Munster 33 Zebre 5: Munster coach Johann van Graan accurately summed up the view of the majority of Saturday night’s sparse Thomond Park attendance when he commented that “this won’t go down as the greatest game in the history of Munster”.

Michael Bradley, the former Ireland scrum-half and now head coach of Italian side Zebre, was last night casting an envious eye at the strength of the squad announced by his Munster counterpart Johann van Graan ahead of tonight’s Guinness PRO14 tie at Thomond Park.

Zebre 19 Munster 29: Alex Wootton was one of the players that Rassie Erasmus name-checked in his final week with Munster when he was asked what he would miss when he returned to South Africa.

Munster and Ireland second row Donnacha Ryan has inked a deal to move to Ronan O’Gara’s Racing 92 in Paris, Examiner Sport understands.

Connacht 47 Treviso 8: Pat Lam could hardly have asked for a more routine victory in his 100th game in charge as Treviso, yet again, offered only token resistance in what is turning out to be another disastrous campaign for the Italians.

Defeat in Italy on last season’s PRO12 run-in might not have cost Connacht a coveted home semi-final, but that loss registered in their minds.

Leinster 50 Benetton Treviso 19: It’s only two weeks since Ulster sent Leinster retreating down the M1 in disorder, but some in the northern province could be forgiven for harbouring a sense of foreboding ahead of the sides’ next meeting in the Guinness PRO12 semi-final.

It may have been a day of drama and calculators across most of the Guinness PRO12, but Leinster strolled to the most straightforward and expected of victories against a mostly awful Treviso side at the RDS this afternoon.

Zebre 17 Ulster 47: Ireland wing, Tommy Bowe, made a try-scoring return, as Ulster boosted their hopes of a Guinness PRO12 play-off place, with a 47-17 victory over Zebre.

Tommy Bowe gets his first start of the season for Ulster when they travel to Zebre in the chase for a bonus-point win in the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi this afternoon.

Stuart Olding returns to the outside centre position as Ulster’s Director of Rugby Les Kiss makes four changes to his side for this evening’s home date with Zebre.

Zebre 34 Connacht 51: Connacht are preparing to step it up as their season becomes considerably tougher with the visit of the Ospreys next up in the Galway Sportsground.

Zebre 12 Munster 16: It wasn’t pretty and Anthony Foley admitted as much, but Munster’s head coach believes his side will consider Saturday’s nervy Pro12 victory at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi as ‘as a good win.’

Munster 18 Benetton Treviso 13: The consolation on a less than satisfactory Guinness Pro12 performance at Musgrave Park on Saturday night was the win, four points in the bag, that puts Munster in a much healthier position than at the same stage last season when they lost first time out to Edinburgh.

Munster Rugby will end their tradition of training in dual venues in Cork and Limerick when a new state-of-the-art facility is opened next July.

Zebre 10 Connacht 40: It has been a season like no others. With a new record of 10 wins and currently leaders in the disciplinary stakes, Connacht will still be fighting on the last day of the Guinness Pro12 season for Champions Cup rugby.

Stuart Lancaster has urged Twickenham to will England to victory tomorrow evening as he prepares to order his RBS 6 Nations title hopefuls to carry the game to France.

Guiness Pro12

Following the disappointment of last Sunday’s home defeat to Newport Gwent Dragons, Leinster coach Matt O’Connor has made a total of seven changes to his starting line-up for tonight’s Pro12 encounter against Zebre at the RDS.

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre is relishing Saturday’s trial by fire at the Aviva as he aims to keep a special record intact.

Italy will have four new faces in their squad when they face Ireland in their RBS 6 Nations Championship opener in Rome next month.

Zebre 7 Munster 31: Munster got the result and — for 40 minutes at least — the performance they wanted in Italy which sends them into next Saturday’s vital Champions Cup clash with Saracens.

Anthony Foley has warned Keith Earls will have a battle to reclaim his place in the Munster side after naming the Ireland international in the replacements for the Pro12 clash against bottom-of-the-table Zebre today.

Connacht’s first All Black, Mils Muliaina, makes his debut for the province tonight when Connacht host Zebre at the Galway Sportsground (7.35pm).

Anthony Foley’s bid to make home advantage finally count at Thomond Park tonight will not be hindered by the return of Munster big guns Paul O’Connell and Conor Murray as the Reds welcome Zebre to Limerick for Guinness Pro12 round three (7:30pm).

RABO DIRECT PRO12:

Italy 20 Scotland 21

Scotland head coach Scott Johnson admits not even a victory over Italy this afternoon will cure the Dark Blues’ problems.

Connacht 20 Zebre 3

RABO DIRECT PRO12:

Treviso 3 Ulster 35

Ulster 48 Benetton Treviso 0

There was obviously a good reason for this RaboDirect Pro12 game to be handed the same kick-off slot as Ireland-New Zealand tomorrow but, for the life of us, it is impossible to think of one.

Zebre 6 Connacht 33

Treviso 23 Connacht 3

RABO DIRECT PRO12

RABODIRECT PRO 12:

Recent performances in the Heineken Cup excepted, it has been a poor campaign by Munster’s exalted standards and it will be a whole lot worse should they become the first team to lose to Zebre in their last match of the season at the Stadio XXV Aprile in Parma this evening.

Connacht 23 Zebre 19

Ulster 29 Treviso 29

Italy 9 Wales 26