After a mixed weekend for the Irish provinces in the Heineken Champions Cup, Round 2 presents the opportunity for some to take a big leap towards the knockout stage, while others are just hoping to get off the mark.
Leinster planted their flag in the competition with their 42-10 hammering of Racing 92 away from home, and with an understrength Gloucester coming to the RDS on Friday, Leo Cullen's side are odds-on favourites to secure maximum points, which will leave them well placed to be a top-seed in the knockout stage.
For Munster and Ulster, a win is needed to kickstart the campaign.
Munster performed well in spite of their 18-13 defeat to Toulouse on Sunday, but another loss away to Northampton Saints would leave them in real danger of missing out on the last 16.
Ulster's need for a win is even greater. Dan McFarland's side shipped the heaviest defeat of Round 1, going down 39-0 to Sale Sharks, but they will have a huge job on their hands, hosting defending champions La Rochelle, with the game moved to Dublin after the Kingspan Stadium pitch was deemed unplayable.
Connacht are also in action in the Challenge Cup, with Andy Friend's side looking to continue their steady recent form when they take on Brive in France on Friday night.
TV
Leinster v Gloucester is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with coverage beginning at 7.30pm on Friday. All other games will be live on BT Sport, including Ulster v La Rochelle and Northampton Saints v Munster
Brive v Connacht (Friday, 8pm) will be streamed live on epcrugby.tv
RADIO
There will be live commentary of Leinster v Gloucester on Friday on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, with reaction and preview to the rest of the weekend's games on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
ONLINE
RTE.ie/sport will have live scoring across the weekend with match reports and reaction from the grounds.
WEATHER
There should be excellent rugby conditions for Leinster v Gloucester on Friday night, with a dry forecast in Dublin and temperatures of around 2C expected, while it should be similar in Belfast on Saturday with a slight risk of showers.
There's likely to be challenging conditions for Northampton and Munster on Sunday, with rain and sleet expected, and temperatures of around 4C.
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Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose (capt), Charlie Ngatai, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Michael Ala'alatoa; Ross Molony, James Ryan; Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Ed Byrne, Cian Healy, Joe McCarthy, Max Deegan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Johnny Sexton, Jordan Larmour.
Gloucester: Lloyd Evans; Alex Hearle, Giorgi Kveseladze, Billy Twelvetrees, Jacob Morris; George Barton, Ben Meehan (capt); Harry Elrington, Henry Walker, Ciaran Knight; Freddie Thomas, Arthur Clark; Jake Polledri, Jack Clement, Albert Tuisue.
Replacements: Seb Blake, Alex Seville, Kirill Gotovtsev, Alex Craig, Harry Taylor, Charlie Chapman, Seb Atkinson, Kyle Moyle
Referee: Luc Ramos (FFR)
It feels like a long time ago that Ulster were seemingly cruising against Leinster, and on course to claim a statement win.
Their second half collapse that night, combined with last week's humiliating 39-0 defeat to the Sale Sharks, leaves them under a significant amount of pressure ahead of this meeting with the defending champions.
The numbers behind last week's defeat don't make for pretty reading; Dan McFarland's side had the worst discipline of any team, conceding 16 penalties, while they were the only team to be held scoreless in the opening round.
Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle hit the ground running on the opening weekend, with their 46 points against Northampton the highest score of the opening round.
Saturday's clash in Belfast will be the third meeting of these sides, after they last faced off in the 2017/18 pool stages, Ulster winning 20-13 when the French side visited Belfast that season.
To further complicate matters for Ulster, the game was moved to Dublin on Friday, and will now be played behind closed doors after the pitch at Kingspan Stadium was deemed unplayable by the EPCR..
Ulster: Mike Lowry; Ethan McIlroy, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Rob Lyttle; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Rory Sutherland, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore; Alan O'Connor, Sam Carter; Iain Henderson (capt), Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: Rob Herring, Eric O’Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, Kieran Treadwell, David McCann, Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore, Ben Moxham.
La Rochelle: Brice Dulin; Dillyn Leyds, UJ Seuteni, Jonathan Danty, Pierre Boudehent, Antoine Hastoy, Tawera Kerr Barlow; Reda Wardi, Pierre Bourgarit, Uini Atonio; Romain Sazy, Will Skelton; Remi Bourdeau, Yoan Tanga, Grégory Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: Quentin Lespiaucq Brettes, Thierry Paiva, Joel Sclavi, Ultan Dillane, Paul Boudehent, Thomas Berjon, Levani Botia, Raymond Rhule.
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
A seventh meeting of Munster and Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup, and the first in almost 11 years.
With two of those games in Milton Keynes and Twickenham, this is only a second visit to Franklin's Gardens for Munster, who were beaten 31-27 on that visit in 2009.
Munster were beaten in Round 1 by Toulouse, but Graham Rowntree's side did at least pick up a losing bonus-point, with Northampton suffering a 46-12 hammering at the hands of La Rochelle.
The Saints sit in mid-table in the Premiership after an inconsistent campaign in which they have won four and lost six of their 10 games, but Phil Dowson's side have one of the most potent attacks in England with a joint-high 37 tries so far this season.
Northampton Saints: George Furbank; James Ramm, Matt Proctor, Rory Hutchinson, Tommy Freeman; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Alex Waller, Sam Matavesi, Ehren Painter; Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, David Ribbans; Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam (capt), Juarno Augustus.
Replacements: Mikey Haywood, Emmanuel Iyogun, Alfie Petch, Alex Moon, Angus Scott-Young, Aaron Hinkley, Callum Braley, Fraser Dingwall.
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Jack Crowley, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Jack O'Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (capt), Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Dave Kilcoyne, Roman Salanoa, John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen, Craig Casey, Rory Scannell, Shane Daly.
Referee: Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy (FFR)
FULL CHAMPIONS CUP FIXTURES, RESULTS AND STANDINGS
Brive: Seta Tuicuvu; Kevin Fabien, Nico Lee, Sam Arnold, Wesley Douglas; Nicolas Sanchez, Paul Abadie; Daniel Brennan, Florian Dufour, Tietie Tuimauga; Renger van Eerten, Tevita Ratuva; Retief Marais, Said Hireche (capt), Abraham Papali'i.
Replacements: Vano Karkadze, Nathan Fraissenon, Pietro Ceccarelli, Julien Delannoy, Matthieu Voisin, Enzo Sanga, Tom Raffy, Thomas Laranjeira,
Connacht: Conor Fitzgerald; Adam Byrne, Tom Daly, Bundee Aki, Diarmuid Kilgallen; David Hawkshaw, Kieran Marmion; Peter Dooley, Shane Delahunt, Sam Illo; Darragh Murray, Gavin Thornbury; Oisin Dowling, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle (capt)
Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Jordan Duggan, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Niall Murray, Ciaran Booth, Colm Reilly, Byron Ralston, Oran McNulty
Referee: Adam Leal (RFU)
