Paul Boyle missed the cut for Connacht last week, but he wants to take that frustration out on Gloucester as the province seek to rescue their Champions Cup hopes on Saturday.

Connacht produced a frustrating and sloppy performance on their way to a bonus point victory over Southern Kings in the PRO14 on Saturday.

Bundee Aki celebrated his three-year IRFU contract extension with the opening try in Connacht’s 24-12 Guinness PRO14 win over the Isuzu Southern Kings at the Sportsground.

Connacht’s stand-in captain Quinn Roux said that while few outside of their squad believed they would win at Stade Ernest-Wallon, the team were bitterly disappointed not to secure victory in Toulouse.

Ospreys replacement fly-half James Hook missed two late penalties as Southern Kings hung on to register a 16-14 victory – their first Guinness Pro14 win of the season.

The new PRO14 campaign may be in its infancy but for the Cheetahs their clash with Munster this evening kick-off 5.15pm) has a real end-of-season feel to it in Bloemfontein.

Munster claimed a second bonus-point victory in a week as their perfect start to the PRO14 season continued in Port Elizabeth against Southern Kings.

Munster back row Jack O’Donoghue knows there will be a tougher test at altitude next week in Bloemfontein but insists they also have their work cut out to deal with the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth today.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan knows all there is to know about South Africa’s major domestic competition, the Currie Cup. Given that the Cheetahs — one of his side’s two Guinness PRO14 opponents over the next fortnight — were recently crowned champions of the 130-year-old tournament, he is aware of the challenge awaiting his team.

It mightn’t have been a performance to set the pulses racing but Munster still got the new campaign off to a five-try, bonus point start by hammering the hapless Dragons - even without a dozen of their World Cup-tied players on duty in Japan.

Dragons new head coach Dean Ryan has described this afternoon’s Guinness PRO14 visit to Thomond Park as “a massive challenge”. His forwards coach, Ceri Jones, went a stage further in calling it “the acid test”.

Champions Cup spots were up for grabs today.

Johnny Sexton could go head to head with his younger brother in the Pro14 next season.

Former Cork City player Derek Coughlan argues that the rebirth of the League of Ireland has to be a priority for a reformed FAI.

Johann van Graan sends a mix-and-match Munster side into Stadio Monigo tonight with one eye firmly on next weekend’s European semi-final with Saracens.

Forewarned is forearmed, as the proverb goes. Chris Farrell’s one-week release from Ireland camp back to Munster during the Six Nations has given the centre confidence that he and his fellow internationals will be on the same page with their provincial teammates by kick-off time at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Ulster may have achieved their goal in leapfrogging Benetton in the chase for a Guinness PRO14 knock-out place, but there was mixed news in the aftermath of Saturday’s win over Southern Kings for coach Dan McFarland ahead of next week’s Champions Cup quarter-final with Leinster.

Marcell Coetzee marked his comeback for Ulster with one of their five tries in a 33-19 Guinness PRO14 win over the Southern Kings.

Ulster hooker Rob Herring vows they won’t let minds wander to next week’s European Cup clash with Leinster in Dublin when the Southern Kings come to the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.

Connacht won only their second away match of the season with a 31-14 PRO14 victory over Southern Kings.

Leinster moved five points clear at the top of Guinness Pro14's Conference B with a 31-3 win at Benetton.

Dan Goggin could easily have fallen between the cracks as he recovered from long-term injury while Munster transitioned from one boss to the next last season.

If you have had enough of the World Cup, fear not. Here I am, as always, to help you out. Or to sharpen your dress sense, at least.

There may be a familiar look about the cast list for this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 semi-finals, as the two most titleholders, Glasgow Warriors and Scarlets, square up to each other in Scotstoun this evening.

Leinster, Glasgow Warriors and Munster are through to the Guinness PRO14 final series but there is still plenty to play for across the rest of the league as teams scramble for places in next week’s semi-final qualifiers.

It will be Sunday evening before we know for sure which two of the four sides left standing in this season’s Champions Cup got their preparations spot on for the semi-finals, but at this juncture it would be a surprise, notwithstanding they are playing in France, if Munster isn’t one of them.

There isn’t much that Peter O’Mahony hasn’t experienced at this stage of his career but spending two weeks abroad in a bubble with his Munster teammates ahead of a crunch European game is a new departure.

So, how was your Monday morning this week? Were you doing a bit of whinging about work, did the traffic get to you or was the weather driving you mad?

Scrum-half James Hart believes Munster’s two-match tour to South Africa is the perfect way to build up for the Champions Cup showdown with his former club Racing 92 on Sunday week.

Southern Kings 22 Munster 39: There was a carnival atmosphere at Outeniqua Park on Saturday and while it seemed for a time that the Southern Kings were going to spoil CJ Stander’s homecoming, Munster’s superiority shone through in the end as they cantered home.

CJ Stander said that it will be a dream come true this evening when he leads Munster out on the pitch where he played as a child in South Africa.

CJ Stander said that it will be a dream come true this evening when he leads Munster out on the pitch where he played as a child in South Africa.

The instruction leaving the accommodation in Cape Town to get to George was pretty straightforward, ‘turn right on to the N2 and drive’ … all 430 kilometres along the same road.

Munster hooker Niall Scannell has happy memories of his only other trip to South Africa when he captained Ireland to a stunning victory over the Baby Boks in the opening match of the 2012 Junior World Cup.

Nick McCarthy is only 20 games into his senior Leinster career but the St Michael’s and UCD scrum-half has already managed to figure in some of the more unlikely storylines emanating from the club in his short time.

The sight of Garry Ringrose in Ireland gear at yesterday’s training session was heartening in and of itself but it took on far greater significance later in the afternoon when news of Chris Farrell’s ill-fortune broke.

On the field, Chris Farrell had an injury scare while training on the Lansdowne Road pitch.

The chances of Sean O’Brien featuring in the run-in to Ireland’s Six Nations campaign are veering towards slim.

It has been a hard road for Southern Kings, the whipping boys of the Guinness PRO14, and things are unlikely to get easier for the South Africans at the RDS tonight.

Joe Schmidt has praised Chris Farrell’s all-round game and form in confirming the Munster centre is at the head of the queue to replace Robbie Henshaw in Ireland’s midfield to face Wales in Dublin on February 24.

Ulster are making no official comment on speculation in New Zealand and Australia that their newly appointed head man Jono Gibbes is being hunted by Wallaby coach Michael Cheika.