It's a down week in the Guinness Six Nations so the BTK United Rugby Champions takes centre stage.
Leaders Leinster are bidding to make it 14 wins on the bounce as they host the Dragons, while the Ospreys visit Thomond Park.
Glasgow is the destination for Ulster and Connacht make the trip to Zebre Parma.
TV
Munster v Ospreys (Friday 7.35pm) and Zebre v Connacht (Saturday 3.05pm) are both live on TG4 and Premier Sports, while Leinster v Dragons (Saturday 7.45pm) is live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Ulster's game in Glasgow (Friday 7.35pm) is on Premier Sports.
All games are live on URC TV.
ONLINE
Follow live scoring and live updates on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app with match reports and reaction from around the grounds.
WEATHER
Limerick will be overcast in temperatures of around 5C on Friday evening, while Glasgow expects wind and rain in a similar temperature. It will be partly sunny in about 15C in Parma on Saturday afternoon. Dublin is forecast to be cloudy with temperatures around 5C on Saturday evening.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Gavin Coombes and Roman Salanoa return from Ireland camp to start for Munster as Simon Zebo makes his first appearance since December.
The Reds are sixth in the table with seven wins from their 13 games, including victory in their last three league matches.
Indeed their only defeat in their last six URC games was by a solitary point to table topping Leinster in Limerick on St Stephen’s Day.
Graham Rowntree's team have not lost at home to a non-Irish province since Edinburgh won 18-16 at Cork in November 2019 but they have lost both encounters they have played with Welsh regions this season.
Offaly man Jack Regan starts for the visitors, while Nicky Smith will captain Ospreys and Iestyn Hopkins could make his debut if called upon from the bench.
Ospreys' only loss in their last four URC matches was a five-point defeat at home to Leinster in Round 12, while the Welsh outfit beat Munster 18-10 last season to end an 11-game Munster winning run in this fixture.
Munster: Shane Daly; Liam Coombes, Antoine Frisch, Malakai Fekitoa, Simon Zebo; Joey Carbery, Paddy Patterson; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Roman Salanoa; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Mark Donnelly, Stephen Archer, Jack O'Sullivan, Alex Kendellen, Ethan Coughlan, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.
Ospreys: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Michael Collins, Owen Watkin, Keelan Giles; Stephen Myler, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith (capt), Elvis Taione, Tom Botha; Bradley Davies, Huw Sutton; Jack Regan, Ethan Roots, Morgan Morris.
Replacements: Tom Cowan-Dickie, Garyn Phillips, Rhys Henry, James Fender, Harri Deaves, Matthew Aubrey, Jack Walsh, Iestyn Hopkins.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR, 21st league game).
Prop Eric O'Sullivan will make his 100th appearance for Ulster, who welcome Jacob Stockdale and Tom Stewart back from Ireland camp.
Dan McFarland's side arrested a worrying run with a big win over DHL Stormers last time out following losses to Benetton and Munster.
Ulster sit in third place with Glasgow four points behind in fifth looking to leapfrog the Ulstermen into the top three.
The visitors will be hoping to close the seven-point gap to second placed Stormers.
Ulster have won all seven fixtures they have played against Scottish opponents since rugby resumed in September 2020, and have won their last three fixtures against Glasgow since the Warriors' 50-20 victory at Scotstoun in the semi-final in May 2019.
Stafford McDowall captains Glasgow as Nathan McBeth makes his first URC start for the side.
Glasgow Warriors: Ollie Smith; Sebastian Cancelliere, Stafford McDowall (capt), Sam Johnson, Cole Forbes; Tom Jordan, Jamie Dobie; Nathan McBeth, Johnny Matthews, Lucio Sordoni; Lewis Bean, Scott Cummings; Thomas Gordon, Sione Vailanu, Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, Simon Berghan, JP du Preez, Alex Samuel, Euan Ferrie, Ali Price, Duncan Weir.
