We'll Leave It There So: Sam's the man, Ringrose to start in Cardiff and the rest of today's sport

Here’s what the world of sport conjured up today.

Sarah Smyth with Rogue Angel Sarah Smyth with 2016 Fairyhouse Boylesports Irish Grand National winner Rogue Angel at today's launch of the 2017 race at Everardsgrange, Fethard, Co Tipperary. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

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Sam Bennett held off the challenge of some top-class sprinters to take the biggest win of his career at Stage 3 of the iconic Paris-Nice race in France.
Joe Schmidt is set to retain Garry Ringrose at outside centre in his Ireland team to face Wales on Friday night in the Six Nations.
Johnny McPhillips will miss the rest of the U20 Six Nations after returning to Ulster for rehab on a groin injury which could keep him out for up to eight weeks.
Blackrock College comprehensively saw off the challenge of Gonzaga College to book their place in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup final.
Kieran Donaghy has been called up to the Irish senior men’s basketball team panel.
The importance of the increased safety standards in Irish mixed martial arts was illustrated at an event in Dublin on Saturday.

A steward falls while attempting to tackle a pitch invader A steward tackles a pitch invader at today's Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final between Gonzaga College and Blackrock College in Donnybrook. Gary Carr / INPHO Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO

Away

Newport Gwent Dragons have announced that Zane Kirchner will join them from Leinster at the end of the season.
The Football Association has confirmed that Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic has accepted a three-match ban for his elbow on Tyrone Mings.
Team Sky have admitted making a number of mistakes around the reception of a medical package for former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins but expect to be found not guilty of breaking anti-doping rules.

The Best Thing We Shared

PRO12 Rugby / YouTube

Watch how Leinster secured yet another bonus-point win in the Guinness Pro12 by putting 45 points on the Scarlets.

Where We Were Today

Ryan Bailey was in Donnybrook for the Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final between Gonzaga College and Blackrock College, while Emma Duffy was at the Support Her Sport conference at Croke Park.

Natalya Coyle, Fiona Coghlan, Annalise Murphy and Mags D'Arcy were on board for the Support Her Sport conference. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

On The Record

It is difficult to take emotion out of playing the game because I love playing for Ulster and Ireland. You have to have some sort of cut-throat instinct when looking at your performance, analysing yourself, making sure what you have done: ‘Is it good enough? Are the impacts good enough? Or have you made the impacts?’ A lot of it is put into stats for us. I don’t mind going through it and figuring out whether I have bettered myself from my previous performance. A lot of it does come down to being brutally honest with yourself and having the stubbornness almost to push yourself through, looking at how badly you did things.

Ireland’s Iain Henderson is gearing up for Friday night’s Six Nations clash with Wales.

The Fixture List

Tomorrow night in the EirGrid U21 football championship – Leinster quarter-final: Laois v Louth (O’Moore Park, Portlaoise); Munster quarter-finals: Kerry v Clare (Austin Stack Park, Tralee), Limerick v Tipperary, (Gaelic Grounds); Ulster preliminary round: Antrim v Monaghan (Queens University, The Dub) — all 7.30pm.
There’s more second-leg action in the Champions League, with Barcelona hosting Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at home to Benfica (both 7.45pm).
In the Premier League, Manchester City entertain Stoke City (8pm).

Showbiz, baby!

goal RTÉ Soccer Republic RTÉ Soccer Republic

Patrick McEleney has been doing a fine job of helping Dundalk fans to get over the departure of Daryl Horgan. McEleney was superb against Sligo Rovers on Saturday night, opening the scoring with a sublime free-kick in their 4-0 win.

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