It's the last round of the opening block of BKT United Rugby Championship fixtures before the teams turn their attention to Europe.
Munster put their 100% home record on the line as they welcome table-toppers Glasgow Warriors to Cork.
Ulster host Edinburgh in Belfast, also defending a perfect home record this season.
Finally, Connacht take on Leinster in Galway on Saturday evening with Mack Hansen in the running for a seasonal debut.
ONLINE
We'll have live blogs, live scoring, reports and reaction across the weekend.
TV
Connacht v Leinster is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Saturday, with coverage getting under way at 6.55pm.
TG4 will be showing live coverage of Munster v Glasgow (Friday 7.35pm), while Ulster's game against Edinburgh (Saturday 5.15pm) is on Premier Sports.
All games are shown live on urc.tv. Highlights on Against the Head Monday 8pm.
RADIO
Connacht v Leinster is live on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra.
WEATHER
It's forecast to be partly cloudy in Cork this evening with temperatures at around 3C for the game.
Belfast will see cloud cover for Ulster’s match, with temperatures just above freezing.
Partly cloudy in Galway also for Saturday night’s late kick-off in around 2-3C.
Franco Smith's Glasgow Warriors arrive at Musgrave park top of the pile after five wins from their opening six matches, which includes victories over Leinster and Ulster.
They sit seven points ahead of URC title holders Munster, who are one of five teams with 18 points.
This will be their ninth visit to the Cork venue and their only victory there came back in May 2008, however, they did turn over Munster in Thomond Park last March, 38-26.
The Scots include URC top try-scorer Johnny Matthews at hooker.
Munster, meanwhile, will hand new signing Oli Jager his debut off the bench and there are three changes to the team beaten 21-16 by Leinster in Dublin last weekend.
Alex Nankivell is included at inside centre, Seán O’Brien starts on the wing and academy lock Edwin Edogbo comes into the second row.
The sides last met in the quarter-final last season when Munster held out for a hard-fought 14-5 win in Scotstoun on their way to ultimate success.
Munster: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Seán O'Brien; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron (capt), Stephen Archer; Edwin Edogbo, Tadhg Beirne; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Scott Buckley, Dave Kilcoyne, Oli Jager, Fineen Wycherley, Brian Gleeson, Conor Murray, Rory Scannell, Alex Kendellen.
Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay; Kyle Rowe, Sione Tuipulotu, Stafford McDowall (capt), Ollie Smith; Duncan Weir, Sean Kennedy; Nathan McBeth, Johnny Matthews, Lucio Sordoni; Sintu Manjezi, Scott Cummings; Sione Vailanu, Rory Darge, Henco Venter.
Replacements: Angus Fraser, Oli Kebble, Zander Fagerson, Greg Peterson, Max Williamson, Thomas Gordon, Ben Afshar, Tom Jordan.
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Ulster's away form has been poor this season, with two defeats, including last weekend’s 33-20 reverse in Glasgow, and a narrow win over Benetton to their name but they are 100% at the Kingspan.
In fact, Dan McFarland’s side have won eight of their last nine in Belfast and Edinburgh’s away form is desperate, winning just once on the road in the URC since October 2022.
The hosts will be able to show off new signing Steven Kitshoff to the home supporters for the first time since joining following his World Cup success with the Springboks.
Ulster, who sit fourth in the table, have lost two of their last three fixtures against Scottish opponents but have not been defeated by a Scottish adversary at Kingspan Stadium since the visitors won there in 2018.
Edinburgh would leapfrog Ulster in the table if they win.
Ulster's Iain Henderson (hip), Luke Marshall (shoulder), Jake Flannery (groin) and Rob Herring (calf) are unavailable.
Former Munster out-half Ben Healy starts for the visitors.
Ulster: Will Addison; Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Steven Kitshoff, Tom Stewart, Tom O'Toole; Alan O’Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; Matty Rea, Nick Timoney, James McNabney.
Replacements: John Andrew, Andy Warwick, Marty Moore, Cormac Izuchukwu, Dave Ewers, Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore, Ben Moxham.
Edinburgh: Tim Swiel; Harry Paterson, Matt Currie, James Lang, Wes Goosen; Ben Healy, Ben Vellacott (capt); Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, WP Nel; Marshall Sykes, Jamie Hodgson; Luke Crosbie, Jamie Ritchie, Viliame Mata.
Replacements: Adam McBurney, Robin Hislop, Javan Sebastian, Glen Young, Hamish Watson, Ali Price, Cammy Scott, Mark Bennett.
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Connacht are back on home soil after a tour of Scotland and South Africa over the last three weeks.
They took a losing bonus point from Edinburgh and edged out the Sharks before shipping a heavy loss to the Bulls.
However, they got off to a flyer, recording three wins from three in Galway at the start of the season.
Pete Wilkins' side will be aiming to prevent Leinster winning their seventh game in a row at the Sportsground.
To do so would mean a third straight victory for the Westerners against Irish opposition, a feat not achieved since October 2016.
Mack Hansen will make his first appearance of the season following the World Cup lay-off and an ankle injury.
Leinster, meanwhile, have World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber on the ticket. He joined up with the squad for the first time on Monday.
The sides last met in January where Leinster recorded a 41-12 win, while Connacht's last success over Leinster came in January 2021 at the RDS.
Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; Mack Hansen, Byron Ralston, Cathal Forde, Diarmuid Kilgallen; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade; Peter Dooley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier; Darragh Murray, Oisin Dowling; Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Seán Jansen.
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Denis Buckley, Finlay Bealham, Niall Murray, Paul Boyle, Michael McDonald, David Hawkshaw, Conor Oliver.
Leinster: Ciarán Frawley; Rob Russell, Robbie Henshaw, Charlie Ngatai, Jamie Osborne; Harry Byrne, Ben Murphy; Ed Byrne, Rónan Kelleher, Michael Ala'alatoa; Ryan Baird, Jason Jenkins; Max Deegan, Scott Penny (capt), James Culhane.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, Jack Conan, Cormac Foley, Liam Turner, Will Connors.
Referee: Andy Brace (IRFU)
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