JONATHAN SEXTON and Shane Jennings are hoping for a dramatic improvement in weather conditions to allow tomorrow night’s Magners League clash against Glasgow Warriors at the RDS (8pm) to go ahead.

LEO CULLEN is back to provide a captain’s guiding hand for Leinster in Saturday’s Magners League Halloween clash with Cardiff Blues at the RDS.

MUNSTER back-row forward Nick Williams faces at least six weeks out following knee surgery, but the Magners League champions will still have something to smile about for then new season.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika is a straight-talking Aussie who would evidently lose it if he suspected even a scintilla of complacency in the camp ahead of Saturday’s final of the Heineken Cup at Murrayfield.

THERE are reasons to believe that Castres might offer limited opposition in Friday’s return Heineken Cup clash at Stade Pierre-Antoine, but don’t say that within earshot of Leinster coach Michael Cheika.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has a guilt complex about playing Shane Jennings at number six rather than open side flanker following the latter’s exclusion from Ireland’s Six Nations squad.

THE Leinster sports psychologists and chaplins will be kept busy this week.

SHANE HORGAN is poised to equal Reggie Corrigan’s Leinster Heineken Cup record of 61 caps against Toulouse on Sunday.

ARGENTINA’S World Cup star Felipe Contepomi is ready to launch another team towards tournament glory this weekend.

IT DIDN’T say much for the quality of the game that Christian Warner, Leinster’s goal kicker, won the man of the match award at the RDS in Dublin last night.

KEITH GLEESON is named in the Leinster team to meet Connacht at the RDS tonight (7.30pm).

SHANE HORGAN will make history when he becomes the first player from a junior club, Boyne, to captain Leinster for tonight’s Magners League clash with Glasgow at Firhill.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika welcomes back skipper Brian O’Driscoll and Malcolm O’Kelly into the extended panel for the first time this season after their return from the Rugby World Cup ahead of the clash with Glasgow Warriors in Friday night’s Magners League clash at Firhill.

STEPHEN KEOGH is battling to be fit for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against London Wasps in Adams Park (5.45pm, Sky Sports).

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika expressed relief after Saturday’s Magners League derby victory and acknowledged his side must improve drastically if they are to overcome Wasps in the Heineken Cup next weekend.

“YOU don’t beat Munster twice in the same season,” has long been a mantra of the European champions and it’s one that will be put to a severe test at Thomond Park this afternoon (3pm, Setanta Sports) when Leinster make their first visit in nine years to the famous Limerick venue for an eagerly-awaited Magners League tie.

THE big boys are back for Leinster and Munster — most of them at least.

CO SLIGO comfortably disposed of Limerick by seven holes in a one-sided Bulmers Barton Shield final at Enniscrone yesterday.

AS Leinster prepare for the Battle of Ireland on Saturday, Brian O’Driscoll has suspended cordial relations with his Triple Crown winning Munster colleagues.

Leinster 30 Scarlets 22

IT’S a big occasion for Leinster’s player of the season, Felipe Contepomi, in tonight’s Celtic League clash with Llanelli Scarlets at Lansdowne Road (7.10pm).

England 24 Ireland 28

Ireland 26 Italy 16

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has all but given up on Will Green for Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash against Glasgow (RDS, 5.15pm. RTÉ Two).

Leinster 35 Munster 23

MUNSTER’S preparations for tomorrow’s (1pm) Celtic League clash with Leinster at the RDS in Dublin have been disrupted by the death of coach Declan Kidney’s mother, Eileen, but they have still announced a 25-strong squad from which the starting side and seven replacements will be finalised today.

Leinster 19 Bath 22

Leinster 17 Munster 23

INTERNATIONAL trio Malcolm O’Kelly, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie will be sprung from the bench if things go wrong for Leinster against Glasgow in the Celtic Cup quarter-final at Lansdowne Road tonight (7.30).

AS always, Declan Kidney had a phrase to deal with a given situation.

DECLAN KIDNEY returns to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs when he brings his exciting Leinster side to Musgrave Park for Saturday’s crucial Celtic League tie against Munster (5.30).

IRELAND coach Eddie O’Sullivan hopes Saturday’s victory over South Africa has silenced criticism of the controversial training regime imposed on his Test stars.

GLOUCESTER hooker Chris Fortey will miss Saturday’s Heineken Cup Pool Five game against Munster at Kingsholm.

ARGENTINEAN international Felipe Contepomi will make his debut for Leinster in their Celtic League tie against Neath/Swansea at the Gnoll on Saturday (5.30pm).

ERIC MILLER is back to challenge for a place on the Irish team, but more importantly Leinster coach Matt Williams is delighted to have him available for the province in Montferrand tomorrow.

Leinster 29

ANTHONY FOLEY expressed delight yesterday with the announcement that he was to lead Ireland for the third time in his 35-match Test career.

THERE were plenty who believed making a weekend round trip to eastern Siberia was a pain in the neck, but Ireland skipper Keith Wood took the sentiment literally.

KEITH Wood is ready to put a traumatic week behind him when he leads Ireland into the unknown on Saturday, when they travel to Siberia to face Russia in a World Cup qualifier.

MALCOLM O’KELLY may have to share a rugby ball with Shane Horgan when they run out to face Connacht in the Celtic League at Donnybrook tomorrow evening (7.35pm).

Ireland 39,Romania 8