After the Interpros dominated the Irish rugby landscape over Christmas and New Year's Day, it's now time for the Investec Champions Cup to take over as we turn towards the Six Nations.
It's been a mixed showing from the Irish sides so far in Europe, with Leinster the only one of the four provinces to win both their opening games.
Leo Cullen's side fell to a rare home defeat against Ulster on New Year's Day, but they will be expected to come out firing when they host Stade Francais at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening (5.30pm), which will see them take a big step towards a high seed in the knockout stages.
Ulster's win against Leinster was a third in a row in all competitions, with that good run of form starting with their Champions Cup Round 2 victory over Racing 92. Dan McFarland's side welcome another French giant to Belfast this week, with five-time champions Toulouse in town on Saturday night (8pm).
Munster and Connacht are both desperately in need of a win.
Two-time winners Munster can revive their knockout hopes if they can pull off a victory away to Toulon on Saturday (3.15pm), but the URC champions know that they will be in dire straights if they fall to a fourth defeat in a row in all competitions.
Meanwhile, Connacht are also in France early on Saturday afternoon (1pm) when they face Top14 strugglers Lyon. Pete Wilkins' side are still searching for their first win of the Champions Cup pools, but come in off the back of a morale-boosting victory over Munster.
ONLINE
We'll have live blogs, live scoring, reports and reaction across the weekend on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
TV
Leinster v Stade Francais is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Saturday, with coverage getting under way at 4.45pm. Lyon v Connacht, Toulon v Munster and Ulster v Toulouse will be shown on TNT.
RADIO
There will be live commentary of Leinster v Stade Francais on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
Lyon v Connacht and Toulon v Munster will both be live on Newstalk.
WEATHER
Conditions in Lyon look ideal for Connacht's visit on Saturday. It will be very cold, with temperatures just above freezing, but the forecast shows no rain and very little wind. Perfect for some running rugby.
Munster and Toulon will also have great weather conditions in the south of France, with clear skies and temperatures around 8C for the late afternoon kick-off.
Back in Dublin it's likely to be cold and dry for Leinster v Stade Francais at the Aviva Stadium, with temperatures around 5C, and winds of roughly 15km/hr.
Later that night in Belfast, it's likely to drop down to 3C for the 8pm clash of Ulster and Toulouse, but there's no rain forecast and very little wind.
Connacht have conceded a combined 96 points across their two Champions Cup games so far, but the Irish side will head to France knowing they are right back in the mix for the last 16 if they can pull off a win against Lyon.
Defeat for Connacht would almost certainly end their qualification hopes, even with a home game against Bristol still to come.
While the province aren't back in URC action until the middle of February, Pete Wilkins appears to be using the Champions Cup as an opportunity to rotate his squad, with Bundee Aki and Finlay Bealham both rested, while Mack Hansen has been ruled out due to injury.
Lyon may also have one eye on their domestic form, with the 2022 Challenge Cup winners second from bottom in the Top14 after a thumping 45-0 defeat to Toulouse last week.
The artificial surface at Stade de Gerland should also suit Connacht's game, however.
The province love to keep the ball in hand and have kicked less than any other side in the competition, averaging just 15 kicks from hand per 80 minutes. They also lead the competition in turnovers won, with 21 across their opening two games.
Lyon: Alexandre Tchaptchet; Monty Ioane, Josiah Maraku, Thibaut Regard, Thaakir Abrahams; Paddy Jackson, Martin Page-Relo; Hamza Kaabeche, Yanis Charcosset, Demba Bamba; Joel Kpoku, Romain Taofifenua; Liam Allen, Arno Botha (capt) Mickael Guillard
Replacements: Guillaume Marchand, Jérôme Rey, Paulo Tafili, Ugo Vignolles, Maxime Gouzou, Liam Rimet, Léo Berdeu, Alfred Parisien
Connacht: JJ Hanrahan; Andrew Smith, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, Shayne Bolton; Jack Carty (capt), Michael McDonald; Peter Dooley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier; Darragh Murray, Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Jarrad Butler, Sean Jansen
Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Denis Buckley, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Oisín Dowling, Conor Oliver, Matthew Devine, David Hawkshaw, Shane Jennings
Referee: Craig Evans (WAL)
Having come into the Champions Cup as the top seed in Pool 3, this was meant to be the season that Munster kicked on and became European challengers again.
Graham Rowntree's side could well end up as contenders at the business end of the season, but the fightback needs to start this weekend in France.
A surprise draw against Bayonne in Round 1 was followed by a second half collapse away to Exeter, and Munster know that a defeat away to Toulon this weekend would see their chances of qualifying hanging by a thread.
The province are in a poor run of form, with three defeats and a draw in their last four games, while they've scored a combined 14 points in the second half of those games.
