Conference A leaders Leinster continued their unbeaten season with a 36-12 bonus-point win over Cheetahs at a rain-lashed RDS.

Holders UCC were denied a second successive Collingwood Cup final appearance, going down 2-1 to Ulster University after a thrilling semi-final at the AUL Complex.

Holders UCC comfortably saw off the spirited challenge of Trinity College despite having to come from behind to advance to the semi-finals of the Irish Universities Collingwood Cup.

The Super Rugby season kicks off tomorrow Down Under. But I’d like to talk about Tim Bateman.

So here we are again, on the cusp of another championship, the first of the decade.

Leinster clinched top-seed status and a home Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final as they made it a record-breaking 16 wins in a row in all competitions this season with an 18-0 victory at Benetton.

Nash has been named to start on the wing as Keith Earls misses out due to a minor knee injury in one of two changes to Johann van Graan's side.

Andy Farrell's first squad was not one named for shock value, though the omissions are as notable as the new additions.

Another runaway success, but some signs of vulnerability too.

Leinster's bid to claim top seeding for the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup was buttressed by an ultimately convincing win over Lyon in Dublin on Sunday afternoon.

The Munster head coach was able to select JJ Hanahan as his starting fly-half to face Racing 92 in Sunday’s crucial Heineken Champions Cup pool clash at La Défense Arena.

New year — same old Leinster?

The Guinness PRO14 rarely fares well when observers from across the Irish Sea compare it to their own Gallagher Premiership.

Will Connors travelled down to Limerick at the weekend with his name on top of Leinster’s dominant tackle chart back at their Dublin training centre and it would not be a surprise to see him remain there following another robust performance for the flanker in this defeat of Munster.

It is one thing to win an interprovincial derby, but Leinster’s Sean Cronin had another reason to be satisfied with his night’s work at Thomond Park after getting bragging rights over his brother.

Carbery has spent the last two months rehabbing an ankle injury.

Leinster are poised to present a batch of fresh and inexperienced faces when they take on Munster this weekend but James Tracy won’t be among the boys in blue experiencing Thomond Park for the first time.

Leinster didn’t even need to send out their first team to do this damage — Cullen made 13 changes to the side that hammered Northampton Saints last week in the Champions Cup

Josh van der Flier says that Joe Schmidt always reminded his Ireland players that they were in the presence of greatness.

Stuart Lancaster says Johnny Sexton is “100% committed” to Leinster, as the head coach dismissed speculation linking the out-half with a move to Lyon.

There's no room for Rob Kearney, Seán Cronin, Jordi Murphy, Jack Carty, John Ryan or Kieran Marmion – with newly eligible Jamison Gibson-Park jumping ahead of the Connacht man at scrum-half.

With the Six Nations kicking off in less than two months, it is the first squad meet-up since the national team returned from Japan.

Jonathan Sexton has been ruled out of Leinster's Heineken Champions Cup meeting with Northampton Saints this weekend but the full extent of his knee injury has yet to be determined.

Leinster should have centre Joe Tomane available for selection once again, as their pool-defining double-header with Northampton Saints approaches in the next fortnight.

The World Cup may be long over, but the ripple effect is set to spill into the upcoming bout of festive PRO14 fixtures with a larger-than-usual

Stuart Lancaster believes the disappointment felt by Ireland’s World Cup contingent can spur the four provinces to memorable heights in Europe, just as it did their English counterparts four years ago.

Kya deLongchamps shows us how to champion our environment

Tadhg Furlong is a doubt for Leinster ahead of the province's Champions Cup clash with Lyon.

If Leinster feel any ill will towards Saracens, then it has been well concealed.

Robbie Henshaw will return to Leinster training this week ahead of Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup opener with Benetton.

Jonathan Sexton let it be known last year that he would not walk gently into the good night as a rugby player.

Rob Herring will return from Ireland duty to captain Ulster in tomorrow's Pro14 clash against Zebre.

Fergus McFadden, who suffered an elbow injury in training, is unlikely to make the European clash with Benetton on November 16

Jack Conan will miss the 2020 Six Nations after surgery on the foot injury that ended his World Cup early.

It's not even the fact that Ireland have failed again to reach a semi-final.

“You either go into the history books or I go home to my wife and kids, and everyone's healthy.”

Herring has won eight caps for Ireland and was part of Joe Schmidt's training squad ahead of the tournament.

And breathe... Nine days will separate yesterday’s highly unsatisfactory defeat of Russia in Kobe and Ireland’s final pool match, against Samoa in Fukuoka, and the sense from the outside looking in is of a squad that should relish the weekend break to come and the chance to switch off from rugby for a bit.

Ireland will take a fully fit squad to Japan for the World Cup.

The Irish team to face Wales this Saturday has been announced.

In another unexpected move, head coach Schmidt preferred Luke McGrath as his back-up scrum-half over Conor Murray’s long-standing number two Kieran Marmion.

Joe Schmidt has called on Ross Byrne to make the most of his opportunity and stake a claim to a place in Ireland’s World Cup squad after handing the fly-half his first Test start against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Ireland team to play England on Saturday has been announced and Ross Byrne is set to win his third cap.

‘Rugby World Cup,’ Jamie, those three words — what comes to mind when you hear them?