The fourth season of the BKT United Rugby Championship kicks off tonight, with eight-time winners Leinster the first of the Irish sides in action as they travel to Edinburgh.
There is an opening-round Irish derby on the card tomorrow as Munster, along with Leinster beaten semi-finalists last season, entertaining Connacht at Thomond Park.
The final game of the round sees defending champions Glasgow take the short hop to Belfast where Ulster are the hosts.
ONLINE
We'll have live updates, live scoring, reports and reaction from all three games on rte.ie/sport.
TV
You can watch live coverage of Munster v Connacht (Saturday 5.30pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Edinburgh v Leinster (Friday 7.35pm) is on TG4 and Premier Sports, while Ulster v Glasgow (Saturday 7.45pm) is live on Premier Sports.
All games are also shown live on URC.tv.
RADIO
There is live commentary on Munster v Connacht on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport with Neil Treacy and Mike Sherry.
WEATHER
There are light clouds and a gentle breeze expected for Leinster's game in Edinburgh on Friday night, amid temperatures of around 13C.
Limerick expects partly cloudy conditions in about 17C for the derby, while Belfast is set for sunny weather around kick-off with similar temperatures.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Leo Cullen's side welcome back Jamison Gibson-Park after a hamstring injury, while Cian Healy is set to earn a record-equalling 280th appearance if called upon from the bench
Prop Rabah Slimani in line for his debut and hooker Gus McCarthy gets his first Leinster start.
Sam Prendergast, who will miss the next three rounds as he goes on the Emerging Ireland tour, gets the nod at out-half.
Leinster have lost their last four away games in the championship and have not lost five in a row on their travels since 2010, however, they have beaten Edinburgh in their last five clashes.
Mosese Tuipulotu, Paul Hill and Ross Thompson will make their debuts for Sean Everitt’s side, who have not lost an opening-round tie since 2018.
Edinburgh: Wes Goosen; Darcy Graham, Mosese Tuipulotu, Matt Currie, Duhan van der Merwe; Ross Thompson, Ali Price; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Paul Hill; Marshall Sykes, Grant Gilchrist (capt); Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Ben Muncaster.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Boan Venter, D'arcy Rae, Jamie Hodgson, Magnus Bradbury, Ben Vellacott, Ben Healy, Emiliano Boffelli.
Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Charlie Tector, Jordan Larmour; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Michael Milne, Gus McCarthy, Thomas Clarkson; Conor O’Tighearnaigh, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (capt).
Replacements: John McKee, Cian Healy, Rabah Slimani, Brian Deeny, James Culhane, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Rob Russell.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 46th game)
Munster and Connacht start off with the first Interpro of the season.
The Westerners rock up to Thomond Park where the hosts' only regular season home defeat in the championship last season was 3-9 to Leinster in Round 8.
In addition, Graham Rowntree's side have lost just once in round 1 since 2014, that being a 13-20 defeat at Cardiff in 2022.
Thaakir Abrahams, Tom Farrell and Billy Burns all make their debuts, while Diarmuid Barron skippers the team.
The visitors have lost their last three URC fixtures since they beat Dragons RFC in Round 15.
The last eight URC matches between the two sides have been evenly split with four wins apiece whilst Connacht's last victory at Thomond Park was 24-20 in May 2021.
Out-half Aidan Morgan makes his debut while Rob Herring, James Hume and John Cooney are among those injured for the hosts.
Munster: Mike Haley; Thaakir Abrahams, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Billy Burns, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron (capt), John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Ruadhán Quinn, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Josh Wycherley, Oli Jager, Jack O'Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Ethan Coughlan, Tony Butler, Seán O'Brien.
Connacht: Santiago Cordero; Mack Hansen, Piers O'Conor, Cathal Forde, Shayne Bolton; Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier; Joe Joyce, Darragh Murray; Josh Murphy, Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast (capt).
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Peter Dooley, Sam Illo, Oisín Dowling, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Caolin Blade, David Hawkshaw, Sean Jansen.
Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU, 43rd game)
Ulster welcome the defending champions to the Kingspan Stadium in their opening fixture as they begin a first full season under Richie Murphy.
The venue is something of a fortress in the championship with their only URC defeat in since the 2023 quarter-final a 24-27 to Edinburgh in Round 7 last year.
Ulster have begun a new season with a win in each of the last nine campaigns, since drawing 32-32 with Scarlets in Llanelli in 2014.
Glasgow have won their last four fixtures since the Lions beat them in Johannesburg in Round 17.
The Warriors' most recent victory at Kingspan Stadium was in the 2015 final where they beat Munster there, while their only victory over Ulster at the venue since 2009 was by a solitary point in 2013.
Ulster: Ethan McIlroy; Mike Lowry, Stewart Moore, Jude Postlethwaite, Jacob Stockdale; Aidan Morgan, Nathan Doak; Eric O'Sullivan, John Andrew, Corrie Barrett; Iain Henderson (capt), Kieran Treadwell; James McNabney, David McCann, Nick Timoney.
Replacements: James McCormick, Andrew Warwick, Tom O'Toole, Harry Sheridan, Cormac Izuchukwu, Dave Shanahan, James Humphreys, Werner Kok.
Glasgow: Josh McKay; Sebastian Cancelliere, Stafford McDowall, Sione Tuipulotum, Kyle Steyn (capt); Tom Jordan, Jamie Dobie; Jamie Bhatti, Johnny Matthews, Sam Talakai; Max Williamson, Richie Gray; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Henco Venter.
Replacements: Gregor Hiddleston, Nathan McBeth, Zander Fagerson, Alex Samuel, Gregor Brown, Euan Ferrie, Ben Afshar, Adam Hastings.
Referee: Adam Jones (WRU, 38th game)
Elsewhere, Cardiff are at home to Zebre tonight, while Dragons and Ospreys meet at Rodney Parade on Saturday afternoon. Benetton welcome the Scarlets in the late kick-off on Saturday evening.
To avoid a clash with the Currie Cup final, Golden Lions v Natal Sharks, the South African derbies originally scheduled for this weekend have been postponed until early 2025.
