Leinster strung together four second-half tries as they handed Edinburgh a 40-14 defeat at the RDS Main Arena that ended the Scots’ winning start to the Guinness PRO14 season.

Leinster maintained their 100% start to the Guinness PRO14 season in a game of two halves at a blustery RDS.

Leo Cullen has braced his players for an altogether more challenging Friday night at the RDS tonight (kick-off 7.35pm), a week on from their eight-try hammering of Ospreys.

Steffan Thomas rates the players of both sides of the Heinken Champions Cup final.

Leinster boss Leo Cullen named an unchanged starting line-up from the semi-final win over Toulouse for Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final showdown with Saracens but insisted it was a far from straightforward selection process.

A fifth win for Leinster tomorrow will make them the most successful side in the history of the competition.

The promotional posters for this game pitted Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale against Jamison Gibson-Park and Adam Byrne.

Both Leinster and Ulster have named their teams ahead of their clash tomorrow at the Kingspan stadium.

An injury to Jamison Gibson-Park has handed James Lowe the opportunity to start on the wing for Leinster against Toulouse on Sunday.

Sean O'Brien starts at openside flanker and will captain the side.

Leo Cullen has named his team for Leinster's PRO14 clash with Benetton at the RDS Arena tomorrow night.

If the Cheetahs thought they might get an easy run out against Leinster during the Six Nations, the South Africans were sadly mistaken.

Ultan Dillane, Caolin Blade, Jack Carty and Tom Farrell will line-out for Connacht after their Ireland call-ups.

Twelve Ireland internationals are among the 21 Leinster players who have signed new contracts for next season.

O'Brien has been out for three months after surgery on a hip injury.

Leinster Head Coach Leo Cullen has handed a first start to Josh Murphy in tonight’s Guinness PRO14 clash with the Dragons at the RDS Arena (7.35pm).

Ireland’s half-back hopefuls, Joey Carbery and Kieran Marmion, have been told to forget Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray and to play to their strengths.

Meanwhile, Leinster have made nine changes for their trip to Glasgow.

Leo Cullen could have landed on any number of superlatives to describe Jonathan Sexton as he stood in departures at Dublin Airport yesterday deliberating on the out-half’s return for this Champions Cup engagement in Glasgow.

Isa Nacewa has overcome his recent injury concern to captain Leinster for the visit of Cardiff to the RDS.

Leo Cullen has made eight changes for Leinster's Pro12 clash with Edinburgh tomorrow evening in the RDS.

“The quarter-final is set for the first weekend in April, with the semi-final three weeks later.” It’s been a while since I came across such bullish confidence from a bunch of Munster supporters, but that was the thrust of the conversation I overheard between a few diehards last Friday morning at Shannon Airport in advance of boarding the plane for Munster’s pool- defining trip to Glasgow.

Leo Cullen has packed all his heavy artillery as Leinster fly to the south of France for their toughest game of the season.

Former Munster lock, Ian Nagle will look to deliver on some of his untapped potential in the unfamiliar surroundings of the RDS next season, having committed himself to Leinster.

With most of the province’s established stars in the Ireland camp preparing for the Six Nations, a number of younger players are being given a chance to shine in tomorrow’s PRO12 game.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has made five changes to his starting line-up as he aims to guide his new charges to a third consecutive Guinness Pro12 triumph against the Scarlets this evening (7.35pm kick-off).

Despite being short 17 players following World Cup squad announcements, Leo Cullen is able to call on plenty of experience for his opening Guinness Pro12 encounter as head coach of Leinster against Edinburgh in Meggetland tonight (7.35pm).

Joe Schmidt has capped a remarkable rise to prominence for rookie prop Tadhg Furlong by asking him to prepare to play on both sides of the front row.

Joe Schmidt has never been one to shirk the difficult decisions. If anything, he has a reputation for being direct and letting players know exactly where they stand and what is expected of them.

Joe Schmidt’s hopes of a grand unveiling of his World Cup squad today were scuppered after his 31-man panel apparently leaked across the media last night.

Ireland’s defeat to Wales may have thrown up more questions than answers but Joe Schmidt nevertheless had no choice but to make some decisions as he pushed the final pieces into position for his World Cup squad yesterday.

Assistant coach Brian Walsh will be looking for new signing Francis Saili to bring an extra dimension to Munster’s play in tonight’s final pre-season friendly against London Irish at Musgrave Park (7pm).

Joe Schmidt has said his Ireland side were "tested on a number of levels" today against Scotland.

There has been no cosy chat to compare likely team selections this time, but the respective sides named by Joe Schmidt and Vern Cotter for tomorrow’s World Cup warm-up between Ireland and Scotland in Dublin nonetheless made clear the fact the experimentation phase is far from over.

Ireland’s teamsheet in Cardiff last Saturday held within it no shortage of heart-warming subplots.