Rival coaches Johann van Graan and Richard Cockerill have adopted contrasting strategies in choosing their teams for tonight’s (7.35pm) Guinness PRO14 encounter at Musgrave Park.

The challenge for Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster is to keep players firmly focused on the task at hand in the face of the inevitable plaudits that will accompany last weekend’s incredible performance, says Donal Lenihan.

An unholy trinity of ghastly misadventures in sport happened at three historic venues: Aintree; the old twin-towered Wembley; and St Andrews. That the misadventures are still talked of five decades later says everything about their enduring appeal, writes Peter Jackson.

Leinster 17 Newcastle Falcons 42

For rugby in Spain, hosting the Champions Cup final will be a welcome diversion from the World Cup qualifier loss to Belgium in March, says Brendan O’Brien.

Connacht coach Kieran Keane is hoping science will give his side the edge and help them to a first win over Gloucester in their history.

Connacht coach Kieran Keane is happy with his side’s progression in his first season in charge, but admits they need to beat Gloucester on Saturday to have any hope of Champions Cup rugby next season.

Saracens full-back Alex Goode says the club’s Champions Cup quarter-final with Leinster will be bigger than a Test match for him.

Connacht 50 Oyonnax 14: The road to Bilbao has now become clear for Connacht.

Ronan O’Gara believes Joey Carbery has the talent to go all the way to the top and he expects that process to start kicking in this evening at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey when the 21-year-old makes his first Ireland start.

We’re just over 10 years removed from Ronan O’Gara’s famous swipe at the English Premiership, but the debate on the relative merits of that league and the PRO12 will zoom back into focus on Saturday when the respective league leaders clash in a Champions Cup quarter-final in Dublin.

It was called Route 6’6”. With the stocks of tall second rows at a critically low ebb, Leinster launched the search for alternatives around about this time five years ago.

Coach Nigel Carolan has urged his men to play the game and not the occasion when they take on England this evening (7pm) in the World Rugby U20 Championship at the AJ Bell Stadium in Greater Manchester.

Ireland 33 New Zealand 24: As winger Malo Tuitama raced in for his second try to cut the gap to six points with as many minutes remaining, up on the press bench we started preparing another hard luck story for Irish rugby against New Zealand.

Brett Connon is used to the sound of Callum Chick’s voice. Clubmates at Newcastle Falcons, the pair are housemates as well.

England 20 Ireland 26: Nigel Carolan’s U-20 side staged a remarkable comeback to defeat England in Newcastle last night.

Former Munster lock, Ian Nagle will look to deliver on some of his untapped potential in the unfamiliar surroundings of the RDS next season, having committed himself to Leinster.

If you watched Ireland’s U20s take on Wales in Dublin last Friday evening then chances are that the sheer size of the Leinster loosehead prop Andrew Porter stood out every bit as much as the abandon with which Nigel Carolan’s offloading side played.

Connacht Academy players Sean O’Brien and Peter Robb have secured senior contracts with the province.

Connacht are facing a trip to Siberia in the European Challenge Cup after losing out in a draw yesterday.

Months before the commencement of battle, Munster head coach Anthony Foley has forewarned his troops that nothing will come easy in Pool 4 of the European Champions Cup.

The sunshine beaming down on the pristine Musgrave Park turf as the Munster squad went about its business gave the scene a pre-season feel, but, in the words of Denis Hurley, there is no mistaking his team are primed for the business end of this Guinness Pro12 campaign.

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

Sergio Parisse believes Ireland are “the best team in the northern hemisphere” but believes Italy can upset them in their RBS 6 Nations opener at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Saturday. 

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.

The Irish company behind the pitch where Munster’s European dream could come to an end has told the province they have nothing to fear — from the artificial surface at least — when they travel to Saracens tomorrow.

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young is celebrating the capture of Leinster fly-half Jimmy Gopperth for next season, believing the English side will be getting one of the best kickers in Europe.

England captain Chris Robshaw has been ruled out of Harlequins’ European Rugby Champions Cup match against Leinster on Saturday and will see a specialist to examine his shoulder injury.

Samoan rugby star Alesana Tuilagi has been spared a jail term and a criminal record after he pleaded guilty to a drink-fuelled attack on a man in Dublin three years ago.

A Samoan rugby international has appeared in court charged with a serious assault on a man on Harcourt Street in Dublin in April 2011.