The Winterpros are over, and the focus now returns to the Investec Champions and EPCR Challenge Cups across the next two weekends.
Leinster are the first of the provinces playing this weekend, hosting La Rochelle on Saturday in their now annual meeting with Ronan O'Gara's side.
The rest of the provinces play on Sunday, with Munster facing a difficult Pool 2 fixture away to Toulon, looking to repeat their surprise win in the south of France two years ago.
Connacht and Ulster are both in Challenge Cup action on Sunday.
Stuart Lancaster's side are in France to take on Montpellier, while Ulster are 'away' to the Cheetahs, although they will be taking on the South Africans in Amsterdam.
Find out all you need to know about the games here.
TV
All Champions Cup games will be shown live on Premier Sports, as will Montpellier v Connacht in the Challange Cup.
Cheetahs v Ulster will be shown live on EPCRugby.tv
RADIO
There will be live commentary of the second half of Toulon v Munster on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
ONLINE
We'll have live scoring, reports and reaction from all the province's games.
WEATHER
Conditions for rugby should be good in Dublin on Saturday, with Leinster v La Rochelle expected to be played in around 2C, with no rain and very little wind forecast.
It's going to be dry and sunny in the south of France on Sunday for Toulon v Munster, with temperatures around 11C for the lunchtime kick-off, while it should be similar in Montpellier where Connacht are in action at the same time.
Over in Amsterdam there has been a lot of snow this week, and while that should have stopped for Ulster's meeting with the Cheetahs, it's going to be incredibly cold, with temperatures around -2C.
Considering these teams had never faced each other prior to 2021, it's remarkable to think this will be sixth season in a row - and seventh overall game - where Leinster and La Rochelle have met.
The head to head stakes are level at three games apiece, although Ronan O'Gara's side certainly edge the tie-break considering two of their wins came in Champions Cup finals.
It's almost a year to the day since the sides faced off in their most recent encounter, Leinster edging their pool contest 16-14, while they also got the better of La Rochelle in the pool stage, and quarter-final in the 2023/24 season.
Leinster are joint-top of Pool 3, and haven't lost a pool game in this competition since an October 2018 defeat away to Toulouse.
O'Gara's side, two-time winners of the Champions Cup, have a win and a defeat so far this season, easily dispatching Leicester Tigers at home before losing 42-21 away to the Stormers in Cape Town. While a win would almost certainly see them qualify for the round of 16, a defeat wouldn't be terminal as they would be expected to get the better of Harlequins next week at home.
The French side warmed up for this game with an impressive 66-0 defeat of Toulon at Stade Marcel Deflandre last week, although it's been a mixed season so far; seventh in the Top14 with seven wins and seven defeats, with just one away win so far in the campaign.
Leinster: Ciaran Frawley; Tommy O'Brien, Rieko Ioane, Robbie Henshaw, Joshua Kenny; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Paddy McCarthy, Dan Sheehan, Tom Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Jerry Cahir, Andrew Sparrow, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Andrew Osborne.
La Rochelle: Dillyn Leyds; Jack Nowell, Jules Favre, Simeli Daunivucu, Davit Niniashvili; Ihaia West, Nolann le Garrec; Reda Wardi, Tolu Latu, Uini Atonio; Charles Kante Samba, Will Skelton; Oscar Jegou, Levani Botia, Gregory Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: Quentin Lespiaucq, Louis Penverne, Aleksandre Kuntelia, Kane Douglas, Kirill Fraindt, Thomas Berjon, Antoine Hastoy, Nathan Bollengier.
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Two years on from a famous and unexpected win against the French side, Munster are back at Stade Felix Mayol looking to pull off another huge win against Toulon.
After their good start to the season, Clayton McMillan's side are enduring a difficult run of form, with four defeats in their last six games, and the most recent of those a hapless performance away to Ulster last Friday.
It's worth noting that the outlook was even bleaker when an injury-ravaged Munster went to Toulon in January 2024 only to turn their season on its head with a 29-18 bonus-point win, their third victory from six previous meetings with the former champions.
This pool remains wide open with two games left to play, with all six teams winning and losing a game in December, with Bath on top with six points, and the remaining five teams on five.
Toulon were thrashed by La Rochelle in the Top14 at the weekend, although Pierre Mignoni's fielded a weakened team ahead of this crucial meeting with Munster, while they're fifth in the French table and only behind third-place Stade Francais on points difference.
Munster have actually won four of their last seven away games in France, defeating La Rochelle, Toulon, Castres and Clermont Auvergne in that time.
