Archive March 4, 2026

Nick Timoney has been handed his first Six Nations start as Ireland head coach Andy Farrell makes five changes to his XV for Friday’s match against Wales in Dublin (20:10 GMT).

The Ulster back row has been rewarded by Farrell after making an impact off the bench in the games against France, Italy and England.

Timoney, 30, is one of two changes to the back row as Jack Conan is recalled after he missed the emphatic win over England at Allianz Stadium because of illness, meaning Tadhg Beirne shifts to the second row.

Farrell has also made two changes to the front row with Ulster’s Tom O’Toole replacing the injured Jeremy Loughman at loose-head prop and Ronan Kelleher recalled at hooker.

In the only change to the backline, Jacob Stockdale replaces the injured James Lowe on the left wing.

With right winger Robert Baloucoune and inside centre Stuart McCloskey retained after their sparkling displays against England, there are five Ulster players in Farrell’s starting team and two – Tom Stewart and Nathan Doak – on the bench.

In contrast, there were no Ulster players in Ireland’s matchday squad for the 27-18 win over Wales in Cardiff last year.

Doak is set to win his first cap as scrum-half cover for Jamison Gibson-Park – who will make his 50th Ireland appearance – while hooker Stewart will make his Six Nations debut.

“We have two special milestones in the squad this week at opposite ends of the scrum-half spectrum,” said Farrell.

“I would firstly like to congratulate Nathan on his first international selection. Nathan has been around a few Ireland camps in recent years and has impressed with the consistency and quality of his play in training and with Ulster over a longer period.

Munster centre Tom Farrell is also set to make his Six Nations debut off the bench with Bundee Aki not included despite returning from a four-game ban for verbally abusing a referee.

Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier drop to the bench while Dan Sheehan is not included.

Wales named their team earlier on Wednesday with wing Ellis Mee recalled as one of three changes made by head coach Steve Tandy.

Ireland have won the past four Six Nations meetings with Wales and have not lost to this fixture at home since 2012.

Ireland: Osborne; Baloucoune, Ringrose, McCloskey, Stockdale; Crowley, Gibson-Park; O’Toole, Kelleher, Furlong, Ryan, Beirne, Conan, Timoney, Doris (capt).

Replacements: Stewart, Milne, Clarkson, McCarthy, Van der Flier, Doak, Farrell, Frawley.

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Mee, James, Hawkins, Adams; Edwards, T Williams; Carre, Lake (capt), Francis, D Jenkins, Carter, Mann, Botham, Wainwright.

Captain Harry Brook says England do not need to produce the perfect performance to win the T20 World Cup and “unity” has driven the team to the semi-finals.

England play co-hosts and pre-tournament favourites India in an enticing semi-final in Mumbai on Thursday (13:30 GMT).

They struggled at times in the group stage but progressed through the Super 8s with three wins from three, coming through tricky situations in all three matches.

“We are never quite out of the game,” said Brook. “We’ve obviously had a lot of tight fixtures so far and we’ve managed to scrape along.

With England needing 43 from the last 18 balls to beat New Zealand on Friday, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed put on an unbeaten partnership of 44 from 16 balls to secure the win.

In the previous two games, England made a below-par 146-9 against Sri Lanka only to dismiss their co-hosts for 95 to secure victory, and were 58-4 against Pakistan before Brook himself hit a stunning century.

Those three victories followed a group stage where England struggled to beat Nepal, Scotland and Italy and were beaten by West Indies.

Their success also follows the dismal Ashes tour of Australia in Test cricket.

“I don’t believe we need a perfect game to win the competition,” said Brook, who is leading England for the first time at a World Cup.

“We’ve won those tight games which in World Cups prove to be very important and we’ve got a lot of confidence going into the deeper parts of the game.

“We’ve got a lot of competitive lads. Everybody wants to win, which is a given really, but even off the field when we’re playing golf, playing cards, whatever, everybody is always really competitive and they always have that slight edge and they take it out into the cricket as well.”

Brook said he expects Thursday’s atmosphere to be “awesome”, with the match to be played at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in front of 33,000 spectators.

England resisted naming an XI before the toss, but seam-bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton appears likely to replace leg-spinner Ahmed.

India were the overwhelming pre-tournament favourites but have also stuttered at times in the competition.

They were given a scare by the United States in the group stage and were well beaten by South Africa in the Super 8s.

“I said the other day there’s a lot of pressure on both sides, potentially more on them going into here with the crowd and the disappointment they had against South Africa as well,” Brook said.

The match is a repeat of the 2022 semi-final which England won by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The sides also met in the last four in 2024, with India winning convincingly.

England were beaten 4-1 in a five-match T20 series in India last year under Jos Buttler’s captaincy but have won 16 of 18 completed matches in the format since Brook took over at the start of last year.

Brook has been rewarded for decisions made at the start of his tenure, like recalling 36-year-old spinner Liam Dawson, picking Tom Banton in the middle order and Jacks as a finisher.

“When I took over, this [World Cup] was a year away and it felt like it needed a little bit of planning,” Brook said.

“That was slightly part of the planning to try and get some game time in those guys then slowly build some confidence up knowing they were going to be in the side most of the time.

“They’ve taken those roles on beautifully.

“Jacksy has had four man-of-the-matches in this World Cup, he’s been the standout player of the competition, arguably.

Galatasaray fans have been banned from the club’s Champions League visit to Liverpool later this month following crowd disturbances during their game with Juventus in the previous round.

European governing body Uefa said supporters of the Turkish club had thrown objects and lit fireworks during the last-16 play-off tie second leg in Turin on 25 February.

Despite losing 3-2 on the night, they progressed 7-5 on aggregate and will host the Merseysiders in Istanbul next Tuesday (17:45 GMT) with the return leg to be staged at Anfield on 18 March (20:00).

However, Uefa has banned the Super Lig leaders from selling tickets to supporters for the away trip and also fined them 40,000 euros (£34,800).