With the Guinness Six Nations on a down week, the provinces return to BKT United Rugby Championship action.
League leaders Leinster are first up with a trip to face Ospreys on Friday evening, while Ulster are in Treviso on Saturday afternoon.
Munster host Scarlets in Limerick at the same time with Connacht's home tie with Cardiff wrapping up the action.
Rounds 11 and 12 are in the championship are Origins Rounds where the people and clubs behind the players are recognised.
Find out all you need to know here.
TV
Munster v Scarlets (Saturday, 5.15pm) is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
TG4 and Premier Sports will show live coverage of Ospreys v Leinster (Friday, 7.35pm) and Connacht v Cardiff (Saturday, 7.35pm). Benetton v Ulster (Saturday 5.15pm) is on Premier Sports, while all games are shown live on URC.tv.
ONLINE
We'll have live scores updates, reports and reaction from from all four games.
WEATHER
Leinster's game in Swansea is set to be played in light rain and a moderate breeze with temperature around 4C.
Limerick will see light clouds in a gentle breeze with temperatures around 11C for Munster's game, with similar conditions for Galway later in the evening and a drop of around three degrees.
Ulster are set for better conditions, sunny with light winds in 9C in Treviso.
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Leinster have not been defeated since they visited Pretoria to face the Bulls in last season's semi-final, while Leo Cullen's side have not lost to a Welsh region since their trip to Cardiff in January 2022.
They have lost just one of their last eight encounters with Ospreys: 24-19 behind closed doors at the RDS Arena in March 2021.
The visitors welcome back a number of Ireland squad members, including Ciarán Frawley, that didn't play against England or Scotland.
Ospreys’ only defeat in the last five rounds was a 22-17 loss at Zebre in round seven.
The Welsh side have lost only one home game in any competition since March 2024: 19-29 to the Bulls on 12 October.
Mark Jones' side have won only two of their last 14 clashes with Irish provinces, and both of those were against Ulster in Swansea, in December 2021 and February 2024.
Justin Tipuric captains the home side.
Ospreys: Jack Walsh; Daniel Kasende, Evardi Boshoff, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Owen Williams, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Garyn Phillips, Sam Parry, Tom Botha; James Ratti, James Fender; Harri Deaves, Justin Tipuric (capt), Morgan Morris.
Replacements: Ethan Lewis, Cam Jones, Ben Warren, Will Spencer, Morgan Morse, Kieran Hardy, Tom Florence, Iestyn Hopkins.
Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O'Brien, Hugh Cooney, Charlie Tector, Jimmy O'Brien; Ciarán Frawley, Luke McGrath (capt); Jack Boyle, Gus McCarthy, Rabah Slimani; Diarmuid Mangan, Brian Deeny; Max Deegan, Scott Penny, James Culhane.
Replacements: John McKee, Paddy McCarthy, Rory McGuire, RG Snyman, Alex Soroka, Fintan Gunne, Ross Byrne, Andrew Osborne.
Referee: Filippo Russo (FIR)
Munster's only loss in their last four URC fixtures was 28-7 at home to Leinster in Round 9. That was their only home defeat since last season’s semi-final.
Ian Costello's side have won their last nine matches against Welsh regions since their defeat at the Dragons in September 2022.
They haven't lost at home to a Welsh opponent since Scarlets visited Thomond Park in February 2017.
Scarlets’ last six matches in the URC have all been won by the home side on the day while their only away win in any tournament this campaign was on their visit to Cardiff in round four.
Dwayne Peel's side have not beaten an Irish province since their 41-36 victory at home to Connacht in March 2021, and have not won in Ireland since beating Connacht in Galway in November 2020.
The visitors have not beaten Munster since a 10-6 win at Parc y Scarlets in March 2019.
Josh Wycherley, who signed a two-year contract extension this week with Munster, starts on his return from injury.