Toulon: Marius Domon; Gael Drean, Nacho Brex, Jeremy Sinzelle, Mathis Ferte; Tomas Albornoz, Ben White; Jean-Baptiste Gros, Teddy Baubigny, Kyle Sinckler; Charles Ollivon (capt), David Ribbans; Lewis Ludlam, Esteban Abadie, Zach Mercer
Replacements: Jeremy Toevalu, Leo Ametlla, Dany Priso, Brian Alainu'uese, Corentin Mezou, Jules Coulon, Paolo Garbisi, Setariki Tuicuvu
Munster: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Ben O'Connor; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Michael Ala’alatoa; Edwin Edogbo, Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Michael Milne, John Ryan, Tom Ahern, Brian Gleeson, Paddy Patterson, JJ Hanrahan, Dan Kelly.
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
With a poor run of form and a growing injury list, the Challenge Cup feels like an unwelcome distraction for Connacht ahead of their URC games with Leinster and Zebre later this month.
Stuart Lancaster's side have won just three games in all competitions this season, and are on a three-game losing run following defeats to Dragons, Ulster and Leinster, where they have shipped a combined 129 points.
Montpellier have picked up two bonus-point wins to start their Challenge Cup pool, and Joan Caudullo's side are also a respectable sixth in the French Top14.
While Connacht lost at home to Racing 92 in their most recent meeting with a French side, they have actually won each of their last seven Challenge Cup games away in France.
This will be a 10th meeting of the teams in European competition, with Connacht leading the head-to-head 7-3.
Montpellier: Thomas Vincent; Donovan Taofifenua, Thomas Darmon, Justo Piccardo, Melvyn Rates; Stuart Hogg, Leo Coly; Baptiste Erdocio, Lyam Akrab, Luka Japaridze; Florian Verhaeghe, Bastien Chalureau; Marco Tauleigne, Alex Becognee (capt), Alex Masibaka
Replacements: Ricky Riccitelli, Nika Abuladze, Valentin Welsch, Matthieu Uhila, Langi Gleeson, Alexis Bernadet, Arthur Vincent, Jules Ducros
Connacht: Sam Gilbert; Shane Jennings, Harry West, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy; Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy; Billy Bohan, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Sam Illo; Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy; Cian Prendergast (capt), Paul Boyle, Sean Jansen
Replacements: Matthew Victory, Peter Dooley, Fiachna Barrett, Niall Murray, Sean O'Brien, Albert Lindner, Sean Walsh, John Devine
Referee: Morne Ferreira (FFR)
Ulster will be in the novel setting of Amsterdam this weekend, with the Dutch national rugby centre hosting the Cheetahs for the South African team's home games, following their invitation to play in the Challenge Cup.
The game has been switched from the Dutch nations rugby centre to Hertogenbosch, home of the The Dukes rugby team, due to freezing conditions, and will now be played at 1pm Irish time, behind closed doors.
The sides met on four occasions during the Cheetahs' time in the old Pro14. Ulster were actually their first ever opponents when they joined the league in 2017, which the province won 42-19, one of two defeats, a draw and a defeat they had to the Bloemfontein side.
This is the fourth season that the Cheetahs have been invited to play in the Challenge Cup, reaching the round of 16 in 2023 and 2024, but they failed to get out of their pool in 2025.
Ulster come into the game looking to build on an impressive start to the season, where Richie Murphy's side have won seven out of their 10 games in all competitions.
Cheetahs: James Verity-Amm; Munier Hartzenberg, De-an Ackermann, Zander du Plessis, Prince Nkabinde; Jaco van der Walt, Marco Jansen van Vuren; Matome Manyama, Louis van der Westhuizen (capt), Aranos Coetzee; Carl Wegner, Curtly Thomas; Daniel Maartens, Sisonke Vumazonke, Gideon van der Merwe
Replacements: Marko Janse van Rensburg, Cameron Dawson, Francisco dos Reis, Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Arno van der Merwe, Neels Volschenk, Rewan Kruger, Michael Annies
Ulster: Bradley McNamara; Werner Kok, James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Zac Ward; Jake Flannery, Nathan Doak; Sam Crean, Rob Herring (capt), Scott Wilson; Harry Sheridan, Joe Hopes; Dave McCann, Sean Reffell, Lorcan McLoughlin
Replacements: James McCormick, Eric O'Sullivan, Bryan O'Connor, Matt Dalton, Marcus Rea, Dave Shanahan, James Humphreys, Ben Carson
Referee: Kevin Bralley (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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