There are many examples that can be given to demonstrate just how talented a player Franco Mostert is.

From the moment pre-season began at Gloucester this summer, there has been a sense something special could be brewing in the West Country.

Bring back Brian McLaughlin, all has been forgiven!

It is seven years since Peter Stringer packed his Ireland kit bag for what would be his final Six Nations campaign but that does not stop that annual championship feeling from taking a firm grip on the veteran scrum-half.

Former Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris has hit out at the hardline stance taken by Joe Schmidt and the IRFU which has resulted in both Simon Zebo and Tadhg Beirne being omitted from the coach’s Six Nations squad.

Exeter Chiefs were a run-of-the-mill second-tier English side when Gareth Steenson arrived in 2008 and the Irish fly-half believes Leinster’s visit to Sandy Park will be the ultimate barometer of just how far the club has come since.

That uncomfortable sensation Munster players are experiencing this week has little or nothing to do with a shake-up at management level, writes Ronan O’Gara

For a while there, during the seven years when Irish sides claimed the Heineken Cup five times, there was a tendency to dismiss a Celtic League title as a trifling thing.

BJ Botha was an established South African Test prop when he chose to ply his trade in Ireland but the Springbok World Cup winner believes there is more to switching countries than a mere residency rule.

Recent suggestions foreign players should serve a five-year residency — as opposed to three — before qualifying to play Test rugby for their adopted countries have, unsurprisingly, found little favour with Jared Payne.

Edinburgh 13  Gloucester 19

Guinness PRO12

A Women’s World Cup on Irish soil in 2017 has every chance of success and boosting the bid for the men’s 2023 event, IRFU chief executive Philip Browne has said, after submitting a bid to host the tournament in two years.

When Ireland won their first Triple Crown in 19 years back in 2004, a young English boy joined in the celebrations at their training base.

Ireland’s lateral-thinking coaches will grab any Test-match edge, but Rory Best never expected Les Kiss to dust off a classic 80s board game for an analysis session.

“I am delighted to have signed a new contract with the IRFU and Ulster,” said Bowe, who has won 55 caps.

Andrew Trimble’s Six Nations-winning campaign with Ireland gained further acclaim last night when he was named Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year 2014.

For some, the sight of Jared Payne, Richardt Strauss and Rodney Ah You in an Irish shirt will never sit right, but all three will stand for the anthems tomorrow before Joe Schmidt’s side gets to grips with South Africa at Lansdowne Road.

Defence coach Les Kiss has insisted his four-month Ulster sabbatical will have no impact on his preparations for Ireland’s autumn Test series.

European Cup winner Bryn Cunningham is the new Ulster team manager. The 36-year-old former Ireland A and Dungannon full-back will have a role similar to that of departed Director of Rugby David Humphreys in dealing with players’ contracts plus other incidentals associated with the senior Ulster squad.

Ulster are familiar foes for the patrons at Leicester’s Welford Road.

GUINNESS PRO12:

Neil Doak may have ambitions to become a head coach but that does not necessarily mean he would be comfortable succeeding Mark Anscombe at Ulster in the near future.

Gloucester 45 Munster 8

New Munster head coach Anthony Foley could be forgiven for enduring a few shivers of apprehension after seeing the Gloucester team chosen by his old mate Laurie Fisher for this afternoon’s pre-season friendly at Kingsholm.

Anthony Foley has been waiting for this week ever since his appointment as head Munster coach, and now that the first game of the new season — albeit a friendly against Gloucester at Kingsholm on Saturday — is almost here, the buzz about the man and all those around him was only too apparent at Cork IT yesterday.

Former Ulster Director of Rugby David Humphreys yesterday broke his silence about his move away from Ravenhill to Aviva Premiership side Gloucester.

Ireland’s most-capped hooker, Rory Best, has been handed the captaincy of Ulster for a second time.

If a sense of trauma permeates the Ulster rugby squad following the shock departures in the summer of David Humphreys and coach Mark Anscombe someone has forgotten to tell Tommy Bowe and Darren Cave.

Mike Tindall has announced his retirement from professional rugby.

Ulster head coach Mark Anscombe has been sacked with Ireland assistant Les Kiss stepping in as interim director of rugby at Ravenhill.

Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss has been appointed as Ulster’s interim director of rugby.

It may be the Rugby Champions Cup now, but the inaugural pool draw for the new competition will have elicited reactions that are all too familiar from the days when the tournament was known as the Heineken Cup.

Ireland hooker Rory Best was shocked when told David Humphreys was leaving Ulster to become director of rugby with Gloucester.

Ulster director of rugby David Humphreys’ decision to quit his position and take up a similar role at Gloucester was a surprise to his Irish chief executive.

Ulster's Director of Rugby David Humphreys is leaving the province to take a job at Gloucester, it has been announced.

Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris has been forced to retire after the ankle problem that sidelined him for 16 months struck again.

Ian Humphreys will return to Ulster in the summer having signed a two-year contract with the province.

The last time Cardiff staged the final, there were 12 Irish on the pitch and another 30,000 or so packed into the Millennium Stadium to witness Leinster’s second European conquest.

Ulster have signed prop, Dave Ryan, from Zebre on a two-year contract.

Shane Logan and David Humphreys are overseeing a radical overhaul of Ulster rugby and its future ambitions — the physical manifestation of which is a €40m refit of Ravenhill, writes Rod Nawn.