Ulster: Ethan McIlroy; Ben Moxham, James Hume, Stewart Moore, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Eric O'Sullivan, Tom Stewart, Jeff Toomaga-Allen; Alan O’Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; Harry Sheridan, Jordi Murphy, Nick Timoney.
Replacements: John Andrew, Rory Sutherland, Andy Warwick, Cormac Izuchukwu, Greg Jones, John Cooney, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy.
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU, 41st league game).
Connacht sit 10th in the table after a poor start but have bounced back to win their last two league games, against South African opponents Lions and Sharks.
Andy Friend's side have won only once away from home in the championship since last April: 22-19 at Ospreys on 29 October.
They have lost only once to an Italian opponent in the last five years: 12-20 to Benetton in Treviso in the Rainbow Cup in May 2021.
Zebre, meanwhile, have won just three of their 16 previous encounters with Connacht in the United Rugby Championship, although all three wins were in successive matches between 2017-18.
Zebre Parma: Lorenzo Pani, Kobus van Wyk, Erich Cronjé, Enrico Lucchin (CAPT), Simone Gesi, Tiff Eden, Chris Cook, Luca Rizzoli, Marco Manfredi, Matteo Nocera, Leonard Krumov, Josh Furno, Luca Andreani, Matt Kvesic, Giovanni Licata
Replacements: Giampietro Ribaldi, Paolo Buonfiglio, Muhamed Hasa, Jan Uys, Davide Ruggeri, Ratko Jelic, Antonio Rizzi, Richard Kriel
Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran, Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde, John Porch, Jack Carty (Capt), Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier, Josh Murphy, Niall Murray, Cian Prendergast, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler
Replacements: Eoin de Buitléar, Jordan Duggan, Sam Illo, Darragh Murray, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Kieran Marmion, Tom Daly, Adam Byrne
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU, 88th competition game).
Leinster have not been defeated by a Welsh region since Cardiff beat them at the Arm's Park 12 months ago, while Dragons have lost their last six United Rugby Championship ties since beating Zebre 47-7 in Newport on 29 October.
In addition, Dragons have won only once away from home in the championship since October 2021: 38-27 at Scarlets in April 2022.
Leo Cullen's side have won their last 11 fixtures against Dragons since the Welshman's 23-13 victory in Newport in January 2016, whilst Dragons only previous victory at RDS Arena came in April 2015.
Rhys Ruddock captains the team on Saturday evening, with Jimmy O'Brien, Jordan Larmour, Jamie Osborne and Michael Milne all starting, after returning from the Ireland squad earlier this week.
O’Brien starts the game at full-back, with Larmour and Dave Kearney named on the wings.
Liam Turner keeps his place in the team after impressing against Cardiff last month and is joined in the centre by Osborne. Harry Byrne and Luke McGrath are the half-backs, completing the backline.
The pack remains unchanged from the bonus point win over Cardiff. Milne, John McKee and Michael Ala’alatoa form the front row.
Ross Molony and Brian Deeny are in the second row, with Ruddock, Scott Penny and Max Deegan completing the back row.
On the bench, Academy prop Jack Boyle is set to make his debut, while there is a welcome return from injury for Jason Jenkins.
Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien, Jordan Larmour, Liam Turner, Jamie Osborne, Dave Kearney, Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath; Michael Milne, John McKee, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Brian Deeny, Rhys Ruddock (Capt), Scott Penny, Max Deegan
Replacements: Lee Barron, Jack Boyle, Thomas Clarkson, Jason Jenkins, Will Connors, Nick McCarthy, Charlie Tector, Rob Russell
Dragons: Angus O'Brien, Sio Tomkinson, Steff Hughes, Jack Dixon, Ashton Hewitt, Will Reed, Rhodri Williams (Capt), Rhodri Jones, Brodie Coghlan, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Ben Carter, Ben Fry, Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty
Replacements: James Benjamin, Aki Seiuli, Chris Coleman, Sean Lonsdale, Ryan Woodman, Lewis Jones, JJ Hanrahan, Jordan Williams
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU, 68th competition game)
