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).

When 34-year-old Tom Court considers how much time he might have left as a professional rugby player, he looks no further than former Irish international Peter Stringer for inspiration.

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

London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith has pledged to continue recruiting in Ireland and wants to develop a partnership with the IRFU to provide a platform for Irish players in England.

In his former life, working at his father’s engineering company in Ballymena, Ulster front-row forward Andrew Warwick drove two-ton trucks around the country.

Ireland’s most-capped hooker, Rory Best, has been handed the captaincy of Ulster for a second time.

Chris Henry has had to bide his time to get to the front of the Irish back row queue and after a long campaign in an Irish shirt he just doesn’t want the season to end.

On Saturday, Leinster not only bring the curtain down on the domestic rugby season but also on the longest goodbye the game in this country has ever seen when Brian O’Driscoll lines out as a professional rugby player for the last time.

Ruthless Graeme Souness: "My ex-father was a Man City supporter."

There may be bigger battles ahead in the culmination of this RaboDirect Pro12 campaign but Munster will close their regular season at home to Ulster this evening intent on maintaining momentum with the play-offs just a week away.

There was mayhem at Ravenhill last night as 14-man Ulster heroically booked a place in the last four of the RaboDirect League.

Table-toppers Leinster were made to fight tooth and nail for this result which puts them on the verge of securing a home semi-final while Ulster’s losing bonus point brought them a guaranteed place in the play-offs which could actually see the sides clash again.

Plots, sub-plots and challenges abound ahead of Ulster’s clash with Leinster at the newly refurbished Ravenhill tonight with Leinster looking to cement their place at the top, but more crucially Ulster continuing their bid to claim the final semi-final berth.

Ulster are sweating on the fitness of their front-row ahead of Friday’s big Irish derby when the visit of Leinster hails the official opening of the rejuvenated Ravenhill stadium where there will be a capacity of 17,500 in attendance.

Ireland tighthead prop Declan Fitzpatrick has returned to Belfast following a heart scare which forced him off during Ulster’s defeat at Glasgow on Friday.

Tommy Bowe will start at outside-centre for Ulster against Connacht at Ravenhill tomorrow evening, (kick off 19:05).

Rod Nawn rates the Ulster men in a Payne-less game.

Springbok Ruan Pienaar is back and primed to help guide Ulster through their difficult Heineken Cup quarter-final shoot-out with Saracens at Ravenhill tomorrow (6.30pm).

Shane Logan and David Humphreys are overseeing a radical overhaul of Ulster rugby and its future ambitions — the physical manifestation of which is a €40m refit of Ravenhill, writes Rod Nawn.

Tom Court has never earned a piece of silverware in eight seasons with Ulster, but the prop’s experiences as part of Ireland’s 2009 Grand Slam-winning squad tells him that may be about to change.

RABO DIRECT PRO12:

Ulster loosehead prop, Tom Court, will make his 150th appearance for Ulster in tomorrow’ RaboDirect PRO12 match against Cardiff Blues.

Ulster 26 Scarlets 13

RABODIRECT PRO12:

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Mike Ross left the field injured at Twickenham two years ago and England stormed to victory over a seriously pressurised Irish front row.

England and Ireland. Triple Crown at stake. Grand Slam still in the offing.

Leicester 19 Ulster 22

Thoughts of a potential Heineken Cup semi-final with Leinster can wait as far as Munster head coach Rob Penney is concerned, it is a first visit to Thomond Park by four-time champions Toulouse that will exercise his mind as European competition goes into the knockout stages.

HEINEKEN CUP POOL 5:

Ireland wing Craig Gilroy has been given the all clear by the Ulster medical staff and will face Leicester Tigers on Saturday in the Pool 5 Heineken Cup shoot-out at Welford Road.

Munster-bound No.8 Robin Copeland has reaped an instant reward for his decision to return to an Irish province next season by being named in Joe Schmidt’s extended Ireland RBS 6 Nations and Wolfhounds squad.

In the end, it was Ulster who got the bragging rights — just.

Chris Henry and Iain Henderson have recovered from injury to start for Ulster against Munster at Ravenhill tomorrow night (kick off 19:05).

Strange how history repeats itself.

RABODIRECT PRO12:

Ulster Head Coach, Mark Anscombe, has made six personnel changes and one positional switch to the team that beat Edinburgh last weekend for tomorrow afternoon's game against Zebre in Italy.

Ireland internationals, Craig Gilroy and Iain Henderson have recovered from injury and have been named in Mark Anscombe's starting XV for the game against Edinburgh at Ravenhill tomorrow evening.

The lure of a three-year contract offer from London Irish was plenty enough to convince Tom Court it was time to leave Ulster and potentially international rugby with Ireland behind.

Ulster have confirmed that loosehead prop Tom Court will leave the club at the end of this season after agreeing a long-term contract with an unnamed Aviva Premiership side.

Mark Anscombe has made two changes to the team that beat Montpellier last Saturday for tomorrow night's game against Cardiff Blues at Ravenhill (kick off 19:05).

They may have Joe Schmidt’s sympathy, but those players who did not make the cut for his first competitive Ireland squad will no doubt be following Rob Penney’s advice for the omitted Dave Kilcoyne and setting about proving to the national head coach “you’ve left the wrong guy out”.

It was only 18 months ago that Declan Kidney stood in the bowels of Twickenham and bemoaned the alarming dearth of quality tighthead props in Ireland.

Ulster 32 Treviso 13

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