Further evidence of the influence of West Cork rugby in the Munster team has come with the inclusion of Rosscarbery flanker John Hodnett for his first Guinness Pro 14 start — against South African side Southern Kings — at Musgrave Park this evening, kick-off 7. 35.

With the clock ticking and Munster trailing 13-6, the home side won a crucial penalty inside the Leinster 22 after a sustained period of pressure and kicked for the corner.

Jack O’Donoughe’s first-half try and a perfect kicking performance from JJ Hanrahan gave Munster the honours in this feisty inter-pro, which saw them stretch their lead at the top of the PRO14 Conference B standings.

Keith Earls will make his first Munster appearance of the season in tomorrow's Champions Cup opener against the Ospreys.

Munster were ruthless and clinical as they ended a two-year wait for a win at the Arms Park by putting Cardiff Blues to the sword to leave the Welsh capital with a priceless bonus-point.

The host will be without a sizeable number of internationals including record try-scoring wing Josh Adams along with fellow Welsh stars, Owen Lane and Hallam Amos.

World Cup demands deprive both Munster and Ospreys of the majority of their top players when they meet in the Guinness PRO14 at Musgrave Park tonight.

Johann van Graan’s Munster endured a first defeat of the season as Cheetahs doled out another heavy beating in this battle of the conference leaders in Bloemfontein.

The new PRO14 campaign may be in its infancy but for the Cheetahs their clash with Munster this evening kick-off 5.15pm) has a real end-of-season feel to it in Bloemfontein.

Munster back row Jack O’Donoghue knows there will be a tougher test at altitude next week in Bloemfontein but insists they also have their work cut out to deal with the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth today.

It mightn’t have been a performance to set the pulses racing but Munster still got the new campaign off to a five-try, bonus point start by hammering the hapless Dragons - even without a dozen of their World Cup-tied players on duty in Japan.

Dragons new head coach Dean Ryan has described this afternoon’s Guinness PRO14 visit to Thomond Park as “a massive challenge”. His forwards coach, Ceri Jones, went a stage further in calling it “the acid test”.

Despite all those stars jetting east to the Land of the Rising Sun, the absentee which generated the most debate was the one left at home.

Johann van Graan sends a mix-and-match Munster side into Stadio Monigo tonight with one eye firmly on next weekend’s European semi-final with Saracens.

Munster return to Thomond Park tonight in search of the performance that will get them back to winning ways, but with boss Johann van Graan reminding them they cannot afford to assume Zebre will present them with the opportunity to do so.

Munster go in search of their eighth win in a row this evening when they take on Scarlets at Parcy Scarlets on an occasion to be marked by Rory Scannell’s 100th appearance for the province.

Munster booked their place in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals for an 18th time as they ground out a dogged victory over English league leaders Exeter at a sold-out Thomond Park on Saturday night.

Rival coaches Johann van Graan and Richard Cockerill have adopted contrasting strategies in choosing their teams for tonight’s (7.35pm) Guinness PRO14 encounter at Musgrave Park.

Munster coach Johann van Graan praised stand-in captain Tyler Bleyendaal and his men for carving out a bonus point win at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein yesterday.

Scrum-half issues further up the chain have impacted on Munster A head coach Peter Malone’s selection for the visit of Dragons A to Cork this afternoon for this Celtic Cup third round game (5:30pm).

Munster hit the new ground running last night as they won their opening pre-season game on Musgrave Park’s freshly installed playing surface to defeat Declan Kidney’s London Irish.

Munster’s love affair with the B&I Cup came to an end yesterday when they bowed out to arch-rivals Leinster at the quarter-final stage of a competition that will cease to exist after this season.

Leinster A 17 Munster A 6: Munster A were stripped of their B&I Cup title by Irish rivals Leinster A at Energia Park, Donnybrook today in a tight match that was in doubt for much of the 80 minutes.

Munster 33 Zebre 5: Munster coach Johann van Graan accurately summed up the view of the majority of Saturday night’s sparse Thomond Park attendance when he commented that “this won’t go down as the greatest game in the history of Munster”.

Michael Bradley, the former Ireland scrum-half and now head coach of Italian side Zebre, was last night casting an envious eye at the strength of the squad announced by his Munster counterpart Johann van Graan ahead of tonight’s Guinness PRO14 tie at Thomond Park.

Munster A duly qualified for the quarter-finals of the B&I Cup with a comprehensive victory over Ospreys at Musgrave Park last night and jumped to the top of Pool 1 as they await the outcome of today’s clash between Bedford Blues and Nottingham.

Familiarity won’t be an issue in tonight’s must-win B&I Cup clash for Munster A at Nottingham’s Ladybay (7.45pm).

Munster A have a mountain to climb following this B&I Cup result at Musgrave Park last night when Bedford Blues grabbed a crucial win to go five points clear at the top of pool 1.

Leinster 19 Bath 39: Semesa Rokoduguni, Harry Davies and George Ford helped themselves to second-half tries at Donnybrook last night, as Leinster’s pre-season campaign ended with a 20-point defeat against Bath.

Dependent on team selection higher up, Munster A coach Mick O’Driscoll has rung the changes for tomorrow’s British & Irish Cup game with Yorkshire Carnegie in Lockwood Park, Huddersfield.

Ulster 21 Leinster 24: A little half-time word in the ears of his charges gave new Leinster head coach Leo Cullen a perfect start to his tenure with what was in the end a comfortable warm-up victory over Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium last night.

Ireland 18 Argentina 16: There is something familiar about a kicker from Cork Con having nerves of steel to land a last-gasp winning penalty, but Tomas Quinlan wrote a script all of his own to get Ireland’s World Rugby U20 Championship off to a winning start.

Ireland coach Nigel Carolan has been forced to make a late change ahead of their opening game in the World Rugby U-20 Championship against Argentina in Parma today.

Nigel Carolan may be in charge of the Irish U20s at a world championship for the first time but the Galwayman has been involved with enough underage national sides to know they face a tough test against Argentina today, 3.30pm (live on TG4).