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.

A fifth bonus-point win is the target for Connacht in this evening’s Pro 12 fixture with Zebre in Italy (4.30 Irish time). Sitting level on 45 points with Ulster at the top of the table, Pat Lam knows every point will count in their bid for Champions Cup rugby next season.

Connacht 21 Brive 17: Connacht remain top of their European pool but have been left counting the cost of injuries ahead of their meeting with Munster on Saturday, having taken a heavy hit on personnel during their victory over French visitors Brive in the Sportsground on Saturday.

Connacht coach Pat Lam has described tonight’s Guinness Pro12 opponents, Glasgow Warriors, as “the Toulon of our competition”.

Connacht 29 Dragons 23: Connacht opened their Guinness Pro 12 season with a valuable home win, edging a lively encounter against the Newport Gwent Dragons at the Galway Sportsground last evening.

There are few surprises in Pat Lam’s Connacht squad for this evening’s Guinness Pro 12 opener at the Galway Sportsground (7.30pm).

Munster 12 Connacht 28: Connacht scrum-half Kieran Marmion could hardly be blamed for feeling more than a little aggrieved last week when he was released back to Connacht by Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt without having had a reasonable chance to press his claims for a place in Ireland’s World Cup squad.

Last week, Tyler Bleyendaal, Munster’s major signing from New Zealand, made his first appearance in the red jersey after dealing with 12 months of deep frustration because of a career-threatening injury. He came through in style.

Connacht 19 Grenoble 52: Bernard Jackman returned to Connacht with his Grenoble troops and blitzed the westerners for eight tries at the Sportsground. 

Georgia 12 Emerging Ireland 45: Billy Holland had to discard his crutches to lift the trophy at Avchala Stadium after succumbing to a captain’s curse in Tbilisi.

Emerging Ireland 33 Uruguay 7: Rhys Ruddock’s hopes of taking part in the World Cup rest upon the results of an x-ray after damaging his right arm just two months after surgery.

Tbilisi Cup

Tbilisi could prove the unlikely stepping stone for several players aiming to play their way into Joe Schmidt’s World Cup plans.

Irish coach Joe Schmidt insisted during the week that places in the World Cup squad were still up for grabs. After yet another defeat to the Barbarians at Thomond Park last night, he will go home for another re-think after a performance he described as “a bit inaccurate.”

With their European Rugby Champions Cup semi-final against Toulon just eight days away, Leinster coach Matt O’Connor has opted to wrap his star players in cotton wool for the province’s Guinness Pro12 encounter with Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade tomorrow.

Leinster head coach Matt O’Connor has criticised the IRFU’s highly-lauded player management system and the dictatorial manner in which Joe Schmidt and his staff decide when and where the top Irish players can play for their clubs.

For the second game in succession, Leinster coach Matt O’Connor has opted to make seven changes to his starting line-up.

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.

Leinster 18 Ospreys 12

Guinness Pro12: Treviso 24 Leinster 24

Jordi Murphy and Dave Kearney make their first starts of the season in Leinster’s Guinness Pro12 clash away to Benetton Treviso at Stadio Monigo tomorrow (2.30pm).

Former Rugby League star, Ben Te’o, makes his Leinster debut in tonight’s Guinness Pro12 clash with Edinburgh (RDS, 7.35pm), as the champions aim to secure back-to-back league victories for the first time this season.

Leinster 42 Scarlets 12

GUINNESS PRO12:

Glasgow Warriors 22 Leinster 20

Isaac Boss is set to make history at Scotstoun Stadium this evening, when he will become the first player to make 100 appearances for two Irish provinces in Leinster’s opening Guinness Pro12 encounter against Glasgow Warriors (kick-off 5.15pm).

Leinster 7 Ulster 10

Leinster forwards coach Leo Cullen has no qualms about putting the province’s youngsters up against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens today.

Leinster ‘A’ 44 Leeds Carnegie 17

Leinster A 47 Munster A 15.

Revenge will be in the air when Munster A take on Leinster A in tonight’s B&I cup quarter-final clash at Donnybrook, (7pm) a repeat of last season’s final four encounter where Leinster came out on top.

Young Munster 10 Old Belvedere 13

Ulster 21 Leinster 19

British & Irish Cup semi-final

Bristol 26 Leinster A 30

Munster A 24 Leinster 17

Having defied medical opinion and returned to match fitness a month earlier than expected, Paul O’Connell sets out this afternoon on a path that could see him feature for Munster in next month’s Heineken Cup quarter-final with Harlequins.

Leinster 32 Scarlets 5

RaboDirect Pro12

Leinster 40 Treviso 5

Not that Leinster picked him but after two days of confusion surrounding Cian Healy’s three-week suspension, RBS 6 Nations Championship organisers felt sufficiently moved yesterday to issueclarification on the matter.

Rhys Ruddock will captain Leinster on his 50th provincial appearance in tomorrow night’s RaboDirect PRO12 showdown against Treviso at the RDS (5pm).

RaboDirect PRO12: Cardiff Blues v Leinster

With so many players wrapped up in international duty, Leo Cullen will skipper a new-look Leinster team as they take on Cardiff Blues in tomorrow night's RaboDirect PRO12 clash in Cardiff Arms Park (7.30pm).

British and Irish Cup

Leinster 17 Connacht 0

Shane Jennings will skipper Leinster against Connacht with head coach Joe Schmidt relegating regular captain Leo Cullen to the bench for tomorrow's RaboDirect PRO12 clash in the RDS (7.45pm).

Leinster A 44 Jersey 13