Fly-half Sam Costelow has been recalled to the Wales starting line-up for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.

The Scarlets number 10 went off because of a neck problem suffered when Wales were beaten 27-26 by opening Six Nations opponents Scotland.

He was replaced by Ioan Lloyd, who started at fly-half in the Twickenham appointment with England, but Costelow now returns as a solitary change from that game.

Elsewhere, there are further starts for squad newcomers Cameron Winnett and Alex Mann, while centre George North wins his 120th cap and is only the third Wales player to reach that mark after Alun Wyn Jones and Gethin Jenkins.

Ireland are hopeful centre Garry Ringrose will be available for Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations match against Italy in Dublin.

Leinster co-captain Ringrose is “progressing nicely” in his recovery from the shoulder injury which caused him to miss his country’s 38-17 round-one win over France.

The 29-year-old was again absent from training on Wednesday but Ireland’s coaching staff expect to have a fully-fit squad in contention for the Azzurri’s visit to the Aviva Stadium.

“We are pretty confident that everyone will be fit to train fully tomorrow,” assistant coach Mike Catt told reporters, according to RTE.

“Ringer (Ringrose) is coming through nicely, he didn’t train today, but progressing nicely.

“(There are) a few guys with bumps and bruises, a couple that are still rumbling around.”

The Republic of Ireland will face Belgium and Switzerland at the Aviva Stadium in March.

The first of the two friendlies will see Belgium visit Dublin on March 23 for a 5pm kick-off, with Switzerland following three days later at 7.45pm.

Ireland last faced Belgium in a 2-2 draw in March last year, while Switzerland will play a match in Dublin for the first time since a 1-1 draw in September 2019 in a European Championship qualifier.

Ireland are currently without a manager after Stephen Kenny’s contract was not renewed following the end of a disappointing Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

They finished fourth in Group B, with their only points coming from two victories against Gibraltar.

Ireland will also play a friendly double-header in June, with the opposition to be announced at a later date, before the start of the Nations League in September.

Katie Taylor claimed redemption with a majority decision victory over Chantelle Cameron in Dublin to become undisputed light-welterweight champion.

Taylor and Cameron produced a classic at 3Arena with both boxers trading blows throughout a gruelling 10-round contest that was scored 95-95, 98-92 and 96-94 by the judges.

Cameron had dominated their previous meeting in May and was widely tipped to get the better of the Irish great again, but it was a different fight as the home favourite promised.

Early success for Taylor proved crucial and a cut on Cameron’s left head from a clash of heads in round three contributed to a bruising encounter that went the way of the challenger.

It resulted in Taylor avenging the first professional defeat of her career and means she now holds the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO light-welterweight belts to firmly silence any talk of retirement.

Stephen Kenny has admitted he does not expect to continue as Republic of Ireland manager when his future is decided next week.

The 52-year-old’s current contract effectively ended with Tuesday night’s 1-1 friendly draw against New Zealand in Dublin and the Football Association of Ireland’s board will meet next week to decide whether to stick or twist.

Public support for Kenny’s tenure waned as the Euro 2024 qualification campaign he had built towards came and went without the success he craved, and he acknowledges that the writing is on the wall.

He said: “Obviously the board are meeting next week. They’ve a decision to make and I respect whatever that decision is.

“Of course, it would be a dream to carry on and manage the team, of course it would, but my instinct is that’s not going to happen. That’s my own instinct and the evidence suggests that probably won’t happen, so I respect that as well.”

Kenny, who replaced Mick McCarthy as manager in April 2020, has presided over huge change but ultimately has won only six of the 29 matches for which he has been in charge.

He insists he has enjoyed the experience and is keen to carry on, but he is philosophical about the situation in which he finds himself.

He said: “From my point of view, there’s no greater honour than to manage your country, it’s a huge privilege.

“It was an emotional dressing room with the players there. Ninety per cent of the players, maybe over 95 per cent of players, their careers are on an upward trajectory and they’re only going to improve as players and as individuals.

“It’s been a privilege in that regard, the greatest honour you can have. Whatever you did in life, it would be a step down, no matter what you did, but that’s the way it is.

“We have had a lot of setbacks and I suppose that’s why I’m not getting a new contract if that’s the case. International football is ruthless, that’s the nature of it. I know that, I understood that, but that’s the way it is.”

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On a night when he needed a resounding victory to support his claims of progress, he instead got more of the same, a tepid, toothless display in which a supposedly inferior side in terms of world rankings at times out-played his and might have considered themselves unfortunate not to be leaving with a win.

Adam Idah’s third senior international goal had given Ireland a first-half lead despite defender Nando Pijnaker’s justifiable protests that he had been fouled by Mark Sykes in the build-up, but they were unable to build upon it and Matt Garbett’s 59th-minute equaliser was little more than the All Whites deserved.

If Kenny left the Aviva Stadium with regrets over results, he had none over his radical approach to his dream job.

He said: “I’ve always been a big-picture person. Rather than to build something step by step, you have to see what the picture is and what you can achieve and what can be attained and then work towards that. That’s the way I see life.

“When you do that and you set the bar high, your fall can be acute. That’s the nature of how I’ve always managed, really. It leads you to incredible highs and setbacks. That’s the nature of how I see things.”

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny is targeting his best victory yet as he prepares for a must-win Euro 2024 qualifier against the Netherlands.

The game in Dublin appears to be a make-or break affair for Ireland, who have collected just three points from their first four Group B fixtures and will effectively be out of the race for qualification if they lose to the Dutch.

