Garry Ringrose has signed a new contract with Ireland and Leinster that will run until the end of the 2027/28 season.
As a soccer-mad country, Italians are well versed in putting boot to ball and the country's rugby team are keen to follow type, as highlighted by the post-match stats from their 22-15 win over Wales.
Ireland centre Bundee Aki has signed a one-year contract extension with Connacht and the Irish Rugby Football Union which will run until the end of the 2025/26 season.
A perennial problem for Irish rugby is once again rearing its ugly head.
The ex-Australian hooker arrived in Dublin in 2014 to take on a newly created position to transform the sport for the Irish and his exit on Thursday came after the conclusion of the Olympic rugby sevens in Paris earlier this week.
Andy Farrell was directed into a vast Kings Park boardroom next door where the long long-table set up now dwarfed the water bottle-holding coach and the half-dozen journalists invited along for an embargoed eight-minute, nine-question debrief.