Ireland kicked off their Nations Championship fixture against Fiji with Bundee Aki starting a Test for the first time since last November's defeat to South Africa. The Connacht centre partners Jamie Osborne in a new-look midfield, and Andy Farrell has made seven changes from the win over Argentina, with Mack Hansen moving to fullback and Nick Timoney shifting to number eight. Ulster's James McNabney is in line to win his first cap off the bench.

Fiji are ranked ninth in the world, and Farrell wants a bonus-point win to improve Ireland's Nations Championship standing and build momentum before next weekend's clash with the Springboks in Dublin. That South Africa fixture is widely seen as Ireland's true final this month and carries the greatest significance in the build-up to next year's World Cup, with only eight games left before the warm-up matches for that tournament.S1

Elsewhere, Ireland faced Austria in Linz in a Nations League fixture that began scrappily, with few settled spells and several stoppages early on. Austria had the better of the opening stages, with Lang threatening on goal before Scales and Kelleher made key interventions. Ireland were then growing into the game, with Troy Parrott's audacious bicycle kick saved by Schlager and Nathan Collins returning to the starting side alongside Adam Idah and Parrott up front.S2

The Austria match carried promotion implications within the group: Ireland sat two points ahead of Israel and one behind second-place Kosovo, with a game in hand. Kosovo and Israel had drawn 0-0 earlier that day. A win in Linz and a win over Kosovo on Tuesday would assure Ireland of promotion to League A, although the sources note the task would not be easy.S2