago and use it this week, according to George Ford.

WILL KELLEHER IN DUBLIN: The 59-year-old Bono dropped into the Irish camp to give a rallying speech to Andy Farrell's team ahead of their Six Nations clash with England.

During the Joe Schmidt era, Ireland were renowned for peppering the backfield with high balls from Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray but Eddie Jones insists that England can cope with it.

DYLAN HARTLEY: A lot of people have been chucking stones at Eddie Jones but my message for the RFU is clear: give him a new contract. Dave at the pub might disagree.

MIKE BROWN: You always know when it's an Ireland Test week because the coaches put a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Johnny Sexton in the team dining room.

England dominated from start to finish as they took a 24-12 victory over Ireland. Influential fly-half Johnny Sexton struggled to get into the game as England's defence barely gave him room to breathe.

Chosen Mate was victorious in the sixth of Friday's races at Cheltenham after seeing off Us and Them and Maracuja in a packed field to take home the Grand Annual Handicap Chase.

Reports suggesting that large public gatherings will soon be banned mean racing's position as the last major sport to still be operating normally looks close to ending.

Some of Britain's biggest Flat meetings, headed by the June jewels of Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby, are shrouded in uncertainty after racing was shut down until the end of April.

Racing leaders said on Wednesday that they are putting together a financial submission for Government aid to try to avert a desperate financial crisis.

The BHA have postponed their consultation into the use of the whip while operation duties during the COVID-19 pandemic take priority.

The BHA has indicated that Flat racing under restrictions will be the priority when the sport is allowed to resume with Summer jump racing fitting in when it can.

It has been decided the 2019-20 titles should be awarded on the standings when the sport was shut down on March 17 with racing suspended due to the coronavirus.

New dates will now have to be sought for the four Classics, which are the 2,000 Guineas on May 4 and the 1,000 Guineas on May 5 at Newmarket, as well as the Oaks on June 5 and Derby on June 6.

Last year Newmarket-based trainer Haggas hatched a plan to target the Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Addeybb and the Group One Schweppes Sydney Cup with Young Rascal.

William Haggas' runner struck Group One gold under Tom Marquand in the Ranvet Stakes last month and he added another top-level success as he saw off Verry Elleegant in some style.

The son of Giant's Causeway was yesterday sadly euthanised at Kildangan Stud as a result of health issues, and brought an illustrious career at stud to an end.

Taking a serious view on the ante-post Classic markets is often a perilous enough exercise as it is without the current uncertainty on whether racing may or may not resume in the short term.

SAM TURNER (Robin Goodfellow) runs the rule over half a dozen of the more interesting British-trained fillies which may possibly take their chance in the 1,000 Guineas.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MARCUS TOWNEND: A leopard does not change its spots. It is no surprise then that Sir Anthony McCoy is delighting in retelling a story which will make some feel queasy.

A series of explosive emails from trainers calling for Nick Rust's resignation over the handling of the sport's response to the COVID-19 outbreak were published in a Sunday newspaper.

EXCLUSIVE BY MARCUS TOWNEND: A one-off new format to decide the 2020 champion Flat jockey is set to be drafted to take account of the pandemic disruption to the season.

All race meetings in the UK were cancelled following the lockdown on March 23 in a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus but the sport's organisers have been working on a radical restart of races.

There is no racing at present but there is still plenty to discuss and Sportsmail columnist Peter Scudamore is on hand to answer some important questions.

Victor Ludorum is the 5-6 favourite with Coral to maintain his unbeaten record in Monday's Prix De Fontainebleu at Longchamp.

EXCLUSIVE: When Aidan O'Brien-trained Anthony Van Dyck landed Britain's most prestigious Flat race last June, the colt scooped a first prize of £921,538 with the historic race worth a total of £1,623,900.

The club'sformer captain announced he was leaving his role as technical director last week, which brought an end to his 30-year affiliation with the club. Totti has been spotted enjoying a break.

Giacinti opened the scoring following a goalmouth scramble inside 15 minutes, while Galli double Le Azzurre's lead four minutes into the second half with a long range strike.