Memories of a famous Irish victory over the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier in 2001 have inevitably come to the fore in recent days, but Kenny is reluctant to compare his team to the one in which Shay Given, Roy Keane, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane played.

Kenny said: “We’re not comparing ourselves to the team of 2001, they had some of the best players to ever play for Ireland.

“We’re an emerging team. We’ve shown a capacity to raise our game in front of our own support, our impassioned support and we’ve put in some very good performances at home there.

“It’s a game that will challenge us. Holland have players of the highest calibre, players with the top clubs.

“We’ve gone toe-to-toe with some of the best teams and we must raise our game and get our best victory yet as a team. That’s what we’d have to do and that’s the challenge for us.

“We’ll need the supporters to help us do that, we need that energy in the ground. We need that high-octane support to be really passionate and get behind the team and give the players energy.

“All their physical stats are very high after Paris in the heat, a tough game, so to go again, we’ll need everyone to really fire.”

Ireland finalised their preparations at a sunny Abbotstown on Saturday after recovering from Thursday night’s energy-sapping 2-0 defeat in France.

Defender Enda Stevens and forward Will Keane are out of the game through injury and strikers Sinclair Armstrong and Jonathan Afolabi have been drafted into the squad.

Whatever team Kenny picks, the players will know the stakes could hardly be higher with failure simply not an option.

Kenny said: “We know a victory is important for us, we know how important it is, that’s where it is. We’ll prepare well – as well as we can after just coming back on Thursday night – and make sure we’re ready.

“The players are clear on how we’re going to play and we’ll certainly be tested against this team. We’ll have to match them and we are capable of doing that and we have to show the belief and conviction to try to get the win that we need.”

Defender Shane Duffy, who made his first international appearance since June last year in the game at the Parc des Princes, is a veteran of the 1-0 Euro 2016 victory over Italy and knows he and his team-mates need to summon up a similar spirit to get what they need against the Dutch.

Duffy said: “It’s a huge game. Something we’ve to all thrive off and make it another special night as it’s more memories we can create.

“I think personally the games, they’re memories that I talk about to my children, big nights for your country. It’s another chance for us to make it another special night at the Aviva and make more memories.”

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has called on his players to produce the performance of their lives after their Euro 2024 qualification hopes were left dangling by a thread.

A 2-0 Group B defeat in Paris on Thursday evening means Ireland have taken just three points from their first four games, and realistically they need to beat the Netherlands in Dublin on Sunday to stand any chance of progressing.

Speaking in the bowels of the Parc des Princes after an energy-sapping night at the hands of the mesmeric Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele, Kenny said: “We’ve just got to get ready for Sunday now.

“We knew that if Holland beat Greece tonight and we beat Holland, we’re level on Sunday. We’ve got Greece at home and Gibraltar away in October, so it’s that big for us. We know it’s that big for us.

“The energy of the home crowd has been special, it’s been electric at home and we need that again on Sunday to pull out the performance of our lives. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Ireland arrived in Paris knowing they were up against it because of the quality of both the opposition and the heat, and while they battled manfully throughout, the gulf in class – Didier Deschamps was able to bring Champions League winners on from his bench while one of Kenny’s substitutes, James McClean, is currently playing his football with League Two Wrexham – eventually told.

Aurelien Tchouameni blasted the French into a 19th-minute lead as Ireland once again conceded from distance, and the side ranked second in the world never looked back against opponents rated 53rd by FIFA.

They increased their lead three minutes after the restart through substitute Marcus Thuram, a first-half replacement for the injured Olivier Giroud, and although it took a good save by Mike Maignan to keep out Chiedozie Ogbene’s header, the Republic had to defend for dear life to ensure the margin of victory did not stretch beyond 2-0.

Kenny said: “To be fair, obviously France are a world-class team, a really top-class international team, one of the best teams in the world, if not the best.

“But I can’t fault my players. I thought they gave everything really in the match. We were beaten by a better team for sure. For a lot of the players it’s the best team they have played against.

“Of course we could have done better at times, for sure, but everyone gave everything of themselves.”

France boss Didier Deschamps admitted his team could have been more clinical, but was largely satisfied.

He said: “We could have done more, but broadly speaking I’m very satisfied with the result and the performance of the players.

“Kylian did good things, even if he didn’t score. It’s not always Olivier Giroud or Kylian Mbappe supposed to score. It’s more about focussing on the goal, to qualify.

“We had many chances to score, especially from outside the box. We were expecting a good team from the Irish team. With their three defenders, they were very present.

“They created some difficult situations for us, especially if you remember the game in Dublin which was a bit risky for us. It’s a team that plays very deep and there were some difficulties.”

Ireland back-rower Cian Prendergast will make his first Test start in Saturday’s World Cup warm-up clash with England in Dublin.

The Connacht player, who has won two caps as a replacement, has been selected at number eight, with the influential Caelan Doris providing back-up from the bench.

Andy Farrell has recalled 11 of the team which clinched Six Nations Grand Slam glory against Steve Borthwick’s men in March.

Centre Garry Ringrose and lock Tadhg Beirne, who were both injured for that 29-16 win, and fly-half Ross Byrne join Prendergast in coming in to a strong starting XV.

Munster wing Keith Earls is poised to win his 100th cap from the bench.

Prendergast came on in the first half of Ireland’s 33-17 win over Italy on August 5 in place of the injured Jack Conan.

With Conan still sidelined by a foot issue, the 23-year-old is given a major opportunity to provide competition for key man Doris, who was named man of the match following two tries against the Azzurri.

Head coach Farrell has named a completely different team to the experimental side which began that match.