Ireland have made five changes in personnel and also four positional switches for Saturday's series decider against Australia in Sydney. Iain Henderson (knee), Dan Leavy (sternum), Garry Ringrose (foot) and Andrew Conway (hip) all miss out through injury, while captain Peter O'Mahony switches to openside to facilitate Jack Conan at number eight. Michael Cheika has made only two changes to the Australia team, one of which was enforced with Will Genia's injury, while Lukhan Tui's inclusion at blindside flanker is hoped to bolster their lineout.
Reigning champions Leinster have been drawn in a tough pool for next season's Heineken Cup. Following Wednesday's draw in Switzerland, they'll face Wasps, Toulouse and Bath. Munster share Pool 2 with French Top 14 champions Castres and Premierships sides Exeter and Gloucester. Ulster will face Racing 92, Leicester and 2017 Pro 14 league winners Scarlets in Pool 4 of the competition. Ulster's new head coach, Dan McFarland, may not be arriving until midway through the campaign as he still under contract to the Scottish RFU - and Ireland assistant/defensive coach Andy Farrell is expected to spend the first few months of the season as a glorified, interim head coach.
Spain were fortunate to squeeze past Iran last night, as Diego Costa's fortunate goal gave them a first win in this summer's World Cup. Iran had a goal ruled out by the VAR system for an offside. There are three matches today, with Denmark taking on Australia at 1pm, France play Peru at 4pm, and at 7pm Argentina and Lionel Messi look to bounce back from their disappointing draw against Iceland in a tasty encounter with Croatia.
Wexford will face Galway in this year's Leinster hurling Under-21 final, after the latter's 3-13 to 1-17 win over Kilkenny last night, while Wexford were three point winners over Dublin. In Munster, Cork were 0-23 to 1-17 winners over Waterford, and they'll now face the winners of Tipperary and Limerick who play tonight.
In her column this morning Joanne O'Riordan explains how sport can be a game-changer in broadening our horizons. She's been impressed at how Russia has opened its doors to the World Cup, and feels, "it's the same with how we have developed our thinking on people with intellectual disabilities. The Special Olympics have helped us in learning about something that was taboo a few decades ago."
