Ulster 52 Dragons 25: Ballymena’s Nick Timoney marked his first Ulster start with a double helping as the home side charged virtually unopposed to the top of Conference B following a comprehensive eight-try drubbing of a dreadful Dragons outfit at the Kingspan Stadium last night.

Ireland’s summer debutant John Cooney will start his third successive game when Ulster tackle a star-studded Scarlets outfit on an emotional night at Ravenhilll (kick-off, 7.35pm).

Ulster 42 Cheetahs 19: Bloemfontein-based Toyota Cheetahs motored majestically onto Pro14 scene and immediately lit up the Kingspan Stadium.

Ireland centre Luke Marshall is determined to right recent wrongs this evening when a struggling Ulster side travel to Llanelli to face the Guinness PRO12’s in-form side unbeaten in eight games at Parc y Scarlets (7.35pm).

Pat Lam will bid to get rid of one of Connacht’s remaining hoodoos when he hopes to lead them to a first win in Belfast since 1960 this evening.

Ulster 39 Clermont 32: Ulster has enjoyed some spectacular victories in Europe but, surely, none can have matched this lunchtime encounter for excitement, unpredictability and high-class rugby.

Iain Henderson and Chris Henry return to the Ulster side for this evening’s Guinness Pro 12 game at Cardiff Blues, a match both teams regard as critical to relaunching their seasons.

Winger Rob Lyttle has been rewarded for his try-scoring exploits when he earns a start for Ulster against Edinburgh at Murrayfield this evening.

The loss of Charles Piutau through injury has been softened by Tommy Bowe’s return to the Ulster side for the first time this season for tonight’s derby with Connacht at the Sportsground.

Zebre 17 Ulster 47: Ireland wing, Tommy Bowe, made a try-scoring return, as Ulster boosted their hopes of a Guinness PRO12 play-off place, with a 47-17 victory over Zebre.

Tommy Bowe gets his first start of the season for Ulster when they travel to Zebre in the chase for a bonus-point win in the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi this afternoon.

Munster A 31 Ulster A 38

Ireland 24 France 9: Let us delay talk of Argentina and quarter-finals for a moment, this victory over the French needs to be savoured.

Cian Healy will have to come cold to the World Cup later this month after the Leinster loosehead was omitted from the Ireland team to face England in the last of the four warm-up games, in Twickenham on Saturday.

Ireland international wingers Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble start for Ulster in the pre-season game against Edinburgh at Goldenacre tonight (6:30).

And so it begins.

Guinness Pro12

An enormous game for both teams. So said Tommy Bowe earlier this week of tonight’s Guinness PRO12 meeting in Belfast between Ulster and Leinster.

Connacht 20 Ulster 27: Ulster’s title hopes and Connacht’s less ambitious but equally important Champions Cup qualification dreams both remain on target after a seven-try Pro 12 thriller at the Galway Sportsground.

A Pro 12 title and a top six qualification are on the line in today’s meeting of Ulster and Connacht in the Galway Sportsground (2.40pm).

Wales 23 Ireland 16: Ireland’s Grand Slam ambitions have been ended and their hopes of retaining the Six Nations title severely dented by a seven-point defeat to Wales at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Joe Schmidt has warned his players not to get distracted by all the hullaballoo surrounding Ireland as they take their ongoing bid for an RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam to Cardiff tomorrow.

Joe Schmidt has named Jordi Murphy in Ireland's Six Nations side to face England at the Aviva on Sunday.

As expected, Joe Schmidt has reinstated Jonathan Sexton as Ireland's out-half for their Six Nations clash with France at the Aviva on Saturday.

Joe Schmidt has declared his confidence in Munster out-half Ian Keatley, who will wear the number ten jersey for Ireland against Italy on Saturday.

Joe Schmidt finally had some good news to share as he named a trimmed-down Ireland squad for the first two rounds of the RBS 6 Nations, with first-choice scrum-half Conor Murray expected to be fit to face Italy in Rome on Saturday.

Ulster 26 Leicester 7: European Champions Cup Pool 3: Darren Cave helped clip the Tigers’ claws in an attritional Champions Cup clash at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday when Ulster had their bonus point on the board by the 50th minute before a brickwall defence proved almost impenetrable.

Jack Coonan, the highly-promising Leinster back-row forward and Connacht prop Nathan White, are the only uncapped players in the extended 46-strong Ireland squad announced yesterday by head coach Joe Schmidt. 

Treviso 20 Ulster 24: This was one of the most astonishing games in the league for a long time.

Ireland’s Jared Payne returns to a strong Ulster’s match-day squad for tomorrow’s difficult Pro12 trip to Treviso.

Although matches against Ulster in recent seasons evoke positive memories for Leinster, defeat this weekend could deepen the sense of crisis ahead of a significant month that will also decide the province’s fate in the Champions Cup.

Ulster have made four personnel changes and Leinster five for the PRO12 meeting between the two sides in the RDS tomorrow afternoon.

If there is one person Ulster have missed more than any other during an injury-plagued 2014, it has been their cultured scrum-half Ruan Pienaar.

Neil Doak has made two changes to the side that were narrowly defeated by Scarlets in the Champions Cup last weekend.

Scarlets 22 Ulster 13

Luke Marshall returns to the Ulster starting 15 for the first time since his knee injury in October as one of the three changes to the side for their Champions Cup match against Scarlets on Sunday.

Ulster 13 Toulon 23

Ulster’s big Springbok lock Franco van der Merwe knows the score. With second-row partners dropping like flies, he knows he will have to step up to the plate in what will be his first taste of European rugby when Neil Doak’s men head to Welford Road to face the Leicester Tigers.

Ulster 29 Glasgow Warriors 9