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.

Johann van Graan was left to rue Munster’s failure to break down Leinster’s defences as Leo Cullen’s defending champions continued their 100 per cent start to the Guinness PRO14 campaign with a hard-fought victory at Thomond Park.

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.

With Munster holding a slender 6-3 lead on 50 minutes, the mass brawl that led to a Munster penalty handed the visitors a chance to widen their advantage.

Munster have defeated Saracens by 10 points to 3. Here's the match in 60 seconds.

The four Irish provinces have named their teams for this weekend's Champions Cup clashes.

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

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 claimed a second bonus-point victory in a week as their perfect start to the PRO14 season continued in Port Elizabeth against Southern Kings.

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.

Munster lock Jean Kleyn has been handed a Test debut for Ireland and a chance to stake his claim for a World Cup squad berth as Joe Schmidt’s side play the first of four warm-up matches against Italy in Dublin on Saturday.

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.

JJ Hanrahan stepped into the breach for Munster and guided the province to a convincing victory over Castres at Thomond Park as Johann van Graan’s side stretched their lead at the top of Heineken Champions Cup Pool 2 at the halfway stage.

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.

Joey Carbery may not be happy to take the late hits but if it frees up a teammate then he will continue to endure the pain for the Munster cause.

Munster have the best record of the Irish provinces on the opening day of the league and Johann van Graan will be hoping to maintain that when they kick off their PRO14 campaign at home to the Cheetahs today at Thomond Park.

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.

Chris Ashton and Danny Cipriani have failed to make the cut for Eddie Jones' 45-man provisional England squad for the forthcoming Autumn series.

Even at 38, there is simply no stopping Peter Stringer who tonight equals Ronan O’Gara’s record for European appearances.