Ireland skipper Rory Best returns to the fray this afternoon hopeful of leading Ulster nearer the Heineken Cup quarter-final stages, something the province hasn’t achieved for five years.

Ireland scrum-half John Cooney is hoping that Ulster’s attention to detail can put Racing 92 to the sword in Saturday’s Heineken Cup shootout at the Kingspan Stadium.

The perseverance of some players is necessary to overcome damaging perceptions of them, writes Ronan O’Gara

The fact that Leinster were made fight much harder than had been anticipated to prevail in a pulsating Champions Cup final that went right down to the last kick off the game will, you feel, stand to their exciting young squad in the years to come.

Every once in a while whenever the notion takes them, the gods decide to even up the score and divert the course of history.

Brendan O'Brien recaps the action as Leinster defeated Racing 92 by 15-12 in Bilbao.

Nacewa was the Leinster hero in his final game for the province.

90 minutes ago he wasn't even due to take a place on the bench for the Champions Cup final. But Racing 92's hopes of a first European Cup now rest in the hands of Remi Tales.

Dan Carter has been ruled out of the Champions Cup final 90 minutes before kick-off.

Donal Lenihan examines the decisive factors today at the San Mamés Stadium

Ollie Campbell (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster and Irish Triple Crown hero, British and Irish Lion in 1983)

He’s the Racing 92 wing who broke Munster hearts in Bordeaux and who has the firepower to do the same to Leinster in Bilbao on Saturday, so just how do you stop Teddy Thomas?

There’s no doubt the absence of Maxime Machenaud has taken a major weapon out of Racing 92’s armoury ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup final showdown with Leinster but assuming the Parisians will have no creative fulcrum without the France scrum-half is reckoning without Pat Lambie.

On a day of farewells at Thomond Park, the last thing Munster need this afternoon when Edinburgh come calling is to kiss goodbye to their season.

In my early weeks in Christchurch I picked up some helpful pointers from the Crusaders’ head coach Scott Robertson, writes Ronan O’Gara.

Leinster have three nominees for the European Player of the Year award.

Former All Black Chris Masoe has praised Donnacha Ryan’s contribution to Racing 92’s charge to the Champions Cup final, crediting the Munster man’s positivity with lifting the squad in his debut season.

Johann van Graan defended his decision not to start Simon Zebo in yesterday’s Champions Cup semi-final against Racing 92.

In the raw aftermath of a second successive European semi-final defeat, there was very little a Munster captain could say to put a positive spin on yet another bitterly disappointing visit to the Champions Cup last four.

The team news ahead of Sunday’s Champions Cup semi-final.

And so the Munster Miracles keep on coming, as if put together on some sort of supernatural assembly line cranked into use only in times of deepest trouble.

It is fascinating from a collisions point of view watching Ma’a Nonu, pictured, and Mathieu Bastareaud. How will Munster check them, asks Ronan O’Gara

Wales secured runners-up spot in this season's NatWest 6 Nations Championship after edging out France at the Principality Stadium.

Hats off to Six Nations Rugby for having the foresight to schedule a down week in the 2018 Championship. It coincides with one of the most severe weather events in a generation. Simon Lewis used the pause to encapsulate the various whys, wows, wherefores, and what-nexts

Greig Laidlaw booted 22 points on his return to Scotland's starting line-up as Gregor Townsend's men kick-started their NatWest 6 Nations campaign with a 32-26 win over France.

For all the unpredictably that comes with a Six Nations trip to Paris, there will be certain lessons learned over the past two championships that should put Ireland in control of their destiny when they face a France side under new management.

France coach Jacques Brunel laid out his vision of the future yesterday in handing a test debut to a teenage fly-half and including just one player over the age of 30.

The psychology of sport is based on preparing better, believing you are better, and being better than the opposition. And at the elite level, possessing a ruthless, clinical instinct to drive home that superiority.

And then there was eight, writes Donal Lenihan. 

Peter O’Mahony has pledged to clean up his act on the disciplinary front and lead by example as Munster bid to reach the Champions Cup quarter-finals at Thomond Park on Sunday.

Racing 92 star Yannick Nyanga admitted his side might not have beaten Munster without the presence of Donnacha Ryan.

Racing 92 star Yannick Nyanga admitted his side might not have beaten Munster without the presence of Donnacha Ryan.

Defeat at the death in the first Champions Cup game at the new indoor U Arena means Munster lead Pool 4 by a single point from Racing going into the final round of matches.

Racing 92 34 - Munster 30

Racing 92 kept alive their European Champions Cup quarter-final hopes by claiming a comfortable Pool Four victory over Castres in Paris.

Munster left Paris last night disappointed at the lost opportunity to secure a place in the last eight but knowing their Champions Cup destiny is still in their own hands.

Munster 14 Racing 7: Heart, guts, belief. Rassie Erasmus neatly summarised the attributes in the Munster squad that he hands over to Johann van Graan over the next month or so and which his successor saw at first hand on an archetypal European night at Thomond Park.

After an absorbing but scoreless first 60 minutes, the game shifted gears as Conor Murray charged down a Maxime Machenaud kick from the back of a Racing scrum

France have called up Stade Français back-row Raphael Lakafia to replace Damien Chouly ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Ireland.

Munster 22 Racing 10: It has been a long and often painful wait, but Munster supporters again have the prospect, not just of a home European quarter-final to savour, but also the personnel with the right mindset to fulfil their potential in the cause of their province.