The Morning Sports Briefing

Henshaw says harsh lessons must be learned

First to rugby this morning and the fallout from Ireland’s defeat to Scotland in Murrayfield on Saturday continues.

The squad trained at Carton House yesterday and Robbie Henshaw says that Ireland will have to absorb the harsh lessons learned before this Saturday's clash with Italy in Rome.

“You can’t switch off in this competition or you’ll be punished, we learned that the hard way last weekend,” he said.

Pep Guardiola’s ruthless past shows Sergio Agüero exit not impossible

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Gerry Thornley: Scotland defeat hard to take but no need to panic

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Pat Hickey to play no role in Thursday’s OCI presidential vote

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Robbie Henshaw says Ireland have learned harsh lessons

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No need to panic despite Murrayfield regrets

Writing in his column this morning Gerry Thornley says there is no need to panic despite the defeat, and that the Six Nations championship can still be won with England, France and Wales looking far from world beaters over the opening weekend.

Passions impels Fitzgerald to defy doctor

On to GAA and Davy Fitzgerald spoke yesterday about how his doctor was not so happy when he took on the Wexford manager's job.

The man who coached Clare to an All-Ireland was advised to take time away from the game after heart surgery but says his passion for the game impelled him back into a job when the Wexford post came up.

Guardiola’s past shows Aguero exit may be on cards

In soccer Daniel Taylor writes that Pep Guardiola's ruthless past shows that a Sergio Aguero exit from Manchester City is not impossible.

The Argentinian striker has struggled for game time recently and made just a seven minute cameo appearance in their win over Swansea on Saturday.

Cooper to miss Irish Gold Cup

In racing, Bryan Cooper is to miss the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown this weekend as he has not recovered from injury quickly enough. He hopes to return the following weekend. Meanwhile, Faugheen and Min were both ruled out of next month's Cheltenham Festival yesterday.

Harrington hoping to shrug off injury at Pebble Beach

Finally to golf and Pádraig Harrington goes to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week in the hope of shaking off a neck injury which has hindered him in his first two starts of the year on the PGA Tour – both resulting in missed cuts.