After a mixed start for the Irish provinces in Europe, the Investec Champions and Challenge Cups continue this week, hitting the halfway stage of the pool campaigns.
Leinster are the first of the Irish sides in action this weekend. Leo Cullen's side have a six-day turnaround to contend with, as they travel to the Leicester Tigers on Friday (8pm), for what is now becoming an almost-annual clash.
Munster, beaten 40-14 by Bath in their opening game, will be hoping to put on a show for their supporters on Saturday (5.30pm) as they welcome Gloucester to Cork, in the first ever Champions Cup game to be played at SuperValu Pairc Uí Chaoimh.
Meanwhile in the Challenge Cup, Ulster and Connacht are both in action on Saturday night at 8pm.
Ulster will look to build on last week's hammering of Racing 92 when they travel to Cardiff, while Connacht welcome a new opponent to Dexcom Stadium, hosting Georgian outfit Black Lion.
Find out all you need to know about the games here.
TV
The four games will be shown live on Premier Sports.
RADIO
There will be live commentary of Munster v Gloucester on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
ONLINE
We'll have live scoring, reports and reaction from all the province's games.
WEATHER
It should be a good evening for rugby in Leicester on Friday night for the Tigers v Leinster, with earlier showers clearing, and temperatures around 6C, with only a gentle breeze.
Saturday evening in Cork will be a mild 11C, although there is a chance of some rain showers.
Conditions in Galway will be much more challenging, with rain and strong winds expected at Dexcom Stadium, with temperatures around 12C.
And it should also be a rainy evening in Cardiff, where Ulster are in action on Saturday night.
This fixture is fast becoming one of the most common in Champions Cup history.
Not quite on the same level of Munster and Castres, this will be the 16th meeting of the sides, and fifth in the last five seasons.
Leinster lead the head-to-head stakes 10-5, including each of the last seven meetings of the teams, including the 2009 final where Leo Cullen captained the province to their first ever Champions Cup title.
Aside from a Covid-19 enforced walkover against Montpellier in 2021, Leinster haven't lost a pool stage game in this competition since October 2018, where they were beaten away to Toulouse.
Leicester, in their first season under new head coach Geoff Parling, have made a steady start to the Premiership, with four wins from six games, although they did begin their Champions Cup campaign with a 39-20 defeat to La Rochelle last week.
Leicester Tigers: Freddie Steward; Adam Radwan, Will Wand, Solomone Kata, Ollie Hassell-Collins; Billy Searle, Tom Whiteley; Nicky Smith, Jamie Blamire, Joe Heyes; Cameron Henderson, Harry Wells; James Thompson, Tommy Reffell (capt), Joaquin Moro
Replacements: Finn Theobald-Thomas, Archie van der Flier, Will Hurd, Tom Manz, Sam Williams, Ollie Allan, Orlando Bailey, Joe Woodward
Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien; Tommy O'Brien, Rieko Ioane, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Paddy McCarthy, Rónan Kelleher; Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, Thomas Clarkson, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Ciarán Frawley
Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)
For the first time in 23 years, Champions Cup rugby is coming to Cork, and we can say with some certainty that this occasion will be a bit more of a big deal.
The last time Munster played a European game on Leeside was back in December 2002, when the province beat Italian minnows Viadana 64-0 at Musgrave Park.
A crowd of close to 40,000 is expected at SuperValu Pairc Uí Chaoimh this Saturday as the home of Cork GAA hosts a competitive game of rugby for the first time. Munster have hosted a South Africa XV and the Crusaders in exhibition games at the ground in recent seasons, but this is another step up in terms of occasion.
This will be the 10th Champions Cup meeting of Munster and Gloucester, and the Irish province lead the head-to-head record 7-2.
While the teams have often played pre-season friendlies together, their last competitive meeting was in the 2018/19 pool stage, as Munster did the double enroute to the semi-final.
While Munster were heavily beaten by Bath in their opening game, Gloucester, with Irish out-half Ross Byrne in their side, easily saw off Castres 34-14.
Munster: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Ben O'Connor; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (C); Tom Ahern, Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, Conor Bartley, Edwin Edogbo, Ruadhán Quinn, Paddy Patterson, JJ Hanrahan, Tom Farrell.
