Your guide to the weekend’s best sporting action

What’s on?

It's a seriously busy weekend of sport with Six Nations rugby, a Premier League programme which includes Manchester United v Liverpool, Allianz League hurling and football, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy among those in action at the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour, Pro14 rugby, a full League of Ireland programme and much more. Below are some of the highlights but if you want a full list of what's on television you can check out our sporting TV guide here.

Friday

Golf: The European Tour touches down in India this week for the Hero Indian Open where SSP Chawrasia is the defending champion and Darren Clarke is the only Irish representative (Sky Sports Golf from 5.30am).

Most of the eyes will be stateside for the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour where Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy both make tournament debuts at the Copperhead Course among what is a stellar field. Woods is among the featured groups on Friday, teeing off at 12.56pm Irish time (Sky Sports Golf from midday).

Rugby: Leinster's rescheduled Pro14 clash with Scarlets will be an interesting one on Friday evening as Sean O'Brien returns from a long-term injury to captain the province (Sky Sports Action from 7.30pm – kick off: 7.35pm).

Joe Schmidt denies one-dimensional tag as he makes two changes

---

Brendan O’Sullivan’s anti-doping case involved recalled supplements

---

Owen Farrell to captain England in Dylan Hartley’s absence

---

Slightly earlier the Ireland under-20s meet Scotland in their Six Nations clash in Donnybrook as they come off the back of a thrilling but disappointing 41-38 loss to Wales (RTÉ 2 from 7pm – kick off: 7.15pm).

Soccer: Domestically there is a full programme of League of Ireland fixtures with Cork City's visit to Dundalk the pick of the action (eirSport 2 from 7.15pm – kick off: 8pm). A full list of Friday's fixtures can be found here.

In Scotland the Edinburgh derby is always a good watch with Hibs welcoming Hearts to Easter Road (Sky Sports Main Event from 7.30pm – kick off: 7.45pm).

Saturday

Cricket: Ireland play their third World Cup qualifier against the mighty West Indies on Saturday morning (Sky Sports Mix from 7.30am).

Ireland are two wins from two in Zimbabwe, after opening wins against the Netherlands and Papua New Guinea, but this fixture represents by far their toughest assignment.

The Windies are shorn of a number of their big names, with Dwayne and Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell all putting a pay day in the T20 Pakistan Super League ahead of the qualification campaign.

However talisman Chris Gayle is playing – and he warmed up ominously for Ireland by scoring 123 off 91 balls in his side's opening 60 run win over the UAE.

Golf: It's a slightly later start for the action from Delhi on day three of the Hero Indian Open (Sky Sports Golf from 7.30am).

Likewise in Florida where the big names will be hoping to move themselves into contention on Saturday at the Valspar Championship (Sky Sports Golf from 6pm).

Soccer: The meeting of Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford is the perfect way to kick off the weekend's Premier League action. Let's just hope it's a more entertaining encounter than the scoreless draw the two sides played out in October (Sky Sports Main Event from 11.30am – kick off: 12.30pm).

At 3pm there are five games taking place with Everton's meeting with Brighton the televised game (Sky Sports Premier League from 2.55pm – kick off: 3pm). A full list of the weekend's fixtures can be found here.

The evening kick off sees under-fire Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side face Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge with Palace coming off a disappointing late loss to Manchester United last Monday (BT Sport 1 from 5pm – kick off: 5.30pm).

You can catch up on all the day’s action on Match of the Day (BBC1 from 10.20pm).

Rugby: Can Ireland make it four from four and set up a chance to complete a Grand Slam at Twickenham next Saturday? Or can Scotland cause another upset and give themselves a chance of claiming a first Championship since 1999? You can read all you need to know about the big match here and you can follow all of the action on our liveblog from 1.15pm (TV3 from 1pm, UTV from 1.25pm – kick off: 2.15pm).

After the clash in Dublin it’s England’s turn when they meet France in Paris. Eddie Jones’ men must win to maintain their hopes of claiming the Championship after their defeat to Scotland a fortnight ago. You can join our liveblog from 4.15pm (TV3 after Ireland game, BBC 1 from 4pm – kick off: 4.45pm).

GAA: A busy weekend of GAA action gets underway on Saturday with Tyrone and Donegal the pick of the action in the only Division One meeting of the day (eirSport 2 from 6.50pm – kick off: 7pm).

For all of the weekend's football fixtures as well as up-to-date tables you can click here.

Sunday

Golf: The question on the tip of everybody's tongue is who can claim the Indian Open title. Luckily, you can find out before you even eat your breakfast on Sunday (Sky Sports Golf from 5am).

And if the European Tour action does’t do it for you then the Valspar Championship should given the calibre of players in the field (Sky Sports Golf from 5pm).

Soccer: There is loads to watch on Sunday, beginning with the Old Firm where Celtic travel to Ibrox to meet Rangers (Sky Sports Main Event from 11.30am – kick off: 12pm).

The Premier League action gets underway with another under-fire manager in the spotlight. In this case it's Arsene Wenger whose Arsenal team could really do with a victory when they take on Watford (Sky Sports Main Event from 12.30pm – kick off: 1.30pm).

After that it’s the turn of Spurs to get over their European exit when they travel to face Bournemouth at Dean Court (Sky Sports Main Event after Arsenal game – kick off: 4pm).

You can catch up on all of the day’s Premier League action on Match of the Day 2 (BBC 1 from 10.35pm).

Rugby: Some lunchtime women's rugby sees Ireland take on Scotland at Donnybrook (RTÉ2 from 12.30pm – kick off: 1pm).

Later in the afternoon it’s the turn of Wales and Italy in the men’s tournament when they meet in Cardiff. You can follow all of the action on our liveblog from 1.30pm (TV3 from 2pm, BBC1 from 2.30pm – kick off: 3pm).

GAA: Just the nine football and 16 hurling matches on offer for you on Sunday. There are two live and two deferred games on the television with Galway and Monaghan kicking things off in the football (TG4 from 12.25pm – kick off: 12.35pm), followed by Galway and Limerick in the hurling (TG4 after the football – kick off: 2.30pm).

Following that there is deferred coverage of Kilkenny and Wexford and the hurling and Kildare’s meeting with Mayo in the football.

For a full list of of hurling fixtures and tables you can click here. If you're looking for the football you can click here.