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.

Wales suffered a 30th successive defeat against New Zealand as the world champion All Blacks ended their European tour in winning fashion.

In Pool Five of the European Challenge Cup, Connacht made it two wins from two with an uninspiring 15-8 victory over Worcester, who suffered their ninth away defeat in a row in the competition.

Connacht paid the price for a shocking first-half display as they were beaten 21-8 by the Dragons in Newport.

Australia cruised to a 12th successive victory over woeful Wales as they ran their hosts ragged at the Principality Stadium.

Munster recorded their second Guinness PRO12 victory of the season on Welsh soil after edging out Newport Gwent Dragons 20-16 in a fierce contest at Rodney Parade.

Defeat is painful and Munster have been hurting all week as they prepare to right the wrongs of last weekend’s home stumble to Cardiff Blues in their Guinness Pro12 trip to Newport Gwent Dragons today (5:15pm).

Wales assistant coach Robin McBryde says prop Samson Lee is not someone “distracted by things on the outside”.

Munster 26 Newport Gwent Dragons 5: Two salient points emerged from Saturday night’s Guinness Pro 12 game at Thomond Park.

Munster and the Newport Gwent Dragons both received good news yesterday as they prepare for their Guinness Pro12 clash at Thomond Park tonight.

Newport Gwent Dragons director of rugby Lyn Jones expects to be on the end of a red-hot reaction from Munster.

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To host or not to host, that is the question. After witnessing first hand the buzz and excitement that has been so evident at the four games I have attended over the opening two weekends of World Cup action, I can think of nothing better than the prospect of Ireland hosting the event in eight years’ time, writes Donal Lenihan.

It must rank as one of the sweetest wins of Warren Gatland’s chequered Welsh coaching career but I have a strange feeling that Australia could yet prove the biggest beneficiaries of this result.

The great and the good had been queuing up all week to predict an England win at Twickenham on Saturday night, among them three captains from World Cups long gone, writes Peter Jackson.

From shortly before 8pm tonight the streets from Camden to Carmarthen will be deserted.

Warren Gatland wants rugby to “do the talking” when he sends his Wales team into a World Cup showdown against host nation England tomorrow night.

The phoney war may well be starting in Cardiff on Saturday as Ireland plays the first of its four World Cup warm-up Tests but however much experimentation will be seen when Joe Schmidt today unveils his team to face Wales, the camp are insisting there will be no cheap caps.

Dragons 25 Leinster 22: Leinster’s reign as Guinness Pro12 champions appears all but over after Matt O’Connor’s side surrendered a 22-8 lead at Rodney Parade.

Newport Gwent Dragons 25 Connacht 30: Connacht maintain sixth place in the Pro12 after seeing off 14-man Dragons at Rodney Parade yesterday.

GUINNESS PRO12:

Paddy Butler’s feet remain firmly planted on the ground despite the praise which followed his dramatic last-minute try which snatched a Guinness Pro12 win against Cardiff last month.

Connacht 30 Newport Gwent Dragons 11