Leo Cullen couldn’t help but cast his mind back to this week two years ago.

Munster are hoping for another new contract boost with the retention of Ireland back-three star Andrew Conway to follow extended deals announced last night for forwards Billy Holland, Stephen Archer, and Kevin O’Byrne.

Paul O’Connell will be back in a green tracksuit today as he begins the next step on his journey into coaching.

Munster’s visit to Welford Road was always going to prove the most challenging of the reverse fixtures against a clearly hurting trio of Aviva Premiership clubs after their Champions Cup whitewash by the Irish provinces last weekend, writes Donal Lenihan.

Leicester Tigers 16 Munster 25: Munster planted one boot firmly in the Champions Cup quarter-finals as they grabbed an invaluable away win at Welford Road last night and gave new boss Johann van Graan a benchmark performance for the rest of the season.

As he reflects on last week’s defeat to Munster at Thomond Park, Jonny May puffs out his cheeks and sighs.

For all the good news coming out of Munster in the past couple of days, the appearance of centres Matt Toomua and Manu Tuilagi on the Leicester Tigers teamsheet yesterday lunchtime will have offered a sobering counterpoint ahead of tomorrow’s Champions Cup re-match at Welford Road.

Leinster are the team to beat, the No. 1 in Europe’s power rankings. And Munster are No. 2, writes Ronan O’Gara.

Johann van Graan has called on his Munster side to reduce the penalty count when they go into the Tigers’ den at Welford Road on Sunday.

The understandably grumpy figure cut by Leicester captain Tom Youngs at Thomond Park on Saturday night was neatly representative of the English mood in general after a terrible weekend of Champions Cup results for Premiership clubs.

Johann van Graan’s assertion that Munster only have half the job done against Leicester has been brought into sharp focus by the likely return to the Tigers midfield next Sunday of Manu Tuilagi and Matt Toomua.

The big guns are back for Munster’s Champions Cup showdown with Leicester Tigers at Thomond Park tonight (7.45pm) and what a noise there has been around them these past few days.

Withover 70 Test appearances for England under his belt and a further 200 racked up in a Leicester Tigers shirt, Ben Youngs has experienced a range of atmospheres during his career.

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Leicester Tigers head coach Matt O’Connor has told Johann van Graan he “doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel” now he has been given the reins at Munster.

Peter O’Mahony has urged Munster supporters to forget last year’s 38-0 European drubbing of Leicester at Thomond Park and brace for impact when the Tigers return to Limerick on Saturday.

A decision to extend the English rugby season has been met by a wave of disapproval, writes Simon Collings.

Manu Tuilagi believes he has been exorcised of an injury curse caused by three evil ghouls after visiting a witch doctor in Samoa.

Billy Holland knows Munster will need to take heed of the French lessons learned in Castres two days ago as they look ahead to another, tougher, Gallic test on Saturday.

Sean Cronin opted for a handful of Connacht’s memorable Challenge Cup wins when asked this week for the highlights of his three-year spell in Galway, but it was hard to avoid the feeling that loyalty diverted him from more localised highs.

We’re just over 10 years removed from Ronan O’Gara’s famous swipe at the English Premiership, but the debate on the relative merits of that league and the PRO12 will zoom back into focus on Saturday when the respective league leaders clash in a Champions Cup quarter-final in Dublin.

At the last official count two years ago, England had 2,057,797 rugby players, almost 50 percent more than the rest of Europe combined.

It’s three years since Northampton and Leinster last crossed paths twice in the space of a week and both clubs will be drawing on lessons learned the hard way as they approach the first of their latest engagements, at Franklin’s Gardens.

A Fathers4Justice campaign calling for the recognition and protection of the rights of the father in relation to the unborn child is now likely to go ahead in Cork, it emerged tonight. 

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Brian O’Driscoll has labelled Leinster’s decision to part company with Matt O’Connor last summer as “rash” as the province turns to World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry to support an inexperienced management setup.

One man’s misfortune is another’s stroke of luck, but Paddy Jackson is going to have to take full advantage of Johnny Sexton’s injury in the most demanding of rugby environments.

It’s hard to escape the sense that the time must be now for Ulster.

Former Ireland and Lions manager Donal Lenihan believes home-grown coaches like Anthony Foley and Leo Cullen should be exposed to international best practice early in their coaching careers.

Leinster 16 Toulon 20: The economy is on the up again and a sparkling Aviva Stadium was nine-tenths full, but this had the feel of distant greyer days when the country’s economy was in the toilet and Lansdowne Road was still very much a celebration of concrete.

Leo Cullen has backed Jonathan Sexton and the rest of his Leinster team to turn the corner after three European defeats that leave them all but out of the Champions Cup reckoning ahead of Toulon’s visit to the Aviva Stadium tomorrow.