Munster head coach Rob Penney has kept faith with fly-half Ian Keatley to regain his form and steer the province to victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm tonight (6pm).

Munster skipper Peter O’Mahony has warned Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Gloucester at Kingsholm will be the mother of all battles.

Gloucester 23 Edinburgh 12

European competition appears set to disintegrate further with England’s clubs confident the Welsh regions will join them next season.

John Afoa has rejected more lucrative offers from France and a crack at the Rugby World Cup in 2015 to reunite his family in Gloucester, according to Nigel Davies.

Gloucester coach Nigel Davies has warned Munster they face a perilous visit to the West Country for round five of the Heineken Cup.

ON THE face of it, an outstanding weekend for the Irish in Europe. However, while Ulster in particular, Leinster and Connacht have every reason to reflect with satisfaction on their performances, one feels that despite Munster’s 16 point win over Gloucester, nobody within the camp will be getting too carried away with this latest showing.

Munster head coach Rob Penney was proud of his side overcoming the “psychological stress” of their shock opening defeat to Edinburgh to beat Gloucester 26-10 in the Heineken Cup Pool Six tie at Thomond Park yesterday evening.

Will Gloucester’s rotation policy come back to bite them?

Gloucester director of rugby Nigel Davies looks set to abandon the principle of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and rotate his winning squad for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup showdown with Munster at Thomond Park (6pm).

Three reasons to relish the return

Ronan O’Gara’s role at Racing Metro has increased substantially from the kicking coach position which was announced in May when he made the shock decision to move to Paris.

With a combined total of nine internationals released to them from Six Nations camps this week, both Leinster and Scarlets will be boosted by a plethora of faces keen to make an impression on international coaches at the RDS tonight.

Sean Cronin, David Kearney, Fergus McFadden and Eoin Reddan return to the Leinster starting line-up to face the Scarlets in Friday night’s RaboDirect PRO12 clash in the RDS (7.35pm).

LLANELLI SCARLETS head coach Nigel Davies inferred English referee Dave Pearson bowed to the demands of home fans in yesterday’s Heineken Cup confrontation at Thomond Park.

CHRISTMAS arrived a week early for the Irish provinces in Europe with Leinster, Munster and Ulster all topping their respective pools, while Connacht were within four minutes of recording a first Heineken Cup victory.

Munster may have moved five points clear at the top of Heineken Cup Pool One this afternoon, but head coach Tony McGahan insists his side have plenty to do if they are to be involved in the business end of the competition.

SCARLETS head coach Nigel Davies promised his side would travel to Thomond Park on Sunday with “all guns blazing” in an effort to get their Heineken Cup pool campaign back on track following this defeat to Munster.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS will try to pick up the pieces from their last-gasp Thomond Park defeat last weekend when they face Scarlets tonight at Franklin’s Gardens (8pm) but Jim Mallinder admitted the scars have not yet healed.

WHAT is the most important part of a rugby player’s body? His hands? Quick feet? Upper body strength?

COACH Brian McLaughlin called flanker Chris Henry ‘Mr Consistency’ and it is odds-on the 27-year-old will form part of an industrious back row when Ulster travel to face Northampton in the Heineken Cup quarter-final in Milton Keynes on Sunday.

Scarlets 21 Newport Gwent Dragons 15

Scarlets wing George North will be out for three months after undergoing shoulder surgery.

FROM hunters to the hunted, Munster’s young giant-killers know precisely the mindset Llanelli’s Scarlets will bring to their top of the table Magners League clash at Musgrave Park tomorrow (5.35 pm).

Munster coach Tony McGahan has made two changes to the side that defeated Australia during the week ahead of Sunday’s Magners League clash with the Scarlets at Musgrave Park (kick-off 5.35pm).

SARACENS crashed to a 25-10 defeat at the hands of French champions Clermont-Auvergne in their Heineken Cup opener in Leinster’s pool on Saturday.

AFTER an opening day success at home, Connacht’s away form now gets its first test under Eric Elwood’s stewardship when they face the Scarlets at Parc Y Scarlets today (3pm).

CONNACHT head coach Eric Elwood is expecting the Scarlets to be smarting tomorrow after an opening-day Magners League loss against Benetton Treviso last weekend.

NEW Ireland Under-20 boss Mike Ruddock admits that development of young talent and the creation of a winning culture are his key objectives in the new role.

Ireland and Scarlets flanker Simon Easterby has been forced to retire after failing to recover from a knee injury suffered in December.

Connacht coach Michael Bradley will give Ireland U20s Tiernan O’Halloran and Eoin Griffin a chance to show what they can do in the Magner’s League against The Scarlets in Wales on Sunday.

The Scarlets welcome back Welsh internationals Ken Owens and Jonathan Davies for their Magner’s League clash with Munster at Musgrave Park on Thursday evening.

Wales internationals Ken Owens and Jonathan Davies will start for The Scarlets at home to Ulster in the Magners League at Parc y Scarlets tomorrow evening.

LIFEIMI MAFI relegated to make way for a centre alignment of Jean de Villiers and Keith Earls while David Wallace switches to number eight… those are the major talking points in the Munster team to play the Llanelli Scarlets at Musgrave Park tomorrow.

FINGERS are still firmly crossed that the current cold spell will not prevent Sunday’s Magners League game between Munster and Llanelli Scarlets at Musgrave Park from taking place.

WALES star Stephen Jones gave national coach Warren Gatland an injury worry just four weeks before they play England at Twickenham as the Scarlets claimed a vital Magners League win at Rodney Parade.

SIMON EASTERBY has been ruled out of the remainder of the Scarlets’ Heineken Cup campaign.