Joe Schmidt has made eight personnel changes from the starting XV that lost to Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva Stadium last weekend for Friday's RaboDirect PRO12 derby meeting against Ulster at Ravenhill (7.05pm).

Leinster 21 Clermont Auvergne 28

Connacht officials have launched a blistering attack on Leinster Rugby chiefs over their pursuit of Irish international Mike McCarthy.

FOR the third season in-a-row, the best two sides in the Heineken Cup meet outside the decider itself.

The glow from Ireland’s defeat of Argentina at the Aviva Stadium swept across Dublin’s southside to UCD yesterday with the confirmation that Brian O’Driscoll and Rob Kearney should both be fit for the start of the Six Nations next February.

Four Rabo PRO12 fixtures, three Irish internationals and seven weeks stand between Leinster and the first of their back-to-back European heavyweight contests against Clermont Auvergne but it is a fixture already dominating thoughts and headlines.

Today, at the RDS, it will be Tom Denton’s turn.

A 64th-minute pointed free from halfway by Broadford’s Pádraig Hickey earned his side a draw with title-holders Crusheen in the opening game of the Clare SHC at Ennis’s Cusack Park on Friday evening last.

AFTER the drama of Friday night when Gloucester and Connacht turned form and expectations on its head by beating Toulouse and Harlequins in Pool 6, you sensed it was going to be one of those dramatic Heineken Cup weekends.

AS weekends go, this one must have been especially tough for Connacht.

UNBEATEN in 14 games, nine points clear in the RaboDirect Pro12, six ahead of their nearest rival in Pool 3 of the Heineken Cup.

TABLE-TOPPERS Leinster have named a close to full-strength team for today’s Rabo Pro-12 match against Cardiff.

A GAME of firsts, this one.

WEXFORD netminder Anthony Masterson put his recent Croke Park controversy behind him as he steered reigning champions Castletown to a 0-16 to 2-7 victory over Starlights.

BRIVE’S Irish lock Damien Browne has admitted he’ll be glad to see the back of “the most difficult year of my professional career” after he lifted the lid on the turmoil endured off the field by Munster’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final opponents.

MUNSTER will be without international scrum-half Tomás O’Leary for the province’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final with Brive on April 9.

Brive coach Ugo Mola has included former Connacht lock Damien Browne in his side to tackle Leinster in the Heineken Cup at the RDS on Saturday.

ALL-IRELAND winner Niall Gilligan has turned down an initial approach to link up with the Clare senior hurling panel for the 2010 campaign.

CRATLOE, competing in the Munster Club SHC for the first time, bowed out at the semi-final stage yesterday, losing a tight, tense, game to Ballygunner at Walsh Park.

Ballygunner 1-14 Cratloe 0-15

Brive 13 Leinster 36

Brive will look to England fly-half Andy Goode to steer them to a win over Leinster in the Heineken Cup in France tomorrow afternoon.

CONNACHT can create a shock on Saturday and oust Northampton Saints — that’s according to the Galway man who has played for both of them.

THERE can scarcely have been a more dramatic end to a hurling match that the one which occurred at Cusack Park last night.

Clare 1-20 Cork 1-11

Munster 20 Northampton 18

Tipperary 2-20 Clare 1-11

IRELAND full-back Geordan Murphy admitted to mixed emotions after Sunday’s Six Nation’s win over England at Lansdowne Road.

Shannon CCS 2-15 Douglas CS 0-6

Shannon CCS 1-15 St Joseph’s, Borrisoleigh 1-9

TOMORROW is make or break time for a number of colleges in the Dr. Harty Cup.

Shannon Schools 1-14, St Finbarr’s, Farranferris 1-12

THE three substitutes who inspired Cork to victory over Clare have been retained for Saturday’s second All-Ireland SFC qualifier with Fermanagh at Croke Park.

A mounting injury list has resulted in Connacht waiting until later in the week to name their side to play Munster at Thomond Park on Friday evening.

Clare 2-9 Waterford 1-10

SO, the party is over, the Connacht dream of Parker Pen Challenge Cup glory ended, with it the concurrent dream that would have come as reward, a place in next year’s Heineken Cup.

Most of the current Connacht players will again be on board in the 2004/5 season, it has been announced.

The Connacht team to play Harlequins in the second leg of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-final at the Sportsground on Sunday has been named.

The Connacht team to play Harlequins in the first leg of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-final at The Stoop on Sunday has been announced.

Northampton Saints have stepped up preparations for next season by putting the finishing touches to their new-look coaching line-up and signing former Ireland Under-21 second-row giant Damien Browne.

The Connacht team to play Cardiff Blues at Dubarry Park on Saturday evening (7pm) shows seven changes from that which defeated Edinburgh at Meadowbank at the weekend.