Hooker Scott Otten crossed for two tries as Ospreys celebrated only their second Guinness Pro14 victory of the season as they edged out Ulster 26-24 at a rain-swept Liberty Stadium.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland accepts it “won’t be the end of the world” if his team slip up and lose a game over the next few weeks.

A trip to Thomond Park has and always will hold a degree of trepidation for any Welsh region, but as the Ospreys prepare to take on Munster again the Swansea side are arguably at their lowest ebb.

Jeremy Loughman ended 2019 on a high after a stellar breakout year with Munster and the front-rower has every intention of continuing his good run of form through 2020.

Simon Zebo and Donnacha Ryan will remain central to Racing 92’s bid to strengthen their grip on Pool 4 when they start for the Parisians at home to Ospreys tonight.

It is not just Racing 92 who possess the talents to unlock opposition defences. Not if you are talking to Stephen Larkham at any rate.

Not for the first time, Europe has proved the perfect antidote for pining Irish players looking for solace after the woes of an underwhelming World Cup campaign.

Johann van Graan said from the outset that when it comes to European pool campaigns every minute of every game is crucial.

Peter O'Mahony praised Munster’s effort in securing a bonus-point victory on the road in Wales but was annoyed by his side’s ill-discipline as the province secured a 32-13 win over Ospreys on Saturday.

Leading 13-6 at half-time, Ireland wings Keith Earls and Andrew Conway put the game beyond Ospreys two tries in four minutes.

This may be a pool of death Munster are facing into as the 25th Heineken Champions Cup campaign gets underway this weekend but the fixture schedule has at least handed Johann van Graan’s side the most palatable of introductions, albeit away, with a trip to off-form Ospreys.

Munster will face an Ospreys side in disarray on and off the field, but Johann van Graan’s side have been warned they’ll face a wounded animal in their Champion’s Cup opener.

They once boasted one of the strongest playing rosters in European rugby and were famously labelled the ‘Galacticos’ of Welsh rugby.

Here's the route Ireland's provinces must navigate to emerge from their Champions Cup pools.

Munster are holding out hope that JJ Hanrahan will pass fit to face Ospreys in their Heineken Champions Cup pool opener in Wales on Saturday but the province will definitely be without Dave Kilcoyne for the first two rounds at least of the European campaign.

Simon Lewis Rory Scannell embarks on his fifth European campaign this weekend confident that the value new attack guru Stephen Larkham can add to Munster’s arsenal could be the missing ingredient to

Goals change games we know but, listening to Scott Hogan, it’s clear he feels his winner for Championship basement side Stoke City against high-flying Swansea City last Saturday, could be a personal game-changer of an altogether different magnitude.

Kyle Naughton, Bersant Celina and Borja Baston – who celebrated his 27th birthday by becoming the division’s top scorer – were on target as Birmingham’s resistance crumbled after the break.

The importance of Munster getting a good start to their Champions Cup campaign was underlined by the release of the pool fixtures this morning.

The Ospreys chairman Mike Jones has resigned over the “catastrophic mismanagement” of plans to overhaul Wales' rugby regions.

Joey Carbery may not be happy to take the late hits but if it frees up a teammate then he will continue to endure the pain for the Munster cause.

Champions Leinster will begin the new Guinness PRO14 season by tackling Cardiff Blues in the Welsh capital.

Daniel Storey on the weekend’s major talking points...

The Welsh Rugby Union revealed today that the Swansea-based Ospreys will be his destination.

Connacht’s slim Champions Cup qualification hopes were ended in Swansea as Kieran Keane’s side were beaten 39-10 by the Ospreys.

Connacht loosehead prop Denis Buckley has likened the end of this campaign to a fallow period during Pat Lam’s tenure and is confident the province can bounce back.

Connacht defence coach Pete Wilkins believes the province can keep their PRO14 season alive with a second away win of the competition against Ospreys this weekend.

Leinster started the season with 14 players who could conceivably feature in their back row and yet they badly need three of their most prominent practitioners to return to fitness in time for Sunday’s European quarter-final against Saracens.

OSPREYS 32 LEINSTER 18: Leinster limped back into Dublin late on Saturday night having fluffed their lines in their dress-rehearsal for the Champions Cup quarter-final with Saracens and licking their wounds after a mauling by the Ospreys.

Missing out on a World Cup would, under normal circumstances, be one of the lowest points in any player’s career, but it likely helped propel Jordan Larmour on to a much higher plain this season.

Tottenham underlined their FA Cup credentials by breezing into the semi-finals for a second successive season with a commanding victory at Swansea.

Mauricio Pochettino insists Harry Kane is happy at Tottenham and can fulfil his desire to win silverware in north London.

Sam Davies held his nerve to hammer home a 79th minute conversion of replacement hooker Ifan Phillips' try to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for the Ospreys against the Cheetahs.

Southampton piled more misery on West Brom to progress into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a confidence-boosting 2-1 victory at the Hawthorns.

Carlos Carvalhal's return to Hillsborough ended in stalemate as Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea played out a goalless draw in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Tottenham climbed to third in the Premier League after Harry Kane scored a second-half winner to settle the north London derby against Arsenal.

Swansea climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time in three months as Petr Cech's dreadful clanger helped condemn Arsenal to a 3-1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium.

CJ Stander believes Johann van Graan will have headaches finalising his back-row trio for next Sunday’s all-important European Champions Cup game against Racing 92.

Mauricio Pochettino has refused to complain about Tottenham’s “difficult” task of playing two Premier League games in the space of 48 hours.

In the same way that Ireland has always relied on a strong core of Munster players — forwards, in particular — Munster has always been at its belligerent best with a core of influential Limerick forwards on board, writes Donal Lenihan 

The Liverpool boss is preparing to face the rock-bottom Swans at Anfield on Tuesday recalling the similarities with his own route into management.

Pep Guardiola has promised Manchester City will keep on improving after setting a new Premier League record for consecutive wins.

Manchester United bounced back from their Huddersfield horror show with a comfortable Carabao Cup victory at Swansea.

Juan Mata wants Manchester United to show unity as they look to bounce back from their lacklustre defeat at Huddersfield.

Wales prop Samson Lee scored his first try in more than 100 appearances for Scarlets to edge the reigning Guinness PRO12 champions to victory over arch-rivals Ospreys.

Johnny Sexton will skipper Leinster tonight as four of the province’s British & Irish Lions return to action for the first time this season. 

Rory Scannell is set for his first start of the Guinness Pro14 campaign tonight as Munster go to Glasgow Warriors looking for a fourth win from four this season.

In the end the margin of victory was just five points, but Munster were the dominant force at the Liberty Stadium as they made it three straight Guinness Pro14 wins.

Munster face their first serious test of the new season when they travel to Swansea’s Liberty Stadium todayto face the Ospreys in the third round of the Guinness PRO14.

The season is its infancy but already there are positive signs that Jaco Taute and Chris Farrell are developing into a formidable centre partnership for Munster.