Niyi Adeolokun's late try put the seal on Connacht's rousing 33-20 Guinness PRO14 win over Scarlets at the Sportsground, with Bundee Aki and 18-point fly-half Jack Carty starring for the winners.

Ulster 35 Ospreys 17: So after a season where more headlines were made off the pitch rather than on it, Ulster, the 1999 Heineken Cup kingpins and forerunners of Ireland’s glorious history in the competition, will still have a place at the top table of European rugby next season.

Munster are closing in on appointing an American football strength and conditioning coach as head of athletic performance, causing surprise and disappointment within Munster and Irish rugby circles that indigenous candidates have been overlooked again.

Maro Itoje and Alun Wyn Jones will shift from friends and former room-mates to rivals when England host Wales on Saturday.

Worcester wing Josh Adams will make his Wales debut in Saturday's NatWest 6 Nations opener against Scotland.

Wales huffed and puffed their way to an unconvincing 13-6 victory over Six Nations wannabes Georgia after being pushed to the limit.

Wales prop Samson Lee scored his first try in more than 100 appearances for Scarlets to edge the reigning Guinness PRO12 champions to victory over arch-rivals Ospreys.

Amid all the hoopla about Peter O’Mahony’s captaincy of the Lions is the salient point that in sport, as in life, timing is everything. 

Ulster 9 Ospreys 7: Ulster’s Director of Rugby Les Kiss praised his side’s resilience and character as they clipped the Ospreys wings at the death of an extremely, absorbing Guinness PRO12 top-of-the-table contest at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening.

A word of warning for Anthony Foley and his crew in advance of today’s Guinness Pro12 semi final at Thomond Park – Ospreys don’t much care about reputation or about location.

GUINNESS PRO12

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.

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.

The new rugby season could hardly have begun in a more contrasting fashion for Anthony Foley and Steve Tandy, the respective head coaches of Munster and Ospreys who renew their rivalry in the Guinness Pro 12 at Thomond Park this evening, kick-off 6.30pm.

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland has sprung one of the great surprises in the tourists’ history by dropping Brian O’Driscoll for Saturday’s series decider against Australia.

Munster head coach Rob Penney will discover whether the blow torch treatment he dispensed to his squad this week had the desired effect this evening.

Robbie Diack has withdrawn from the Ulster team to face the Ospreys today (Liberty Stadium, 6.30pm) after the South African back row aggravated a dead leg suffered in the 18-10 win over Glasgow last weekend.

Wales will head into the first of their three Tests against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday with 11 of the starting XV that clinched Grand Slam glory against France in March.

Wales flanker Dan Lydiate is battling around the clock to recover from injury and put himself back in World Cup contention.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL’S 100th cap ... the last chance for Ireland to avenge the Croke Park defeat two years ago … the contentious remarks fired from time to time by Warren Gatland … these are just some of the ingredients that make for a truly fascinating game of rugby this afternoon.

LOCK Alun-Wyn Jones believes Wales still have plenty of room for improvement despite their 21-18 victory over Australia at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

JAMES HASKELL has received a ringing endorsement from one of England’s leading coaches as he prepares to make his Test match debut.

OSPREYS boss Lyn Jones has predicted “an encounter to remember” when his star-studded Welsh challengers tackle English champions Sale Sharks in a mouth-watering Heineken Cup clash this evening.

Ulster 43 Ospreys 7

OF all the overseas signings that Ulster have made in recent seasons, Wallaby Justin Harrison jumps out as the one to have made the biggest impact.

Ospreys 15 Newport Gwent Dragons 9