With one round remaining in the BKT United Rugby Championship, Munster have their fate in their own hands, while Leinster are locked in for a home quarter-final.
Connacht and Ulster are both out of contention following defeats at the weekend.
Friday's bonus-point win over Ulster, thanks to a superb third-quarter salvo, saw Ian Costello’s Munster side finish the weekend in eighth place in the table, level on points with seventh-placed Benetton, who come to Cork for a play-off shootout.
But, after Scarlets claimed a bonus-point win at Lions, and Benetton beat Glasgow 33-7, Munster’s margin for error has tightened considerably.
The 2023 champions are level on 46 points with Friday night’s visitors but behind in the table due to winning fewer matches.
That means a win or a draw will keep Benetton ahead, with Cardiff and Edinburgh ready to pick up the scraps of the match, no matter who wins.
Cardiff, also on 46 points, face the Stormers in Cape Town. John Dobson’s side are in fifth, guaranteed a play-off place and can’t improve but could slip down the seedings with a defeat.
Edinburgh, who claimed a thrilling bonus-point win over Connacht on Saturday, sit on 44 points and host Ulster, who have nothing to play for.
They’ll regard themselves as well in the mix.
For Munster, the task is simple: win on Friday night (kick-off 8pm) and relax knowing Champions Cup rugby is secured and another shot at an unlikely title run is on the cards.
In fact, they will also know exactly how they stand after the game because Stormers v Cardiff has a 6pm Irish time kick-off on Friday, while Edinburgh v Ulster kicks-off 25 minutes before the Munster match begins.
"Treviso started [the weekend] ahead of us and for it to be in our own hands, we need to win another game," Costello told RTÉ Sport.
"It’s literally as simple as that.
"We’ll enjoy elements of the performance [against Ulster]; we’ll be hungry about how we improve other parts.
"Treviso are a massive attacking threat. We know on Friday night in Cork we have to be close to or at our best to get the second half of that job done and in the play-offs."
Meanwhile, Leinster’s facile run-out against Zebre means they finish top no matter how they fare at home to Glasgow on Saturday (7.35pm, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
They are booked in for a quarter-final at Aviva Stadium on 31 May at 3pm against the team that finishes eighth.
Stand-in captain Jack Conan (above) helped Leinster to a 12-try 76-5 win over Zebre and the Lions number 8 was asked about their defeat to Northampton Saints the previous weekend.
Leinster twice declined late penalty kicks at goal, which would have earned a draw and likely brought the game to extra-time.
Asked about the crucial calls, Conan, who could be seen asking the sideline for advice before kicking to the corner for the first penalty, told reporters: "Because I was the captain, that falls on me.
"Maybe I should have just put my foot down and been like, 'let’s take the three, even it up and whatever happens, happens’.
"Hindsight is a beautiful thing and I’m sure if Ross [Byrne] had gotten over in the corner or we’d scored off that maul, people wouldn’t have been asking about the penalties. Look, it is what it is.
"[For the first penalty] I was kind of like, ‘oh, three points down’. The last maul we had scored a try off, so I was trying to talk to the sideline to say, ‘what do you want to do?’
"Then I turned to Sammy [Prendergast] and he was like, ‘let’s go to the corner, let’s back ourselves’.
"All the forwards had the same mindset, so you row in behind everyone and look, another day you get another maul try and then no one is talking about it."
Watch Leinster v Glasgow in the URC on Saturday from 7pm on the RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
