Best suffered the damage to his left foot in Ulster's Champions Cup quarter-final defeat by Leinster on Saturday and following a scan on Monday it was confirmed he will be fit to lead Ireland in Japan

Ireland and Ulster captain Rory Best has announced he will retire from professional rugby after the World Cup in Japan. Hooker Best has been capped 116 times by his country.

Munster duo Mike Haley and Jean Kleyn are the only uncapped players included in Ireland's 44-man training squad for their pre-World Cup training camps.

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.

Premier playmaker Johnny Sexton is expected to be fit shortly, but Ireland can ill afford to lose either of their main backline pivots. They open their World Cup by taking on Scotland on September 22.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: It is exactly the team I would have picked for a must-win game at the tournament. This is the first time he has put his full strength side out in these warm-up games.

SCRUM'S THE WORD WORLD CUP DIARY: Rhys Carre, Wales fiery-haired loose-head prop, has one extra item in his bag - the 'Love Spoon'.

RORY KEANE IN YOKOHAMA: Iain Henderson hailed the performance of Rory Best after Ireland trounced Scotland, claiming the captain had 'silenced a lot of his critics'.

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.

RORY KEANE IN SHIZUOKA: Johnny Sexton has challenged Ireland to channel the hurt of the loss to Japan into their final pool games with Russia and Samoa. 

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.

Bundee Aki was sent off in the 29th minute after a high tackle at Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium and faces a multiple-game suspension, souring the win that put Ireland through to the quarters.

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.

SCRUM'S THE WORD: South Africa star Cheslin Kolbe has warned that a new wave of pint-sized wingers are ready to explode into life at the World Cup.

The Rugby World Cup kicked off four weeks ago today and now, via 50 pool stage matches, we are down to eight teams. Sportsmail tells you all need to know about the quarter-finals.

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.

Siya Kolisi succeeds Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton as holder of the Pat Marshall Memorial Award after being recognised at the RUWC's annual dinner in central London.

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.

Brian O'Driscoll has accused Eddie Jones of 'scaremongering' and admitted he relished the sight of the England head coach's comments backfiring so spectacularly against France.

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.

The deadly epidemic has swept through northern parts of Italy and there have been calls to prevent the disease reaching the shores of Ireland with the game set to take place on March 7.

EXCLUSIVE BY OLIVER HOLT: There is a picture on the walls of the Lord Bagenal Inn that shows a group of men and women standing proudly in the main street beside a horse called Different Pace. 

HUGH MacDONALD: It is a testament to the power of sport in Ed Chamberlin's life that it both consoled and excited him as he laboured under the shadow of death.

Sire Du Berlais led home a Gordon Elliott one-two as he recorded back-to-back victories in the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham.

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.

Writing on the GoFundMe page, Dettori said: 'Being here in the UK, it's difficult not to feel helpless as I see the impact the pandemic is having on the people of Italy.'

Considering Hong Kong borders mainland China, from where Covid-19 emanated, it might sound surprising that jockey Neil Callan feels he is currently 'in the safest place in the world'. 

There had been plans to stage the meeting behind closed doors, but despite participants taking part in routine exercise on Sunday morning, the announcement was made by the afternoon.

Horse racing will be ready to resume in five weeks just in time for the first two Classics of the flat season, according to top trainer Ralph Beckett. Beckett believes acing can resume behind on May 1.

SPECIAL REPORT BY MARCUS TOWNEND: There is concern that ramifications of the coronavirus shutdown will be felt for years, rather than months, in the racing community.

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.

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.

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

Daniele De Rossi, who left Roma at the end of last season after they announced they would not renew his contract, donned his new club colours for the first time in Buenos Aires.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The extremely-talented Juventus forward and Italy international is on the brink of sealing a £36million move to the Premier League, which would be a great coup by Marco Silva.

The Dutchman signed for the Italian giants for €75million (£67.8m) in the summer after captaining Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals with a series of colossal displays.

The Argentine striker has been in enthralling form this season, bagging three goals in nine appearances in all competitions, including a strike against the Catalan giants in the Champions League.

EXCLUSIVE BY SAMI MOKBEL: Rodwell will arrive in Rome with a view to completing a short-term deal until the end of the season.

Reports suggest that the players are to be fined between one quarter and one half of this month' wages by the club for refusing to stay in a training retreat earlier this month.

Darts sensation Fallon Sherrock is set to face former Italian striker Luca Toni in a celebrity darts tournament this month. Toni is one of six celebrities taking part in the event.

British stars Sam Mendes and Bertie Carvel took home two of the most coveted accolades at the Tony Awards 2019 on Sunday night in New York.

Abigail Breslin arrived on the red carpet with her boyfriend Ira Kunyansky before heading inside for the ceremony.She also presented an early award of the evening with fellow actress Samira Wiley.

In 2016, she was nominated for Best Play for Eclipsed, a play she wrote. It made history as the first play with an all-black and all-female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway.

James Corden was joined by his glamorous wife Julia on the Tony Awards red carpet at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday night.

Sienna Miller looked phenomenal once again on Sunday as she arrived at the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York ahead of presenting an award.

Marisa Tomei, Rachel Brosnahan and Emily Ratajkowski all turned heads at the event, held in New York City's iconic Radio City Music Hall in cleavage-baring gowns.

The 73rd Annual Tony Awards are well underway, and stars are arriving to the carpet. Regina King, 48, looked elegant in pink as she arrived at the red carpet at the show. It's hosted by James Corden.

The 79-year-old film legend from New York, who has scooped an Oscar and two Tony awards, now finds himself on a list of actors whose reviews have consistently spiraled over their career.

Selena Gomez surprised fans and dropped her second new song and video in two days called Look At Her Now.