"Completing the championship next season would be a last resort." - Six Nations chief executive Roger Pickering on the continuing problems which face rugby due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

" . . .we cannot afford to allow the bedrock of the game to be undermined. This will happen if the chronic shortage of games is not addressed as a matter of urgency . . ." - GAA director general Liam Mulvihill on the association's problems over the same issue.

"If the IFA feels the offence is so serious that we don't want them back at Windsor Park for international matches it will be a life-long ban." - The Irish Football Association end what seems to have been a life-long wait for credible action to be taken against sectarian louts.