The Rugby World Cup final may grab most of the attention this weekend, but the BKT United Rugby Championship continues after the new season kicked off last week.
The Irish provinces went three from four in the opening round last week, and Leinster will be hoping they can get their campaign up and running on Saturday when they host the Sharks, in their first game at the RDS since March.
Leinster were beaten by the Glasgow Warriors last Sunday, and the Scottish side will have Irish opposition again this week when they travel to Galway to take on Connacht, who will be looking to build on their bonus-point win last week against the Ospreys.
Munster are the only Irish side who are away from home this weekend, with the defending champions in Treviso to take on Benetton on Sunday.
And on Sunday evening, Ulster will debut their new artificial surface at Kingspan Stadium, when Dan McFarland's side host the Bulls, who top the table after a 42-point win against the Scarlets last week.
ONLINE
We'll have live scoring, blogs, reports and reaction across the weekend.
TV
RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player will be showing live coverage of Leinster v Sharks (from 4.35pm) on Saturday, as well as Benetton v Munster on Sunday (from 1.30pm)
Connacht v Glasgow Warriors (Saturday, 3pm) and Ulster v Bulls (Sunday, 5pm) are both live on TG4.
All games are live on urc.tv
RADIO
Listen to live updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 from Connacht v Glasgow (3pm) and Leinster v Sharks (4.55pm).
WEATHER
Galway will see temperatures of around 12C on Saturday afternoon for Connacht v Glasgow, with a strong chance of rain early in the game, before conditions settle. There will be similar temperatures in Dublin for the meeting of Leinster and Sharks, with a good chance of the game passing before the rain hits.
Munster will be dealing with warm and humid conditions in Treviso on Sunday, with temperatures around 19C, while it will be around 12C and showery in Belfast where Ulster host Bulls.
Both sides come into the game off the back of impressive bonus-point wins in Round 1, with Connacht now looking for their sixth consecutive victory at the Sportsground.
Glasgow are comfortable on the road though, and have only been beaten once away from home since November.
The Scottish side also have an excellent record against Connacht in recent years, losing just once to the Irish province since 2016, and winning 42-20 on their last visit to Galway in January 2022.
Connacht welcome Tiernan O'Halloran and Niall Murray to their side but are without captain Jack Carty, who misses out with a facial injury.
Glasgow, meanwhile, are able to include a number of their Scottish World Cup squad members, including Huw Jones, Kyle Steyn, Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, while Rory Darge is on the bench.
Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; Byron Ralston, Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde, Diarmuid Kilgallen; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (capt); Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier; Niall Murray, Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Jarrad Butler
Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Peter Dooley, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Darragh Murray, Oisín Dowling, Colm Reilly, Liam McNamara, Conor Oliver
Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay; Kyle Rowe, Huw Jones, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Steyn (capt); Tom Jordan, George Horne; Oli Kebble, Angus Fraser, Zander Fagerson; Scott Cummings, Richie Gray; Gregor Brown, Sione Vailanu, Henco Venter.
Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Nathan McBeth, Lucio Sordoni, Greg Peterson, Ally Miller, Rory Darge, Jamie Dobie, Duncan Weir.
Referee: Adam Jones (WRU)
Following last week's defeat to Glasgow, Leinster are looking to avoid back to back defeats to begin the season, something they haven't experienced in 20 years.
Including their URC semi-final defeat to Munster, it's now two losses in a row for Leo Cullen's side in this competition, but you'd have to go back to 2008 for the last time they lost three consecutive games in the URC.
The Sharks were also beaten in their opener last week, and they're still looking for their first win in Ireland, losing all six of their previous games in this country, including two against Leinster last season.
Max Deegan makes his 100th appearance for Leinster, while Michael Ala'alatoa and Rhys Ruddock are among five changes from the defeat to Glasgow.
The Sharks make six changes from their loss against Munster, but the notable selection is on the bench, where South Africa international Aphiwe Dyantyi is included.