Munster: Ben O'Connor; Shane Daly, Tom Farrell, Rory Scannell, Diarmuid Kilgallen; Billy Burns, Ethan Coughlan; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, Oli Jager; Tom Ahern, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Donoghue (capt), Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Kieran Ryan, John Ryan, Brian Gleeson, John Hodnett, Paddy Patterson, Tony Butler, Shay McCarthy.
Scarlets: Ioan Nicholas; Ellis Mee, Joe Roberts, Johnny Williams, Steff Evans; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies (capt); Kemsley Mathias, Marnus van der Merwe, Archer Holz; Max Douglas, Sam Lousi; Taine Plumtree, Dan Davis, Vaea Fifita.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Alec Hepburn, Sam Wainwright, Alec Craig, Jarrod Taylor, Archie Hughes, Charlie Titcombe, Macs Page.
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Ulster have won just one of their last five URC matches: 17-7 at Connacht on 28 December is the team's only away win since May.
Richie Murphy's side have lost just one game in Italy since September 2017: 29-31 at Benetton, in January 2023.
Benetton have won their last three matches at Stadio Monigo, beating Bath, Zebre and La Rochelle.
The Italians' most recent success against an Irish province in the United Rugby Championship was beating Connacht 18-14 in Treviso last March.
Jacob Boyd makes his senior debut at loosehead for Ulster while Bryan O'Connor is in line for his debut off the bench.
Benetton: Rhyno Smith; Ignacio Mendy, Malakai Fekitoa, Marco Zanon, Matt Gallagher; Tomas Albornoz; Andy Uren; Thomas Gallo, Siua Maile, Giosuè Zilocchi; Giulio Marini, Eli Snyman (capt); Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Toa Halafihi.
Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Mirco Spagnolo, Tiziano Pasquali, Riccardo Favretto, Simon Koroiyadi, Jadin Kingi, Nicolò Casilio, Marin Leonardo.
Ulster: Stewart Moore; Michael Lowry, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Aidan Morgan, Nathan Doak; Jacob Boyd, Rob Herring, Tom O'Toole; Alan O’Connor (capt), Cormac Izuchukwu; Matty Rea, Nick Timoney, David McCann.
Replacements: John Andrew, Bryan O’Connor, Scott Wilson, Kieran Treadwell, Reuben Crothers, Dave Shanahan, Jake Flannery, Jude Postlethwaite.
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
Connacht have lost their last four URC fixtures since beating Dragons 31-7 at Dexcom Stadium in round six.
They have not lost to a Welsh region since Dragons visited Galway in October 2021.
Cardiff's four game unbeaten run in the URC ended with their 22-42 home defeat to the Sharks in the last round.
The Welsh outfit's only loss in their last four away games in the championship was on their visit to Edinburgh in round five.
Their home win over Ulster in round six ended a run of seven successive defeats to Irish provinces in the URC.
The two sides have already met in the EPCR Challenge Cup this season with Connacht victorious 28-19 at the Arms Park on 17 January.
Cardiff’s only victory in Galway since 2014 was 17-15 in September 2017.
Hugh Gavin makes his first start at centre for Connacht alongside Cathal Forde. Shamus Hurley-Langton will make his 50th appearance for the province.
Liam Belcher returns from injury to captain Cardiff
Connacht: Piers O'Conor; Shayne Bolton, Hugh Gavin, Cathal Forde, Chay Mullins; Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy; Peter Dooley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier; Josh Murphy, Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast (capt), Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle.
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jordan Duggan, Sam Illo, Oisín Dowling, Sean Jansen, Matthew Devine, JJ Hanrahan, Santiago Cordero.
Cardiff: Cam Winnett; Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Rey Lee-Lo, Rory Jennings, Harri Millard; Callum Sheedy, Johan Mulder; Rhys Barratt, Liam Belcher (capt), Rhys Litterick; Josh McNally, Seb Davies; Alex Mann, Dan Thomas, Alun Lawrence.
Replacements: Efan Daniel, Danny Southworth, Will Davies-King, Rory Thornton, Ben Donnell, Thomas Young, Callum Braley, Jacob Beetham.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
FULL LIST OF ROUND 11 FIXTURES, RESULTS AND STANDINGS
