Zebre 7 Connacht 52: Two rounds played in the Champions Cup and only three teams in Europe have chalked up two wins. No surprise that Saracens and Clermont Auvergne have begun in such stellar fashion, but Pat Lam’s men are beginning to show that their historic PRO12 win might not be a one-hit wonder.

Zebre 10 Connacht 40: It has been a season like no others. With a new record of 10 wins and currently leaders in the disciplinary stakes, Connacht will still be fighting on the last day of the Guinness Pro12 season for Champions Cup rugby.

Stuart Lancaster has urged Twickenham to will England to victory tomorrow evening as he prepares to order his RBS 6 Nations title hopefuls to carry the game to France.

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

Italy will have four new faces in their squad when they face Ireland in their RBS 6 Nations Championship opener in Rome next month.

Zebre 7 Munster 31: Munster got the result and — for 40 minutes at least — the performance they wanted in Italy which sends them into next Saturday’s vital Champions Cup clash with Saracens.

Anthony Foley has warned Keith Earls will have a battle to reclaim his place in the Munster side after naming the Ireland international in the replacements for the Pro12 clash against bottom-of-the-table Zebre today.

RABO DIRECT PRO12:

Zebre 21 Munster 41

Connacht 25 Zebre 16

Pat Lam has a hard act to follow when his Connacht team take to the field in today’s Rabodirect Pro 12 opener against Italian visitors Zebre (5pm).

RABODIRECT PRO12

Zebre 22 Leinster 41

RABODIRECT PRO12

Italy 9 Wales 26

Courtney Lawes is ready to strike fear into the French ‘bully boys’ when he is unleashed from the England back row for the first time.

Italy 23 France 18

Connacht 25 Zebre 20

Failure to manage a bonus point in last weekend’s loss to Harlequins has made it mathematically impossible to catch pool runners-up Biarritz, but pride and a third Heineken Cup win are at stake for Connacht this evening.

Zebre 10 Connacht 19

Undeserving may be, but Connacht’s late steal at the death against Aironi on Saturday provided the Irish province with their first three-in-a-row of victories since 2002.

Connacht are determined to finish their home RaboDirect Pro 12 season on a high when they host Aironi at the Sportsground this evening. Having picked up 15 points in their last six matches, Connacht can post a third successive win and leapfrog Dragons and Treviso.

The inclusion of prop Denis Buckley, who joins the front-row in place of the injured Brett Wilkinson, is the only change Eric Elwood has made for his side’s PRO12 meeting with Aironi in the Sportsground tomorrow (5pm).

Ulster will have an anxious wait before knowing whether explosive flanker Stephen Ferris will be available for next Sunday’s European shoot-out with Munster at Thomond Park.

Andy Robinson started a period of introspection over his future as after Scotland collected the Six Nations wooden spoon.

Italy coach Jaques Brunel has made six changes to the squad that lost against Wales in Cardiff last weekend for their final RBS Six Nations game against Scotland in Rome on Saturday.

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has made four changes to face Ireland in Saturday’s RBS Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium.

The 20-year-old landed four penalties and a tough conversion, following Charlie Hodgson’s second charge-down try in as many weeks, as England rallied from 15-6 down to claim their second win of the championship.

The temperatures in Rome may have plummeted but England captain Chris Robshaw has warned Italy his men will be prepared to fight fire with fire in today’s RBS 6 Nations clash.

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has made two changes to the side that lost the RBS 6 Nations opener against France for the game against England in Rome on Saturday.

Vive la France.

There might well be a new broom brushing away the cobwebs of the Marc Lièvremont era but looking at Philippe Saint-André’s first XV as France coach, it’s not immediately clear if all that much has changed.

ULSTER’S victory in the Milanese suburb was not as convincing as the score suggests, but the only thing that mattered for the visitors was the attainment of a winning bonus point, according to Pedrie Wannenburg.

RONAN O’GARA does not get that many opportunities these days to display his skills at Musgrave Park, but he treated the crowd of almost 7,000 last night to a superb display of kicking in appalling conditions.

TONY McGAHAN has defended his decision to bring several big names straight back into Munster’s starting team this weekend.

SOUTH AFRICAN import Steven Sykes makes his Leinster debut in tonight’s RaboDirect Pro12 clash with Aironi at the RDS (6pm).

ULSTER got their Heineken Cup campaign off to the perfect start with a five-pointer against Aironi at Ravenhill last night.

IRELAND could hardly have asked for a better start to their U20 Six Nations campaign as they brushed Italy aside with ease at Dubarry Park in Athlone last night.

IRELAND will get one last shot at redemption when they take on Italy in the final outing of the U18 Six Nations Festival at Cork Institute of Technology today (2.30pm).