The former World Rugby breakthrough player of the year is making his first appearance since returning from a four-year doping ban.
Leinster: Ciarán Frawley; Tommy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai, Jordan Larmour; Harry Byrne, Cormac Foley; Jack Boyle, Lee Barron, Michael Ala’alatoa; Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins; Rhys Ruddock, Scott Penny (capt), Max Deegan
Replacements: Dylan Donnellan, Paddy McCarthy, Rory McGuire, Brian Deeny, Will Connors, Ben Murphy, Sam Prendergast, Rob Russell
Sharks: Aphelele Fassi; Werner Kok, Francois Venter (capt), Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Marnus Potgieter; Curwin Bosch, Cameron Wright; Ntuthuko Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Hanro Jacobs; Corne Rahl, Emile van Heerden; James Venter, Vincent Tshituka, Phepsi Buthelezi
Replacements: Dylan Richardson, Dian Bleuler, Khwezi Mona, Hyron Andrews, George Cronje, Francois Hougaard, Boeta Chamberlain, Aphiwe Dyantyi
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Defending champions Munster have lost just once in the URC since St Stephen's Day, and it's just over a year to the day since their last away defeat in this competition.
Graham Rowntree's side have a dominant record in this fixture, winning the last 14 meetings of the sides, the most recent being in Italy back in January.
Despite that, Benetton did win their two other home games against Irish sides last season, seeing off Ulster in January and Connacht in the Challenge Cup in April.
Calvin Nash and John Hodnett come into the Munster starting side, while there's a potential debut off the bench for new centre Sean O'Brien.
Meanwhile, Malakai Fekitoa makes his debut in the centre for Benetton, against the side he helped win the URC title last season.
Benetton: Rhyno Smith; Ignacio Mendy, Malakai Fekitoa, Filippo Drago, Edoardo Padovani; Jacob Umaga, Andy Uren; Mirco Spagnolo, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Giosué Zilocchi; Edoardo Iachizzi, Eli Snyman (capt); Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Toa Halafihi
Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Federico Zani, Tiziano Pasquali, Gideon Koegelenberg, Henry Time-Stowers, Alessandro Garbisi, Tomas Albornoz, Marco Zanon
Munster: Shane Daly; Shay McCarthy, Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell, Calvin Nash; Joey Carbery, Ethan Coughlan; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, Stephen Archer; Edwin Edogbo, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Scott Buckley, Kieran Ryan, John Ryan, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Alex Nankivell, Sean O’Brien.
Referee: Morne Ferreira (SARU)
Ulster rode their luck at times in last week's bonus-point win away to Zebre, but Dan McFarland's side will be hoping to put on a show in their first home game of the season, as they debut their new artificial pitch at Kingspan Stadium.
The northern province were beaten in their last home game - the URC quarter-final against Connacht - and they haven't lost two in a row at Kingspan Stadium since 2010.
Ulster won all four of their games against South African opposition last season, beating the Bulls 32-23 in March, while the South Africans have only won one away game in the URC in the last 12 months.
This will be a sixth game in Ireland for Jake White's side, with their only victory coming at the RDS against Leinster in the 2021/22 semi-final.
Ulster have been able to welcome back a number of key players, most notably Tom O'Toole.
The tighthead prop comes in after Ulster struggled at the scrum last week, and is the first of the Irish World Cup squad to return to provincial duty.
Ulster: Will Addison; Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Andy Warwick, Tom Stewart, Tom O'Toole; Alan O’Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; Dave Ewers, Dave McCann, Nick Timoney;
Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Greg McGrath, Cormac Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, Dave Shanahan, Stewart Moore, Mike Lowry.
Bulls: Devon Williams; Sebastian de Klerk, David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs; Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier; Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw; Ruan Vermaak, Ruan Nortje (co-capt); Marcell Coetzee (co-capt), Elrigh Louw, Cameron Hanekom
Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Simphiwe Matanzima, Mornay Smith, Reinhardt Ludwig, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Chris Smith, Stedman Gans
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
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