The BKT United Rugby Championship returns this weekend for the first stage of the knockout rounds.
Just two Irish provinces remain in the hunt with Munster aiming to win their second title in two years, while Leinster look to bridge a four-year gap since they last won silverware.
First up is the visit of Scarlets to Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon, while Munster take on the Sharks later that day.
Find out all you need to know here.
TV
Watch Leinster v Scarlets (Saturday, 3pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with coverage getting underway at 2.30pm.
Sharks v Munster (Saturday, 5.30pm Irish time) will be live on TG4 and Premier Sports.
All games are shown live on URC.tv.
RADIO
There will be live commentary of both games on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
ONLINE
There will be a live blog on www.rte.ie/sport for the Irish provinces’ games, as well as reports and reaction.
WEATHER
Rain is forecast for Saturday afternoon in Dublin with temperatures around 19C. The temperatures in Durban are expected to drop down to around 17C for kick-off, while rain is not expected, although it's likley to be quite humid.
Leo Cullen’s Leinster finished top of the table after the regular season with just two losses to their name.
The first was away to the Bulls, while Scarlets also claimed a 35-22 victory in a game that took place a week before their Champions Cup loss to Northampton.
Leinster rested many of their frontliners for that trip to Wales and are expected to field an almost full-strength outfit for Saturday afternoon’s game, although Tadhg Furlong misses out with a calf strain and Robbie Henshaw (knee) is out for the season.
Dwayne Peel’s Scarlets have won four of their last five games but have not won back-to-back against Leinster since 2015.
This is their first appearance in the play-offs since losing the 2018 final.
Three of their backs, Blair Murray, Ellis Mee and Macs Page, are shortlisted for the URC Rising Star award this season.
The winner plays either Glasgow or Stormers, who meet on Friday night.
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt)
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley
Scarlets: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Joe Roberts, Johnny Williams, Ellis Mee; Sam Costelow, Arhie Hughes; Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas; Alex Craig, Sam Lousi; Vaea Fifita, Josh Macleod (capt), Taine Plumtree
Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Kemsley Mathias, Sam Wainwright, Dan Davis, Jarrod Taylor, Efan Jones, Ioan Lloyd, Macs Page
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
After scraping into the play-offs with two wins from their final two games, Munster will hope that they can maintain that momentum against Sharks, and set up a semi-final meeting against either Bulls or Edinburgh.
Ian Costello’s side, who finished sixth, lost the regular season meetings at Kings Park, going down to a heavy 41-24 defeat in round six.
This is Munster’s ninth successive appearance in the play-offs, they have won their quarter-final fixture for the past two seasons.
Their only win over a South African opponent this season was a 17-10 victory over the Lions in Limerick in November.
The Sharks, under John Plumtree, finished third in the table with 13 wins and five losses.
Their two home defeats this season came at the hands of Toulouse in the Champions Cup and to Leinster in round 14 of the URC.
Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth made his return from a five-month concussion lay-off two weeks ago in the win over Scarlets.
Hollywoodbets Sharks: Aphelele Fassi; Ethan Hooker, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Makazole Mapimpi; Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse; Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch; Eben Etzebeth (capt), Jason Jenkins; James Venter, Vincent Tshituka, Siya Kolisi
Replacements: Fez Mbatha, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Hanro Jacobs, Emile van Heerden, Phepsi Buthelezi, Bradley Davids, Francois Venter, Yaw Penxe
Munster: Thaakir Abrahams; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Diarmuid Kilgallen; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Peter O'Mahony, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, John Ryan, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen, Conor Murray, Rory Scannell, Mike Haley
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Elsewhere, the first of the quarter-finals takes place on Friday night with Glasgow (fourth in table) hosting Stormers (fifth), 7.35pm.
There’s a 12.30pm Irish time kick-off for second-place Bulls against seventh-place Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld.
