The survivors of the ‘battle of Christchurch’ gathered in Dublin on Saturday night to swap old war stories.

Leinster and Munster may be coming off the back of humbling defeats last weekend but Joe Schmidt believes form — or the lack of it — will account for little when the rivals clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

The next generation of Munster rugby stars will be unveiled at Musgrave Park on Friday (5.30pm) when the province contests their second British and Irish Cup final in three years, against Welsh club Cross Keys.

The Ospreys have confirmed the appointment of Gruff Rees as their backs coach.

BRITISH and Irish Cup rugby heads to the Kingdom today with Tralee RFC hosting Munster’s clash with Ayr (2pm).

AS one of only two players to have kept their place in the side after two Heineken Cup pool victories, Denis Hurley will feel more responsibility than most to get Munster’s defence of their league title back on track when they face Edinburgh tonight.

Munster coach Tony McGahan gives a host of his younger players the opportunity to make an impression in the RaboDirect PRO12 game with Edinburgh in Thomond Park tomorrow (KO 8.30pm).

Peter Sringer could be set to leave Munster at the end of the season after admitting that he is prepared to finish his career elsewhere if he is unable to force his way back into Tony McGahan’s plans, according to Cork's Evening Echo newspaper.

PETER STRINGER accepts this season may well be his last with Munster but the veteran scrum-half remains determined to prove that he still has a future with the province.

CASTRES rugby bosses have appealed to their fans to support them in Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Munster in Toulouse after it was revealed only 10,000 tickets have been sold for the encounter.

With big names like David Wallace, Keith Earls, Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones still ruled out, Tony McGahan will be relieved by Munster’s clean bill of health from last weekend's action as they begin a busy week's training that culminates with matches in the Heineken and British & Irish Cup campaigns in France and Wales respectively.

A NEW-look Musgrave Park will stage tonight’s glamour pre-season friendly between Munster and London Wasps (7pm).

Ulster have named a youthful side to take on Neath in this Friday's friendly at The Gnoll (kick off 19.15).

Fulham will face NSI Runavik of the Faroe Islands in the first qualifying round of the Europa League.

MUNSTER A coach Anthony Foley has been forced to leave a vacancy in his side for tonight’s British and Irish Cup clash with Llanelli in Waterford (7.30pm) as a selection crisis intensified in the province’s Heineken Cup squad.

IT was billed as the dream send-off for Leinster coach Michael Cheika but the inspired Ospreys danced all over the script in this inaugural Magners League Grand final at the RDS on Saturday.

AN Irishman could hold the key to wresting the Magners League trophy across the Irish Sea to Wales after tonight’s battle at the RDS.

MAGNERS LEAGUE: English referee Chris White will take charge of the Magners League Grand Final between Leinster and Ospreys on Saturday week (6.30pm).

MUNSTER legend Anthony Foley is confident his young side will add further lustre to the province when his Munster A side takes on the Ulster Ravens in the first of a highly attractive double-header at Thomond Park on Saturday next (3.30pm).

THE Ospreys’ Magners League match against Ulster at Ravenhill next Friday has been postponed at the Welsh side’s request after claiming they do not have sufficient front-row cover to fulfil the fixture.

MUNSTER’s quest to unearth the senior players of the future continues at Musgrave Park tonight (7.30) when the ‘A’ team takes on Scottish side Heriots in their final pool game of the British and Irish Cup.

THE BATTLE for the top-four places in the Magners League intensifies this weekend with Munster requiring four points from their visit to Wales this evening to maintain their challenge.

ALL BLACK legend Doug Howlett has committed himself to at least another season with Munster.

MUNSTER ‘A’ play what will perhaps be the defining game in their Pool B British & Irish Cup when they take on Neath at The Gnoll tomorrow.

MUNSTER manager Shaun Payne last night admitted the province face a ‘difficult’ task in finding a replacement for Jean de Villiers due to the looming Rugby World Cup.

MUNSTER A will set down in another temporary home at Nenagh tonight (7.30pm) for the second of their British and Irish Cup assignments against top English side Bristol.

The inaugural British & Irish Cup will get underway on the weekend of Saturday, November 21.

Coach Allen Clarke will have to plan without captain Peter O'Mahony, following a citing, when the Ireland U20s play New Zealand in their second Junior World Championship pool game in Nagoya on Tuesday evening (kick off: 11am Irish time).

Argtentina U20s 9 Ireland U20s 16

Cork Constitution's Peter O'Mahony will lead the Ireland U20s into their first IRB Toshiba Junior World Championship match against Argentina in Nagoya on Friday (9am Irish time).

Ireland U20 Coach Allen Clarke has announced his 26-man squad for the IRB Junior World Championship tournament.

ONE hundred Heineken Cup games later, yesterday’s quarter-final victory over the Ospreys at Thomond Park was an historic occasion for European champions Munster.

FORMER Wales captain, Paul Thorburn, has branded as “pathetic” and “unsavoury’’ Warren Gatland’s incendiary comments this week, and criticised the Kiwi coach for stoking unnecessary fires ahead of tomorrow’s clash in Cardiff where Ireland bid for only a second ever Grand Slam.

The Irish team shows three changes to the side to take on Wales in the final game of the U-20 Six Nations Championship in Parc y Scarlets on Friday night (kick off: 7.10pm)

JUST like their senior counterparts, ‘Grand Slam’ is not a term being used loosely around Allen Clarke’s Ireland U-20 camp.

IRELAND U20 coach Allen Clarke has given a vote of confidence to the team which started in the victory over England for tomorrow night’s Six Nations clash with Scotland (McDiarmid Park, Perth, 7.30pm).

Coach Allen Clarke has chosen the same side to keep the Ireland Under 20s on track for the Six Nations Championship against Scotland Scotland U20 in the Six Nations Championship this Friday in McDiarmid Park Perth.

THE Six Nations Grand Slam is still within reach for Ireland following an amazing last-gasp victory at fortress Dubarry Park, Athlone, last night.

IRELAND Under-20 coach Allen Clarke hopes his side can produce another never-say-die performance to put fancied England to the sword in tonight’s RBS Six Nations Championship clash at Dubarry Park, Athlone (6.15pm).

The following is the Ireland U-20 team to play England U-20 in the U-20 Six Nations at Dubarry Park on Friday evening (Kick-off 6.15pm).

The Ireland U20 team shows several changes from last week’s game against France for the sides next outing against Italy in Piacenza on Saturday in the Beltrametti Stadium.

ANDREW BURKE gets a chance to prove his credentials as a potentially top-class out-half when he makes his first appearance for Ireland U-20 against France at Dubarry Park tonight (7.30pm).

DANNY CIPRIANI is one of six capped players named in the England Saxons side to face Ireland A at Donnybrook. The Wasps fly-half was sent down to the Saxons by Martin Johnson earlier this week in the hope of him rediscovering some of his form, away from the pressures of the 6 Nations.

Number eight Peter O'Mahony will lead the Ireland U20s for this Friday’s opening game in the U20 Championship against France in Dubarry Park (7.30pm).