Ireland's consistency of performance improved on the final day of the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in Kitakyushu. They achieved their first series win over Canada at the ninth attempt, before running the USA very close in a Challenge Trophy final that could have gone either way.

The Zurich Irish Rugby Players Awards, one of the biggest nights in Irish sport, will take place on Wednesday, May 16 at the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge. The nominees were revealed today with Keith Earls, Tadhg Furlong, Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton battling it out for the Players' Player of the Year honour.

With less than a hundred days to go to Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018, the team of referees who will oversee the exhilarating action at AT&T Park in San Francisco has been named by World Rugby.

Ireland began day one of the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series tournament in Kitakyushu on a real high, defeating close rivals Spain in a thrilling five-try clash, but their challenge for a Cup quarter-final berth petered out with losses to number one seeds Australia and China, the recent Hong Kong qualifier winners.