Gloucester: George Barton; Josh Hathaway, Will Knight, Max Knight, Rob Russell; Charlie Atkinson, Mikey Austin; Dian Bleuler, Jack Innard, Jamal Ford-Robinson; Cam Jordan, Arthur Clark (C); Josh Basham, Harry Taylor, Jack Clement.
Replacements: Kealan Freeman-Price, Ciaran Knight, Afo Fasogbon, Danny Eite, Hugh Bokenham, Caio James, Rhys Price, Jack Cotgreave.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (WRU)
After letting a 21-0 lead collapse away to Ospreys last week, Connacht know they will need a big response this weekend to get their Challenge Cup campaign back on track.
Stuart Lancaster's side face Black Lion at Dexcom Stadium, their first time ever taking on a Georgian club in a competitive game.
Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill doubles up as Black Lion's head coach, and this is their third season taking part in the Challenge Cup as an invited team by the EPCR.
They're yet to make it past the pool stage, but have picked up a couple of wins in their nine previous games in the tournament, winning away to Scarlets in December 2023, as well as beating Top14 side Vannes in their opening pool game last season.
They also ran Montpellier close in their Pool 1 game last week, losing 24-13.
Connacht: Sam Gilbert; Chay Mullins, Hugh Gavin, Cathal Forde, Shayne Bolton; Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Jordan Duggan, Dave Heffernan, Sam Illo; Darragh Murray, Niall Murray; Paul Boyle, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Sean Jansen.
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Billy Bohan, Fiachna Barrett, Joe Joyce, Seán O'Brien, Matthew Devine, David Hawkshaw, Harry West.
Black Lion: Luka Takaishvili; Akaki Tabutsadze, Demi Tapladze, Tornike Kakhoidze, Shalva Aptsiauri; Luka Tsirekidze, Tengiz Peranidze; Nika Khatiashvili, Irakli Kvatadze, Kakhaber Darbaidze; Mikheil Babunashvili (C), Demuri Epremidze; Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, Giorgi Tsutskiridze, Giorgi Sinauridze.
Replacements: Shalva Mamukashvili, Vasil Kakovin, Giorgi Chkhartishvili, Giorgi Nikoladze, Giorgi Kervalishvili, Lasha Tsikhistavi, Giorgi Spenderashvili, Sandro Todua.
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (RFU)
Ulster showed their credentials as Challenge Cup contenders in last week's 61-7 hammering of Racing 92 in Belfast, and Richie Murphy’s side have a chance to cement first place in Pool 3 against Cardiff on Saturday night.
The province have won five of their six games in all competitions this season.
Cardiff won when these sides last met, coming from 19-0 down to win 21-19 in their URC meeting in October 2024.
The Welsh side lost head coach Matt Sherratt in the first week of the season as he left to join the Wales coaching team but they have reacted very well under new coach Corniel van Zyl.
Through one third of the URC regular season, Cardiff are second in the table with five wins from six, although they did lose 38-17 in their opening Challenge Cup game away to Stade Francais last week.
Cardiff: Leigh Halfpenny; Josh Adams, Harri Millard, Ben Thomas, Tom Bowen; Callum Sheedy, Aled Davies; Rhys Barratt, Dafydd Hughes, Keiron Assiratti; George Nott, Rory Thornton; James Botham, Dan Thomas, Alun Lawrence (C).
Replacements: Evan Lloyd, Danny Southworth, Sam Wainwright, Josh McNally, Alex Mann, Ellis Bevan, Jacob Beetham, Cam Winnett.
Ulster: Stewart Moore; Werner Kok, James Hume, Ben Carson, Zac Ward; Jake Flannery, Conor McKee; Callum Reid, Tom Stewart (C), Tom O'Toole; Harry Sheridan, Charlie Irvine; Dave McCann, Sean Reffell, Bryn Ward.
Replacements: John Andrew, Angus Bell, Rory McGuire, Cormac Izuchukwu, Juarno Augustus, Dave Shanahan, James Humphreys, Bradley McNamara.
Referee: Evan Urruzmendi (FFR)
You can see the full list of fixtures, results and standings for the Champions Cup here, and the Challenge Cup here.
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