The four Irish provinces return to European action this weekend, we hope.

Munster, who are two from two in the competition so far, face an away trip to Castres on Friday night, while Connacht, one win, one loss, host Leicester Tigers on Saturday.

Sunday sees Montpellier come to Dublin to play Leinster, who beat Bath in their opening game before having a 28-0 defeat awarded against them by EPCR for the away fixture against the French side.

Later that afternoon, Ulster are in Northampton, hoping to build on their 100% record.

Here we look at how the Irish provinces' opponents have fared since the last round in mid-December.

FULL LIST OF FIXTURES, RESULTS AND STANDINGS

Castres v Munster, Stade Pierre Fabre, Friday, 8pm

Munster’s opponents on Friday night beat Stade Francais, who Connacht meet away next week, at Stade Pierre Fabre, 15-9, in a dire encounter in poor conditions.

Kiwi out-half Ben Botica kicked four penalties, while Julien Dumora, who made L’Equipe’s team of the week at full-back, landed a drop goal.

That result leaves Castres a healthy third in the standings, capping off a fine festive period that included a 31-30 home win over La Rochelle and a 20-19 win at Perpignan.

Coach Pierre-Henry Broncan named just four of the 15 players who started against Munster in the 19-13 defeat at Thomond Park in the starting XV.

Castres have two losing bonus points to their name in Pool B so far and are away to Harlequins on the following weekend.

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Connacht v Leicester, The Sportsground, Saturday, 3.15pm

Tigers faced Wasps in Coventry yesterday looking for a 16th straight win in all competitions that would have equalled a club record set back in 1983/84.

However, it wasn’t to be for Steve Borthwick’s side, who recovered from the concession of an early try and a sin-binning to take the lead before ex-Leinster man Jimmy Gopperth kicked Wasps to a 16-13 victory.

"We lick the wounds and attack Connacht next week," said Ellis Genge, who highlighted the concession of 12 penalties as a major contributing factor. "We got beat up front and that’s not good enough."

Over the Christmas the Tigers beat Bristol and Newcastle and they remaing top of the Premiership after 12 games.

Northampton v Ulster, Franklin's Gardens, Sunday, 3.15pm

Saints ran in five tries and Dan Biggar kicked 17 points in their 44-8 win at Newcastle on Saturday.

"We did certain things well at different times but over the 80 minutes we were certainly very happy to come here and get five points because we haven’t done that very often of late," said director of rugby Chris Boyd, who looks set to depart his role at the end of the season, after the win that sees Northampton sit fifth in the table.

The result was all the more pleasing following their 30-6 home defeat to Saracens and a 41-27 reverse to Harlequins in their previous two games.

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Leinster v Montpellier, RDS, Sunday, 1pm

With Leinster not having played a game since their opening round win over Bath, it might come as something of a leveller that Montpellier’s game at Toulouse was called off last weekend due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the home camp.

Initially, Montpellier, who are fifth in the Top14, were prepared to travel before concern grew over their ability to cover the tighthead position.

Their last game was a 27-12 win away to Biarritz two days after Christmas.

Phillipe Saint-Andre's side are sixth in Pool A, level on five points with Leinster, thanks to their walkover win in round 2.

Follow Castres v Munster (Friday, 8pm), Connacht v Leicester (Saturday, 3.15pm), Leinster v Montpellier (Sunday, 1pm) and Northampton v Ulster (Sunday, 3.15pm) via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News App, or listen to live radio coverage of Castres v Munster and Connacht v Leicester on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and RTÉ Radio 1.