It's not knockout and it’s not winner takes all but the 173rd meeting of Leinster and Munster has plenty to recommend it.
That it takes place at the start of the season removes most of the jeopardy, like the 2023 and 2009 semi-finals, but there’s enough intrigue involved to draw an expected Croke Park crowd of over 50,000 for the 5.15pm kick-off.
For a start, what a start for Munster.
New head coach, a new chapter without legendary players Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray, and three wins, with plenty of room for improvement, under their belt.
No matter what happens today in Dublin 3, Munster will still be ahead of Leinster in the BKT URC standings because the defending champions picked up just six points from their three matches to date, including two defeats in South Africa.
It’s an unusual dynamic and leaves Leinster with little room for error for the rest of the season. They know more than most the value of a top seeding.
The end of the regular season seems like a long way away but they always target the number one slot that brings with it a home run to the final.
"Everyone knows through the play-offs how important it is to try and finish the higher seedings because getting on the flights, booking flights last minute, heading to South Africa with what, 45-50 people, there's a challenge in that," said head coach Leo Cullen.
"It affects your training week and what you can do, lots of little things.
"That's the importance of this for us, battling out for every single point every week, regardless of who we're playing.
"Munster this week, they've started the season well, they're three from three, so it just feels like we're the ones chasing now.
"So we need to make sure we go out and play like a team that is reflective of the situation we're in at the moment."
Expect the sides to go hell for leather today and then be all pals when a combined 27 from the two squads meet up at Ireland camp on Monday ahead of the international window.
The split is 21:4 in Leinster's favour in Andy Farrell’s squad for the upcoming November games against New Zealand, Japan, Australia and South Africa, with Munster forwards Edwin Edogbo (below) and Brian Gleeson travelling to Chicago as "cover".
Clayton McMillan said he wants the Munster players who missed out to channel that frustration into a performance today.
"I think it's important to just let them feel that disappointment, digest it and then at the appropriate time sit down with them and have a conversation around how they feel," said the Kiwi, whose side beat Edinburgh last weekend.
"Non-selection is clearly an indication that the coaches aren't seeing what they need to see at the moment so keep turning up and striving to be better and let your performance speak for itself."
With eight Leinster front rows in the national squad, the likes of prop Michael Milne, who departed the nine-time URC champions last season for Munster and capped during the summer, will have a point to prove, while number 8 Gavin Coombes can’t get a look-in.
"The challenge for [Michael] is there'll be disappointment as there will be for other people across the whole of Ireland that weren't named.
"But that’s the selector's prerogative and we get a royal opportunity against virtually an international side this week to go out and say, 'hey, look, I'm capable of operating at this level,’ so no better fixture."
Leinster are on a four-match winning streak against today’s visitors and have won 14 of the last 16
Even if the scores have been close in the last two years, it’s always seemed that they haven’t been pushed to their limits by Munster, whose last victory came in the 2023 semi-final when Cullen picked a second-string outfit.
🗣️ "They're bonded for life, whether they like it or not..."@bernardjackman paraphrases the great Ollie Campbell as he looks forward to Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley's H2H this week. 🔟
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 15, 2025
📺🎧 Full pod: https://t.co/JKfVaq7HZV pic.twitter.com/s8OUJjCyDx
There has been, naturally, huge interest in the battle between the two out-halves, with Leinster’s Sam Prendergast and Munster’s Jack Crowley both looking to get one up on their opponent two weeks out from the match-up with the All Blacks.
"The hype is good for the overall game, as in you want the profile for the game and I think that’s important, because it’s all part of the story, isn't it?" said Cullen when asked if so much focus on the pair bothers him.
"But it’s more just the journey I would be interested in.
"Some of the external criticism or whatever you want to call it, that’s what it is.
"I don’t try to waste too much time on it. I am concerned about the people that are genuinely interested in supporting the team, because they’re the people that we rely on."
In team news, the hosts have the luxury of bringing in Lions stars Jamison Gibson-Park, James Ryan and Garry Ringrose from the start with Tadhg Furlong, Dan Sheehan and Thomas Clarkson on the bench.
Late changes this morning saw Tommy O'Brien (back) and number 8 Jack Conan fail their respective fitness tests, with Jordan Larmour and Max Deegan coming in. Jimmy O'Brien's inclusion among the replacements means Cullen has now opted for a 5:3 bench split, as opposed to 6:2 from the original team announcement.
Munster, meanwhile, have for the second week in a row changed 10 players in their XV.
Captain Tadhg Beirne, the Lions standout player, and Edogbo, who returned from a long-term injury last weekend, start.
The absence of Craig Casey does rob the fixture of what would be a brilliant duel with Gibson-Park, with the Munster scrum-half aiming to usurp the Leinster man at Ireland.
The odds are stacked against Munster, 14-point underdogs on a late afternoon when rain is forecast, but bringing their best performance of the season should see this go down to the wire.
Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose; Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Paddy McCarthy, Rónan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong; RG Snyman, James Ryan; Alex Soroka, Josh van der Flier (capt), Max Deegan.
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter, Thomas Clarkson, Brian Deeny, Scott Penny, Fintan Gunne, Ciarán Frawley, Jimmy O'Brien.
Munster: Shane Daly; Andrew Smith, Tom Farrell, Dan Kelly, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Ethan Coughlan; Michael Milne, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Edwin Edogbo, Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O'Donoghue, Brian Gleeson.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Jeremy Loughman, Ronan Foxe, Jean Kleyn, Gavin Coombes, Paddy Patterson, JJ Hanrahan, Alex Nankivell.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
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Follow a live blog of Leinster v Munster in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday from 5.15pm on on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
