RUGBY SHORTS

PAUL O’CONNELL will make his bow today as Ireland Under 20s assistant coach. The former Ireland skipper, who retired in February 2016, had been on a shortlist for a vacancy at Matt O’Connor’s Leicester Tigers. However, still unsure if a full-time coaching role in the game is what he wants, O’Connell withdrew from that process and will be part of newlyappointed Noel McNamara’s U20s staff, whose season commences today with friendly against a Leinster Development XV in Donnybrook. ÷CONNACHT centre Tom Farrell has extended his contract with the province to the end of the 2019/20 season. The 24-year-old has made over 20 appearances for the province since arriving in January. However, the westerners were dealt a blow with the news that prop JP Cooney has been ruled out for four months. The 27-year-old has not played for Connacht since May and will now miss the rest of the season after the operation on a hamstring issue. Prop Denis Buckley is seeing a specialist this week to determine the extent of the ankle injury he sustained against Brive, while Steve Crosbie and Jarrad Butler are also doubts for this ÷NATHAN HUGHES is set to miss England’s entire Six Nations campaign with a knee ligament injury, after discovering last night that he will be out of action for eight to 10 weeks. Wasps’ giant, Fiji-born No8 suffered medial ligament damage during the Champions Cup victory over La Rochelle on Sunday.