An enormous game for both teams. So said Tommy Bowe earlier this week of tonight’s Guinness PRO12 meeting in Belfast between Ulster and Leinster.

This may be the Rugby Champions Cup’s inaugural season, but the feeling this weekend, as the two semi-finals are contested on French soil, is one of familiarity, given the identities of the four clubs involved.

It has been framed as a mission impossible, but Matt O’Connor’s coaching colleagues in Munster and Ulster believe Leinster can return from France next Sunday with Toulon’s scalp swinging from their pelts.

Leo Cullen believes Leinster’s surprise defeat of Munster in the classic 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final at Croke Park can serve as a template as the province contemplates the prospect of facing Toulon at the same stage in Marseille.

John Carver, the latest in a long line of men to be handed the ticking time bomb that is the job of manager at Newcastle United, has been fielding questions about his players’ choice of footwear for some weeks now.

Leinster 18 Bath 15: Hardly the sort of performance to put the fear of God into the other three remaining Rugby Champions Cup semi-finalists, but Leinster coach Matt O’Connor insists his side are still a difficult nut to crack.

It’s been a season almost devoid of moments to savour for Leinster fans, despite today’s presence in Europe’s last eight, so it is hardly stretching the bounds of reason to suggest that yesterday’s team announcement may rank up there among the best days.

Look in isolation at Leinster’s Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final with Bath at the Aviva Stadium today, and it is tempting to ponder what, if anything, has changed in this tweaked version of Europe’s premier club competition.

Leinster head coach Matt O’Connor has refuted the idea that this Saturday’s Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final against Bath at the Aviva Stadium is an encounter that will define his time in charge of the province — but agrees that it is the biggest game of the the province’s season.

Guinness PRO12 

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.

Jack McGrath has apologised to Rory Best for a stamp which earned him a three-week ban earlier this month.

Leinster’s weekend of mixed emotions continued through to tea-time yesterday when the three-time Heineken Cup champions were handed a daunting potential Rugby Champions Cup semi-final assignment ‘away’ to reigning champions Toulon in mid-April.

European Champions Cup Pool 2

It’s just a month since Matt O’Connor turned the tables at a Leinster press-conference by redirecting questions about his team’s form at the media.

Leinster and Ireland scrum-half Eoin Reddan believes it is far too early to predict that the days of the Irish provinces dining consistently at Europe’s top table are over, despite a worrying run of results in recent months.

European Champions Cup Pool 2

Leinster 24 Ulster 11

Munster can turn their Rugby Champions Cup campaign around with a win over Clermont at the Stade Marcel Michelin — but it will take their greatest performance in 20 years of European rugby to do so, suggests Ronan O'Gara.

There was just over an hour to go to kick-off at The Stoop last Sunday, but Daniel Hudson was leaning on a piece of pricey-looking equipment like it was a trusty ledge in his favourite pub and exuding the calm of a man without a care in the world.

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2

Leinster coach, Matt O’Connor, has played down claims that rugby has a widespread illegal drug culture by insisting he has never encountered it in a playing and coaching career that has spanned his native Australia, France, Japan, England and now Ireland.

Matt O’Connor has launched a vigorous defence of his stewardship at Leinster as the province prepare for Sunday’s round three Rugby Champions Cup assignment away to Harlequins at The Stoop.

Playing 80 minutes used to be taken for granted in rugby.

Dimestore wisdom says it’s better to be talked about than not, but the dwindling levels of chatter about Robbie Henshaw this last few weeks is testament to the seamless manner in which the youngster has slotted in to Joe Schmidt’s midfield.

The new European gig was gripping at times but it did little to divert the impression the provinces are slipping under the shadow of an Ireland team on the up.

Greg Feek made no bones about it yesterday.

No Rory Kockott calling the shots at ten. No Remi Lamerat bursting through the centre. And no Ibrahim Diarra causing mayhem from the back row.

For one glorious summer, London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park felt like the centre of the world.

Rhys Ruddock has declared that Leinster are going to have to show their nasty side on Sunday away to 2013 Top 14 champions Castres at the Stade Pierre Antoine.

Leinster continue to mix the bad with the good, but they managed just enough of the latter to pull away from a game Wasps side last night and claim a first-up victory in their maiden Rugby Champions Cup outing.

Toulouse. Munster. Leicester. Wasps.

The restructuring of European rugby has removed one of the Irish province’s key advantages as they will no longer be able to rest players ahead of big games, according to Leicester Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill.

Munster chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald believes the Guinness Pro12 will benefit hugely from Sky Sports’ coverage of the tournament which begins with two exclusively live games this Saturday.

He may be bedding in to life in France, but Jonathan Sexton’s opinion the best Irish players need to stick to home comforts back here has, if anything, only solidified after over 12 months on the continent.

Potentially seismic back-to-back clashes with Clermont Auvergne await Munster in December after the fixtures for the new European Rugby Champions Cup were confirmed yesterday.

It may be the Rugby Champions Cup now, but the inaugural pool draw for the new competition will have elicited reactions that are all too familiar from the days when the tournament was known as the Heineken Cup.

Toulon 23 Saracens 6

The emotions will inevitably be raw when Munster return to work this morning, thoughts of defeat by Toulon still painfully fresh in the minds of players who will feel there should still be a league and Heineken Cup double on their horizons.

Saracens 46 Clermont Auvergne 6

Plans are believed to be afoot to launch a third-tier competition comprising low-ranked national teams and club sides in a move that could help solve the European rugby union crisis.

Another week, another new tournament on the horizon.

The future of rugby in Europe remains uncertain.

Cardiff Blues chief executive Richard Holland does not hold out much hope of a peace deal with the Welsh Rugby Union after the deadline of agreement for next season and beyond passed along with the New Year bells.