NIK SIMON IN TOKYO: Hansen owns a share of Nature Strip, who will run in the $14million sprint race in Sydney. Coach is focused on the All Blacks' quest for a third straight World Cup title.

Johnny Sexton has predicted that New Zealand will be cleaner in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Ireland following a bruising encounter in Dublin three years ago.

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.

RORY KEANE IN TOKYO: Ireland have a shot at history here on Saturday, with the All Blacks standing in the way of a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

RORY KEANE AT TOKYO STADIUM: Dear, oh dear. Ireland's abysmal record in World Cup quarter finals continued in Tokyo as a rampant All Blacks outfit romped to a seven-try victory.

Sportsmail provide you with everything you need to know for Rugby World Cup 2019 including knockout stage fixtures, channel and results in Japan.

RORY KEANE AT THE AVIVA STADIUM: Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend jumped to the defence of skipper Stuart Hogg for the incredible blunder which cost the visitors dear in Dublin.

RORY KEANE AT THE AVIVA STADIUM: Johnny Sexton says Ireland are trying to draw a line under the hellish events of last year and Saturday was a good start as Andy Farrell's side won.

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.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: All eyes on England's next game against Ireland, and what a prospect that is. But I suspect history will show victory over the Scots to ultimately be more important.

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.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: The good news is I sensed a sharpening of intensity with England at Murrayfield - but the bad news is some of Eddie Jones' selections are making me very nervous!

NIK SIMON'S FORM GUIDE: England have had an up and down Six Nations campaign so far, with one win and one loss, while Ireland are still undefeated at this stage.

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.

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.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: The 77-year-old is very well-connected in racing circles and has good relationships with key figures at ITV, where he was first employed as a pundit in 1971.

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.

The British Horseracing Authority have closed their offices at High Holborn in London until further notice because some members of staff are self-isolating as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.

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

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.'

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

The British Horseracing Authority have stood down 80 per cent of its staff in an emergency financial plan to cut a third of its normal monthly budget. Over 200 out of 260 staff will be furloughed from work.

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.

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.

The fund, co-ordinated by the Racehorse Owners Association, is part of a £22m cash flow and hardship funding package for racing announced on Friday.

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.

The four-day Festival was staged as planned in front of 250,000 people, with additional hygiene measures in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, and concluded on March 13. 

France Galop president consulted with members of the French Government with the parties giving themselves 48 hours to come up with agreement on how racing will deal with impact of coronavirus.

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.

SAM TURNER (Robin Goodfellow) spoke to some successful horse racing professionals and sports bettors about their views and methods they endeavour to employ on a daily basis.

Britain's best-known Flat jockey has thrown his weight behind the Frankie Dettori raffle with the winner getting to own a horse for a day ridden by the Italian wearing colours they have designed.

The tight guidelines of the strictest scenario for a possible return to racing have been underlined with the selected racecourses operating as almost sealed sites.

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.

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.

French racing moved a step closer to returning at Longchamp next Monday (May 11) after the French racing authorities were given permission to stage the meeting by Paris police.

Newmarket trainer Amy Murphy says maintaining a routine has been key to keep a racing stable operating inside the COVID-19 shut down.

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.

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.

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.

After 17 hugely successful years and 656 appearances for Serie A giants Juventus, Gianluigi Buffon made the move to Paris Saint-Germain last summer on a free transfer.

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.

Moise Kean is one of the exciting young players in the world; an Italian international, Serie A champion and important figure in the fight against racism, while still in his teens.

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.

Moise Kean is one of the most exciting young players in the world; an Italian international, Serie A champion and important figure in the fight against racism, while still in his teens.