When the clock passes midnight on New Year’s Eve, Jamison Gibson-Park will step a little closer to his dream.

Nick McCarthy’s move south from Leinster to Munster for next season has thrown into doubt the futures of current scrum-halves James Hart and Duncan Williams beyond the current campaign.

Jamison Gibson-Park has been biding his time in the shadows at Leinster but the Kiwi scrum-half grabbed the spotlight on Saturday evening with a performance that put a half-dozen returning Irish stars in the shade.

Nick McCarthy says he’ll be ready to rock if he’s selected by Leinster in next month’s Champions Cup final in Bilbao.

Munster expect Keith Earls to resume training this week as the province step up preparations for Sunday’s Champions Cup semi-final v Racing 92 in Bordeaux.

Leinster 41 Zebre 6: Leo Cullen expects to his Leinster side to be a tougher proposition next weekend – despite hammering Zebre 41-6.

A game badly compromised by the absence of almost two dozen Six Nations stars was rescued by another star turn from Leinster’s James Lowe who continued to entertain long after the final whistle on Saturday afternoon.

For the first time in 15 years Leinster have won all six pool games in the European Champions Cup.

Jamison Gibson-Park's 73rd-minute try helped Leinster to seal a victory over Edinburgh in the Guinness PRO14 at the RDS Arena.

Leinster overcame the absence of captain Isa Nacewa and Jamison Gibson-Park to record a convincing 31-10 victory over Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth.

Jamison Gibson-Park had warned that Leinster’s trip to South Africa would make for a tricky assignment.

It took a while in coming, but this was a more than decent start to the new Guinness Pro14 season for Leo Cullen’s Leinster as they emerged deserved winners over the Dragons.

Ulster 17 Leinster 13: Thankfully it wasn’t all about the game itself on a bright summer’s day at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday. At least two stand-out moments came from the two Ulster players who were bidding farewell to a venue they had graced on numerous occasions.

Leinster 70 Zebre 6: Leinster had the game done and dusted by the time the returning Johnny Sexton left the field last night, on 55 minutes.

Munster prop James Cronin has been handed a four-week suspension by a disciplinary committee after being found guilty of stamping on Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park during his side’s Guinness Pro12 defeat to their provincial rivals last weekend.