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This weekend sees the hotly anticipated Irish Champions Festival come to Leopardstown and The Curragh on an Irish weekend of sport to savour. 

Two massive days of racing will take place over the weekend, while showpiece golf and rugby events will also be shown live at the races so you can stay across all the action. 

They come in the form of the Irish Open, in action throughout the weekend after beginning on Thursday, and the Rugby World Cup, which starts on Friday evening and sees Ireland in action for the first time on Saturday. 

Let’s take a closer look at what we have to look forward to…

Irish Champions Festival 

Saturday and Sunday will see some incredible racing at Ireland’s most famous racecourses with six Group 1 races to savour. 

The action begins at Leopardstown on Saturday, where two Group 1s, two Group 2s and a Group 3 race will take place in an epic day of racing action. 

The first Group 1, the Coolmore America "Justify" Matron Stakes, will see Dermot Weld’s Tahiyra looking to achieve more Irish Champions Festival success after winning the Moyglare Stud Stakes a year ago. 

The Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes sees King of Steel and Auguste Rodin go head-to-head in a tantalising battle and Sunday sees attention turn to The Curragh, where there are no fewer than four Group 1 races. 

Highfield Princess takes centre stage in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes before Ylang Ylang looks to maintain her unbeaten record in the Moyglare Stud Stakes. 

And the Group 1s continue as Aidan O’Brien, approaching 4000 career wins looks to win both the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes and Comer Group International Irish St. Leger with City of Troy and Kyprios. 

Irish Open 

The DP World Tour comes to Ireland, as some of golf’s biggest names venture to the K Club in search of Irish Open glory.

Previous winners Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy are out for more success on home soil, while the likes of Thomas Bjorn, Billy Horschel and Matt Wallace have travelled to County Kildare in search of victory.

That action begins on Thursday and goes through all the way until Sunday and you can keep up to date with the twists and turns on the fairways thanks to live coverage across the racecourses.

Rugby World Cup: Ireland v Romania 

Ireland have travelled to France with big expectations as the nation ranked number one in the world and they begin their Rugby World Cup campaign against Romania on Saturday afternoon.

Johnny Sexton’s men are primed and ready to go after a flawless Summer Nations Series and on Saturday at 2.30pm, they will face the Oaks in Bordeaux.

Should you wish to see Andy Farrell’s side in action, the match will be shown at Leopardstown, meaning you can enjoy the best of both worlds and take in both the rugby and the horse racing.