The result keeps Richard Cockerill’s men at the top of Conference B and on track for a play-off spot.

Niall will lead a team that includes his younger brother Rory and their cousin, Jack O'Sullivan.

Ireland hooker Dave Heffernan delivered a man-of-the-match performance as Connacht ran out 29-0 bonus-point winners over Cardiff Blues at the Sportsground.

Connacht left this season’s Champions Cup with their heads held high after Andy Friend’s side recovered from a 21-point deficit to lead, only to be denied two minutes from time in Montpellier.

Andy Farrell's first squad was not one named for shock value, though the omissions are as notable as the new additions.

Connacht coach Andy Friend says he will field a full strength team in his side’s final Champions Cup game of the season against Montpellier despite already being out of the running to qualify for the latter stages of the competition.

Connacht’s hopes of reaching the Heineken Champions Cup knockout stages for the first time died in Galway after they were outgunned by French champions Toulouse who finished with 13 men.

With a €20m boost in funding for their Sportsground redevelopment project in the bag, Andy Friend’s Connacht need to secure victory against French champions Toulouse to keep their hopes of reaching the Champions Cup quarter-finals alive.

Joey Carbery has been left gutted to face a return to the treatment table so soon after completing his comeback from injury.

Andy Friend has some big names back for their Champions Cup showdown against French champions Toulouse.

First, the good news for Connacht. Yes, there is some.

A grim night for the visitors to the RDS. And it could have been much worse.

Connacht coach Andy Friend said it was for the good of the game that prop Paddy McAllister had his citing for a dangerous tackle on Marcell Coetzee thrown out.

Munster coach said that 20-year old scrum-half Craig Casey has a bright career in front of him after an impressive first start.

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.

Connacht coach Andy Friend said the precision which saw them conjure up a last-gasp winner against Gloucester last week is the standard they aspire to.

Forget all the marketing blurbs and advertising campaigns: is the national side really the Team of Us, or is it still primarily the preserve of those who have come through the fee-paying schools' system. Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh went in search of answers.

Dave Kilcoyne makes his return from a calf injury to start for Munster against Connacht in tomorrow's PRO14 clash.

Skipper Jarrad Butler has had to deal with contrasting emotions in the Connacht changing room at the Sportsground this week as several members of his squad dealt with mixed news from the Irish camp.

Shane Daly knows the damage that his good friend Conor Fitzgerald can inflict on teams — he has never forgiven him for landing a near-impossible penalty to break their hearts in a Munster Schools Senior Cup semi-final.

Connacht coach Andy Friend has told Jack Carty not to panic over his surprise omission from the Irish squad and he’s confident the 27-year old can play his way back on to the international stage.

There's no room for Rob Kearney, Seán Cronin, Jordi Murphy, Jack Carty, John Ryan or Kieran Marmion – with newly eligible Jamison Gibson-Park jumping ahead of the Connacht man at scrum-half.

With the Six Nations kicking off in less than two months, it is the first squad meet-up since the national team returned from Japan.

Connacht’s survival hopes in the Heineken Champions Cup may depend on a superb home record which has seen them lose just one of 14 games at the Sportsground in Europe in the past five years.

Saracens have named an almost totally different side to face Munster at Allianz Park tomorrow, while the Reds make one change from their 10-3 home win.

Conor Fitzgerald says he is eager to repay the faith that Andy Friend has shown in him as Connacht seek a return to winning ways against Gloucester in the Heineken Champions Cup (Saturday, 12.45pm, Sportsgrounds).

Pool 5 looks bleak for Connacht now.

Connacht's Heineken Champions Cup challenge hangs by the thinnest of threads after a convincing four-try defeat to Gloucester at Kingsholm on Sunday afternoon.

Andy Friend’s Connacht can knock down another barrier in Gloucester tomorrow and in the process take a big step towards a new milestone as they continue to grow impressively under the Australian.

Conor Fitzgerald says he hasn’t looked back since resurrecting his career with Connacht after being let go from the Munster academy 18 months ago.

It’s amazing how quickly something can turn for a player and when Conor Fitzgerald was let go from the Munster academy 18 months ago the last thing on his mind would have been lighting up the home of Toulouse with an awesome display in the Heineken Champions Cup.

There are three changes to the team that defeated Ospreys.

At the risk of redefining the delusional practice of clutching at straws, perhaps there is something to be said after all for making an early exit from the World Cup.

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

Connacht have been boosted by confirmation Bundee Aki will be available to face Leinster in their first interprovincial game of the season, as well as their return to Champions Cup rugby the following week.

As an organising body, World Rugby haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory in this tournament to date.

The rain came and it was good. Gone was the suffocating humidity that had tortured every pore inside the enclosed Kobe Misaki Stadium for the first two World Cup games here.

Johnny Sexton will return to the Ireland starting line-up on Thursday as Joe Schmidt’s team bids to reignite their World Cup Pool A campaign against Russia with a much-changed XV.

What goes on tour comes off on tour. That’s the mantra now after yesterday’s visit to a traditional Japanese onsen, or hot spring to you and me, by a troop of the Irish media corp and our Scottish brethren. Yep, over a dozen pasty westerners walking about naked in a giant bathing complex.

What goes on tour comes off on tour. That's the mantra now after yesterday's visit to a traditional Japanese onsen, or hot spring to you and me.

Garry Ringrose believes Ireland’s shock defeat to Japan can act as the catalyst for a successful assault on the knockout stages.

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline

And they say lightning doesn’t strike twice? That’s consecutive World Cups in which Japan has produced the seismic moment of the tournament.

Shock in Shizuoka as Japan claim vital win against Ireland