Like Munster, Toulon have been underwhelming this season. The Challenge Cup winners have lost both games so far on their return to the Champions Cup among a run of four defeats in five games, the latest of which came against bottom of the table Montpellier in the Top14 last week.
Based on the team selections, neither side have given up hope on reaching the latter stages of the competition, with Munster picking their best available XV, while Toulon have named a star-studded side including All Black signing Leicester Fainga'anuku.
Toulon: Melvyn Jaminet; Jiuta Wainiqolo, Waisea Nayacalevu, Duncan Paia'aua, Leicester Fainga'anuku; Dan Biggar, Ben White; Dany Priso, Christopher Tolofua, Kieran Brookes; Matthias Halagahu, David Ribbans (capt); Cornell du Preez, Selevasio Tolofua, Facundo Isa
Replacements: Jack Singleton, Bruce Devaux, Beka Gigashvili, Brian Alainu'uese, Jules Coulon, Jules Danglot, Jérémy Sinzelle, Setariki Tuicuvu
Munster: Simon Zebo; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Tom Ahern, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Peter O'Mahony, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Eoghan Clarke, Josh Wycherley, Stephen Archer, Brian Gleeson, Alex Kendellen, Conor Murray, Joey Carbery, Seán O'Brien.
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GEO)
After defeats to Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers in the opening rounds, Stade will need a lot to go their way if they're to make it through to the knockout stages, and as such it's unlikely to see them turning over Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.
Head coach Laurent Labit is likely to be prioritising the Top 14, where the Parisians have had a solid start to the season - currently third in the table after 12 games.
This will be the first meeting of the sides since they faced off in the Challenge Cup final back in 2013, Leinster 34-13 winners on that occasion.
In terms of the Champions Cup, you'd have to go back to December 1999 for the last meeting of these teams, with Leinster's 24-23 win at Donnybrook that day their only win in four games against Stade in this competition.
Having been beaten at the RDS last time out by Ulster, complacency shouldn't be an issue for the four-time champions, while there's a bumper crowd of more than 40,000 expected at the Aviva Stadium.
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (capt), Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Ciarán Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Jason Jenkins; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Michael Ala'alatoa, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Tommy O'Brien
Stade Francais: Leo Monin; Peniasi Dakuwaqa, Stephane Ahmed, Noah Nene, Kylan Hamdaoui; Zack Henry, Brad Weber; Clement Castets, Lucas Peyresblanques, Hugo N'Diaye; Pierre-Henri Azagoh, JJ van der Mescht; Mathieu Hirigoyen (capt), Ryan Chapuis, Giovanni Habel-Kuffner
Replacements: Mamoudou Meite, Vasil Kakovin, Paul Alo-Emile, Giorgi Tsutskeridze, Andy Timo, Jules Gimbert, Paul Gabrillagues, Joris Segonds
Referee: Christophe Ridley (ENG)
Ulster and Toulouse are becoming quite familiar with each other.
While this will be the 14th meeting of the sides, it is their fifth time coming up against each other in the last three and a half years alone. Were it not for a Covid-19 cancellation of their pool game at Stade Ernest Wallon in 2021, it would actually be a sixth meeting in five seasons.
If their most recent jousts in 2022 are anything to go by, this could be a thriller. Ulster won impressively in France in the first leg of their last-16 showdown that season, before Toulouse came to Belfast a week later to win an incredible game 30-23, which was enough for a 54-53 aggregate victory.
The French club are the top-ranked side through the opening two rounds, with a pair of bonus-point wins and a points difference of 73 leaving them well on course for a good seed in the knockouts.
Ugo Mola's side have been the benchmark in the early stages, scoring more points (99), tries (14), running for more metres (1235) and making more linebreaks (41) than any other side. They're also the only team who can boast a 100% lineout success rate.
Ulster, meanwhile, are well-placed to qualify, but Dan McFarland's side know that there is very little margin for error, especially with an away trip to come against Harlequins next week.
At home, Ulster are formidable, winning 13 of their last 15 games in Belfast in the Champions Cup.
Those two defeats? Both to Toulouse.
Ulster: Mike Lowry; Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Steven Kitshoff, Tom Stewart, Tom O'Toole; Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson (capt); Dave Ewers, Sean Reffell, Nick Timoney.
Replacements: John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Marty Moore, Al O'Connor, Matty Rea, Nathan Doak, Luke Marshall, Will Addison.
Toulouse: Blair Kinghorn; Juan Cruz Mallia, Dimitri Delibes, Pita Ahki, Matthis Lebel; Thomas Ramos, Antoine Dupont (capt); Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka, Dorian Aldegheri; Richie Arnold, Emmanuel Meafou; François Cros, Anthony Jelonch, Alexandre Roumat
Replacements: Julien Marchand, David Ainu'u, Nepo Laulala, Joshua Brennan, Jack Willis, Paul Graou, Santiago Chocobares, Setareki Bituniyata
Referee: Matthew Carley (ENG)
