For the second week in a row, the quality of rugby on offer across the Heineken Champions Cup pool fixtures has been overshadowed by decisions made by referees and their interpretation of tackling laws, writes Donal Lenihan

Declan Kidney’s London Irish embark on life in the Championship tonight with the former Munster and Ireland boss having assembled a squad he hopes is capable of not just returning to the Premiership but staying there.

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.

The former Ireland and Munster coach has moved into the director of rugby role at London Irish.

Johann van Graan believes new signing Arno Botha will add strength and depth to Munster’s back-row resources when the Springbok arrives this summer on a one-year contract.

Ulster Rugby got the head coach they wanted in Dan McFarland yesterday and the province is now hopeful the former Connacht man will take the reins much sooner than the mid-January date the Scottish Rugby Union are holding him to.

When you had the season Ulster have endured, thoughts of moving quickly on to the 2018-19 campaign would be perfectly understandable, yet Rory Best is not done with 2017/2018 just yet, not while there is a Champions Cup place still grab.

Paddy Jackson’s solicitor yesterday stated the rugby player’s priority in the wake of his acquittal on rape charges was to return to work but the Ireland fly-half will not make an immediate comeback on the field of play.

Declan Kidney could not suppress a laugh at the final question as he was unveiled as London Irish’s new technical director, a few hours after Nick Kennedy’s shock resignation as the Exiles’ director of rugby.

Former Munster and Ireland scrum-half Michael Bradley is being touted as a contender to take charge of Ulster.

Joe Schmidt deservedly received the plaudits for guiding Ireland to a Grand Slam on Saturday. But the New Zealander was quick to credit the efforts of his backroom team in the unforgettable spring campaign. Rory Keane reports.

Two former coaches of Irish rugby, Declan Kidney and Les Kiss, are reportedly set to return to top-flight coaching at Aviva Premiership team London Irish

Bring back Brian McLaughlin, all has been forgiven!

Ulster are set to lose head coach Jono Gibbes at the end of the season, just over a month after director of rugby Les Kiss departed the province by 'mutual consent'.

Catch up on the headlines.

Ulster are making no official comment on speculation in New Zealand and Australia that their newly appointed head man Jono Gibbes is being hunted by Wallaby coach Michael Cheika.

Ulster's director of rugby Les Kiss is leaving his post by "mutual consent, effective immediately".

Some of Robbie Henshaw’s friends are still in college.

Former Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris has hit out at the hardline stance taken by Joe Schmidt and the IRFU which has resulted in both Simon Zebo and Tadhg Beirne being omitted from the coach’s Six Nations squad.

It’s the job of the Ireland U20s coach to push and prod the players of tomorrow further down the development line but Noel McNamara found himself talking about one from the past yesterday.

Christian Lealiifano hopes to end his emotional rollercoaster spell in Belfast with a victory over Wasps that will send Ulster into the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

While Ulster’s players and management insist that the focus is entirely on Saturday’s lunchtime clash with Pool 1 leaders La Rochelle, it’s become clearer who will be replacing Christian Leali’ifano when the Wallaby’s short-term contract ends this month.

Ulster head coach Jono Gibbes says his players are eager to take on Pool One leaders La Rochelle in the Champions Cup at Kingspan on Saturday, spurred on by the prospect of reaching the quarter-final stages for the first time since 2014.

Ireland and Lions winger Tommy Bowe faces up to eight weeks out of the game after suffering a shoulder injury when he came on as a replacement in Ulster’s thumping 38-7 defeat by Leinster at the RDS on Saturday evening.

Amid the carnage of heavy defeat at the RDS on Saturday evening, Les Kiss was at least able to offer some good news.

In the wake of Ulster’s spectacular comeback win over Munster on New Year’s Day the focus has switched quickly to Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 date with Leinster at the RDS.

Whatever the demands in Munster for a return to winning ways after a chastening home defeat to Leinster, it is up in Ulster where the need for atonement is felt much deeper ahead of this evening’s sold-out PRO14 derby clash in Belfast, writes Simon Lewis

“You always feel pressure, and that noise has been out there for a while, but there’s a weird nature in us beasts in that you almost revel in criticism and stand up and fight against it.”

Ulster Director of Rugby Les Kiss could hardly have been more candid in describing his team’s performance when he responded to a post-match query in Galway on Saturday night after his side capitulated to Connacht in the Guinness PRO14.

It’s a fixture which Connacht have only won four times in 29 meetings but coach Kieran Keane is hoping that Tiernan O’Halloran’s decision to remain at the Sportsground will be the start of a great festive period.

Ulster fans arriving very early for last weekend’s Champions Cup clash with Harlequins might have chanced upon what would be good news for the side and its coaches.

Connacht 55 Brive 10: Connacht coach Kieran Keane is relishing facing into three consecutive inter-pro derbies with a squad high on confidence after their latest European masterclass.

Fledgling international star Jacob Stockdale will be back in Ulster’s colours when the next stage of the Champions Cup gets underway for Les Kiss’s side on Sunday when they face in-form Harlequins at The Stoop.

Veteran wing Tommy Bowe will be the centre of attention as Ulster seek to consolidate their Guinness PRO14 position when they travel to the compact and atmospheric Rodney Parade to face Bernard Jackman’s Dragons this evening.

Two years? It feels like a lifetime.

Lions star Iain Henderson will lead Ulster for the first time when a so far stingless Wasps side fly into Belfast for the opening Champions Cup Pool 1 clash at the Kingspan Stadium this evening.

A stunning second-half try by in-form winger Jacob Stockdale saw Ulster win a closely fought Guinness PRO14 Irish derby with Connacht.

It’s not for nothing that Rory Best is captain of Ulster and Ireland and the studied diplomacy so often required in such roles was evident even when he administered a light slap on the wrists yesterday for Sean O’Brien.