The European debuts came thick and fast as Munster said their farewells to the Heineken Champions Cup for another season and made a determined change of direction towards the Guinness PRO14.

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline

On an explosive Saturday that saw Saracens relegated from the Gallagher Premiership on the eve of a must-win Champions Cup pool game against Racing 92, Munster took their exit from this season’s competition without firing a shot.

Results over the weekend ended Munster’s slim chances of qualifying before a turnstile opened in Thomond Park on Sunday, writes Tom Savage.

A win for already-qualified Leinster at Benetton on Saturday will see the four-time champions finish the pool stage as the No 1-ranked club.

Ian Flanagan sees enormous potential for Munster in places rugby has not yet reached, thanks to a successful first World Cup on Asian soil this season in Japan.

Dave Kilcoyne may well be playing in a dead rubber at Thomond Park on Sunday if results elsewhere in the Heineken Champions Cup fail to fall Munster’s way but he knows how important a win over Ospreys will be, regardless of their European fate.

Munster lock Jean Kleyn has emerged as an injury doubt for Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup pool finale at home to Ospreys, with Johann van Graan insisting his side is still alive in the competition.

There are three key metrics that Munster can use to measure progress, writes Owen Harrison.

Peter O’Mahony was left to regret missed opportunities throughout Munster’s Heineken Champions Cup pool campaign but the captain is confident his province has the right mix to compete with the European elite in future.

In the end, there was simply too much firepower for Munster to cope with. They had battled hard for 70 minutes, taking a 22-20 lead into the endgame and keeping hopes of another European miracle alive.

While a win over Ospreys is well within their compass, the fact that holders Saracens can still advance as a best runner up will suit them just fine.

Even as the celebrations of Racing’s Champions Cup win over Munster still echoed around La Defense Arena, head coach Laurent Travers was looking to the future.

Munster head coach Johann Van Graan admitted Racing 92’s late sucker punch was a bitter pill to swallow as his team’s Heineken Champions Cup hopes were all but ended.

Devastating finishing in the final 10 minutes sent Racing 92 into the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals as the Parisians finally broke Munster’s brave resistance and left their hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds hanging by a slender thread.

It says much about Munster’s standing in rugby country that their current state of ill health is consuming more column inches and debate than Leinster’s relentless march towards further glories.

Racing 92’s head coach Laurent Travers is readying his side for a proxy European Cup knockout dogfight this weekend describing tomorrow’s clash as a “last-16 match”.

Listen to the radio sports bulletins and chats this week and Leinster have barely merited a mention.

The Munster head coach was able to select JJ Hanahan as his starting fly-half to face Racing 92 in Sunday’s crucial Heineken Champions Cup pool clash at La Défense Arena.

There is no disguising the links that have bonded Munster and Racing 92 since Ronan O’Gara began his coaching journey in Paris in 2013. Donnacha Ryan, Simon Zebo, and Mike Prendergast have since found their way to the Top 14 outfit while the relationship between the European rivals has also been strengthened on a deeper emotional level by the tragic and sudden death of Anthony Foley in the city i

Johann van Graan has rated fly-half JJ Hanrahan’s chances of facing Racing 92 on Sunday in Paris as 50/50 with the Munster boss preparing to decide between rookie Ben Healy and Rory Scannell as his starting number 10 in the absence of Joey Carbery.

Simon Zebo limped off eight minutes into Racing 92’s Top 14 victory over Clermont at the weekend, giving boss Laurent Travers an injury headache ahead of Sunday’s Champions Cup return against Munster.

Johann van Graan was left counting the casualties as he turned his focus towards this Friday’s visit to Ulster having lost more players to injury in the 13-6 home defeat to Leinster on Saturday.

The 23-year-old made his Irish debut just over a year ago against the USA but his hopes of pushing on from there were dashed when he fractured his leg against Connacht on the opening weekend in January.

The Champions Cup is supposed to be the pinnacle for professional club rugby in Europe.

The match point total will tell you all you need to know about the result. 4-0 Saracens. 5-4 across the head-to-head.

Rory Scannell has seen the foundations of a more adventurous Munster attack being laid under the guidance of Stephen Larkham.

Munster have reached one objective in this Heineken Champions Cup campaign by beating Saracens for the first time in five years last Saturday.

Simon Zebo scored his first try of the season to secure the bonus point for Racing 92 before the break at the Paris La Défense Arena.

Simon Zebo and Donnacha Ryan will remain central to Racing 92’s bid to strengthen their grip on Pool 4 when they start for the Parisians at home to Ospreys tonight.

One man’s setback appears to be an opportunity for a couple of his team-mates as Johnny Sexton’s likely absence from the start of the Six Nations seems to have opened the door for a pair of Munster stars to take centre-stage with Ireland in the coming weeks.

Saracens are set to bring their big guns back for the return match with Munster next weekend after leaving Limerick with a losing bonus point.

Johann van Graan admitted Saracens’ losing bonus point at Thomond Park could be crucial in the final shake-up in Munster’s European pool campaign.

Ask any Munster supporter their thoughts on the Saracens personnel coming to Thomond Park this evening and they will take the matchday squad named by Mark McCall yesterday in a heartbeat. Ask the Munster coaching group the same question and they will not be taking anything for granted.

Sometimes it's the words that don't pass a player's lips that stand out.

Keith Earls and Andrew Conway both scored crucial tries as Munster drew with Racing 92 last time out in Europe, and in doing so also narrowed the gap on Simon Zebo’s all-time try-scoring record for the province.

"The team is the only star," said Racing 92.

The four Irish provinces have named their teams for this weekend's Champions Cup clashes.

It's 20 years since Munster did that number on Francois Pienaar’s Saracens at Thomond Park.

Additional seating will be installed at Thomond Park in anticipation of a sell-out crowd for Saturday's Champions Cup game against Saracens.

If JJ Hanrahan is looking for anyone to cuddle him up and tell him a bedtime story, he’s kidding himself. The Munster ten should have dropped that goal to secure an unlikely win against Racing 92 last Saturday (pictured below), but you know what? Daybreak broke on Sunday morning, and again Monday.

Johan van Graan has challenged Munster’s batch of young and inexperienced scrum-halves to step into the void left by the departing Alby Mathewson and apply the pressure on Conor Murray for the province’s No.9 jersey.

Friday night in Cork is set to be a major landmark for Stephen Archer, but he won’t be thinking about it too much.