Johnny Sexton has missed out on Ireland's World Cup warm-up clash with England at Twickenham on Saturday. The fly-half sat out of training at the start of the week in Portugal.

RORY KEANE: This Ireland squad were primed to reach a first-ever World Cup semi-final, and possibly more. But they have been seemingly in free-fall since the events of February 2 at the Aviva.

World Rugby bosses have hit back at claims 31-man World Cup squads threaten player welfare by insisting top coaches left their objections too late to have any effect for the 2019 tournament in Japan.

One week and 12 matches in the Rugby World Cup and we have our first rest day, which seems a natural time to take stock ahead of a jam-packed weekend. Here is our team of the week...

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.

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.

Bundee Aki will miss the rest of the World Cup after receiving a three-match ban for his red card against Samoa. The Ireland centre was sent off in the 47-5 win for a high tackle on UJ Seuteni.

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.

Sportsmail runs the rule over every player from the two sides after a brutal Six Nations encounter at Twickenham that gives England a chance of glory thanks to their 24-12 victory.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Monday's meetings at Wolverhampton and Wetherby.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Tuesday's meetings at Exeter, Southwell and Newcastle.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Wednesday's meetings at Catterick, Lingfield and Kempton.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Thursday's meetings at Carlisle, Wincanton, Southwell and Newcastle.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Friday's meetings at Ffos Las, Chelmsford City and Wolverhampton.

The loss of Sandown to waterlogging has denied jumps fans their traditional pre-Cheltenham festival appetiser, but backing Documenting may still provide some useful funds for the week ahead.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Monday's meetings at Taunton, Stratford, Kempton, Plumpton and Wolverhampton.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Tuesday's meetings at Southwell, Sedgefield and Newcastle.

More than two dozen people, including the trainer of champion Maximum Security, have been charged in a widespread international scheme to drug horses to make them race faster.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Wednesday's meetings at Kempton, Huntingdon and Lingfield.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Thursday's meetings at Doncaster, Hexham and Chelmsford City.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow shares his tips for Friday's meetings at Southwell, Fakenham and Lingfield. 

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.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow shares his tips for Monday's meetings at Kelso, Hereford and Southwell.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow shares his tips for Tuesday's meetings at Kelso and Taunton.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow shares his tips for Saturday's meeting at Thurles.

Marquand dictated the pace aboard Addeybb, who was last seen finishing second to Magical in the Champion Stakes last October and is a seven times winner in Britain.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow shares his tips for Monday's meeting at Naas.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow shares his tips for Tuesday's meeting at Clonmel. 

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.

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.

Former jockey Mark Dwyer has paid tribute to Cheltenham Gold Cup winning trainer Peter Beaumont, who has died at the age of 85.

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.

Leading rider Jamie Spencer is facing sometime out of the saddle following an accident on the Newmarket gallops on Friday. The 39-year-old Irishman was returning to the David Simcock stable.

Races will be restricted to 12 runners to comply with social distancing rules in plans to race behind closed doors next month. 

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.

Racing has produced a provisional list of big races it hopes to stage over the last two weekends of May in the hope that the sport has been given the go-ahead by the Government to return.

Racing aims to be one of the first sports to emerge from lockdown, with the British Horseracing Authority releasing a provisional list of big races it could run on the final two weekends of this month.

Italy came from behind to maintain their perfect start to Euro 2020 qualifying with a 2-1 Group J win over Bosnia in Turin on Tuesday, while Greece fell to a shock defeat at home to Armenia.

Gunners manager Unai Emery has just £45m to rebuild his squad this summer after his side missed out on Champions League qualification. ellegrini has a £27m buy-out clause in his deal.

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.

Mario Balotelli has reportedly landed himself in trouble with the Italian authorities after the former Manchester City striker allegedly paid a bar owner €2,000 to drive his moped into the sea.

The astonishing revelation about Gianfranco Zola has come from former Italian footballer Fabrizio Maiello, who turned to crime after seeing his career end abruptly due to injury.

EXCLUSIVE BY ALVISE CAGNAZZO: Gianluigi Buffon rejected the chance to move to either Manchester United or City as he did not want a repeat of his underwhelming spell at Paris Saint-Germain.

Darmian - predominantly a right-back - has fallen down the pecking order at Old Trafford following the arrival of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, while Luke Shaw has nailed down the spot on the left flank.

Luis Alberto's second-half equaliser earned Lazio a 1-1 draw with AS Roma in a fast and furious Rome derby in Serie A on Sunday. Aleksander Kolarov opened the scoring with a penalty.

Azzurri coach Roberto Mancini was enraged as his squad failed to produce any serious chances in the second half when it held a man advantage - until substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini scored.

Italy benefited from a generous hand ball decision and converted a late penalty for a 2-1 win at Finland to extend its perfect start to European Championship qualifying on Sunday.

With Serie A returning after the first international break of the season, plenty of football fans will be turning their attention to a compelling round of fixtures in Italy.