Munster coach Johann van Graan believes that his squad’s recent contract extensions mean that Munster’s hand will be stronger than ever going into tomorrow’s extremely testing clash with the Scarlets in Llanelli and for the remainder of what promises to be an demanding programme of matches in the PRO14 and the European Champions Cup.

Fly-half Billy Burns has come through HIA protocols and will take his place alongside 11 internationals for Ulster’s Pool 4 trip to Scarlets this evening.

Over the course of eight years and more than a century of appearances for his home province, Simon Zebo quickly realised European rugby was “everything” at Munster.

Tadhg Beirne hopes back-to-back titles with the Scarlets can help him cement his place in the Ireland squad to tour Australia this summer.

Gareth Davies insists the Scarlets are relishing the tag of underdogs ahead of today’s Champions Cup semi-final with Leinster.

Irrespective of how pronounced the home advantage may appear in tomorrow’s semi-final, Leinster know the Scarlets have a habit of turning conventional wisdom to dust, writes Peter Jackson

RHYS Patchell will form part of a confident Scarlets squad travelling to Dublin this weekend determined to reach the Champions Cup final, but not only for themselves.

Toulon coach Fabien Galthie is hopeful that French captain Guilhem Guirado will be fit for Saturday’s Champions Cup showdown against Munster at Thomond Park.

The chances of Sean O’Brien featuring in the run-in to Ireland’s Six Nations campaign are veering towards slim.

Wales hooker Ken Owens has described Ireland captain Rory Best as "a great player" ahead of Saturday's NatWest 6 Nations clash in Dublin.

Peter Jackson discusses ’What’s Hot and What’s Not’ in this weekend’s review. 

On November 1, 1995, Richard Wallace touched down at Thomond Park to score Munster's first points in European Cup competition. This Saturday at the much-changed stadium, barring a complete disaster from Johann van Graan's new charges, someone from the province will pop up and grab the 4,000th. We recall some of the landmarks in between.

The defending Guinness PRO14 champions were again impressive in attack, but their defence left something to be desired.

Connacht coach Kieran Keane knows his men have an uphill battle if they are to oust champions Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets tonight.

The final round of Pro 12 games brought plenty of drama today.

Scarlets sauntered into the Guinness PRO12 play-offs with a 30-8 bonus point victory over error-strewn Connacht at the Sportsground.

Fifty years ago sons of Glasgow marched on Lisbon, as Celtic became the first British team to win football’s European Cup. Now the city’s rugby Warriors are striving for their own European conquest — at the home of seemingly invincible Saracens.

They sat side by side on the same subs bench on a summer’s evening long ago, father and son far from the madding crowd in the English countryside.

Ireland and Lions winger Tommy Bowe will return to the Ulster squad this Saturday when Bordeaux-Begles fly into town for what is a Champions Cup dead rubber. Bowe, who was omitted from last week’s disappointing defeat in Exeter, watched Ulster’s feeble attempt to qualify out of Pool 5 as one of the best runners-up.

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).

A lot has happened on and off the field since Connacht’s match against Zebre in Parma was called off at half-time last month when a storm struck.

Connacht captain John Muldoon said that the province must take the abandonment of their Guinness PRO12 clash with Zebre in their stride and concentrate on the next match, a trip to Llanelli next weekend where they bid to secure their first win of the campaign.

Against all the odds, the Rassie Erasmus era began with a morale-boosting 23-13 victory for Munster over a much-fancied Scarlets side in West Wales.

Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus still has more questions than answers surrounding the make-up and fitness of his squad as he attempts to prepare his players for Saturday’s Guinness Pro12 opener at Scarlets.

Families of some of the 179 Britons killed during the Iraq war have been reacting after the long-awaited report into the conflict was published on Wednesday.

A man has died after being shot with a Taser by police in Wales.

As big as this fixture has been in the professional era, there was a time when the twice annual dust-up between Leinster and Munster was more than the sum of its parts, a prelude to a greater objective.

Connacht boosted their Guinness PRO12 play-off hopes with a 30-17 bonus-point win over the table-topping Scarlets at the Sportsground.

Change is the order of the day for Leinster head coach Leo Cullen, who has chosen a completely new starting line-up for his side’s latest Guinness Pro12 encounter against Scarlets at the RDS this evening.

Regan King is used to leaving defenders not knowing where to look, but Leinster could tonight be forgiven for thinking they were suffering double vision.