After a couple of Champions Cup weekends, it’s back to the United Rugby Championship, with a much rotated Leinster facing Ulster in an inter-provincial fixture in the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

The following evening, Munster and Connacht are away to struggling Welsh franchises in Ospreys and Dragons respectively, even if the latter were unlucky to lose at home to Leinster a few weeks back.

Find out all you need to know about the games here.

TV

Leinster-Ulster and Dragons-Connacht are broadcast by TG4 and Premier Sports, while Ospreys-Munster is on Premier Sports.

RADIO

Live commentary of Leinster-Ulster on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra. Updates on Ospreys-Munster on RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport.

ONLINE

We’ll have live scoring, reports and reaction from all the province’s games.

WEATHER

A mostly dry and sunny day in Dublin, apart from possibly an isolated shower or two in the morning. Highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees, with fresh and gusty southwesterly winds easing and backing southerly towards evening.

Leinster have recovered somewhat from their sluggish start to the season, though it would be a stretch to say they’ve found their flow yet.

Nonetheless, they’ve mustered four wins on the trot since being turned over by Munster two months ago.

A home victory over Zebre was followed by an unconvincing win away to Dragons, with Joshua Kenny scoring two second half tries.

They got off to an 100% start in the Champions Cup, with wins over Harlequins and Leicester Tigers, even if Leo Cullen didn’t sound blown away with either performance.

Discipline issues have been especially prevalent, with Leinster picking up three yellow cards in Rodney Parade. They were lucky to avoid another as Scott Penny avoided censure for a contentious tackle close to the tryline with five minutes remaining.

After digging out a result in Welford Road, Cullen has changed most of the team, with only four players retained from last Friday – James Lowe, Jack Conan, Rieko Ioane and James Ryan – the latter of whom makes his 100th appearance for the province this weekend.

On the flipside, Ireland out-half Sam Prendergast starts this time around, having been introduced in the second half in Leicester.

Ulster, condemned to the Challenge Cup following their horrible 2024-25 season, were turned over by Cardiff Blues last weekend, though otherwise it’s been a reasonable start to the season.

Richie Murphy’s side have won four from five in the URC, with wins over the Sharks and the Bulls, their sole loss coming away to the Lions in Ellis Park.

Australian prop Angus Bell will make his opening bow for the province, while Stuart McCloskey returns from injury.

Wing Robert Balacoune has racked up five tries in the last two games, including a hat-trick scored in vain in the defeat in Johannesburg.

On the opposite wing, Werner Kok and his blonde mane have crossed the line for three tries in the past two matches.

Ulster went to the RDS and won on New Year’s Day 2024, though shipped a 41-17 pasting in Dublin late last season.

Leinster: Ciarán Frawley; Joshua Kenny, Rieko Ioane, Charlie Tector, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath; Jack Boyle, Gus McCarthy, Rabah Slimani; Brian Deeny, James Ryan; Alex Soroka, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (Capt)

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Paddy McCarthy, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Max Deegan, Fintan Gunne, Harry Byrne, Ruben Moloney

Ulster: Jacob Stockdale; Rob Baloucoune, Jude Postlethwaite, Stuart McCloskey, Werner Kok; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Angus Bell, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole; Harry Sheridan, Charlie Irvine; David McCann, Nick Timoney (Capt), Juarno Augustus

Replacements: John Andrew, Sam Crean, Scott Wilson, Joe Hopes, Bryn Ward, Conor McKee, Jake Flannery, Ethan McIlroy

Munster’s 100% record in the URC didn’t survive a disastrous final quarter in the top of the table clash against the Stormers late last month.

Leading 21-6 midway through the second half, the South Africans rustled up three tries from the 58th minute onwards. Gavin Coombes’ yellow card was a crucial moment, with Dylan Maart and Ruhan Nel scoring late tries as the Cape Town outfit pulled off a comeback victory in Thomond.

In between, Clayton McMillan’s side made a patchy start to their Champions Cup campaign, losing heavily to Bath in the Recreation Ground, Johann van Graan masterminding a convincing victory over his former side. They laboured past Gloucester in Cork last Saturday.

McMillan has made six changes for the trip to Bridgend, Jeremy Loughman, Fineen Wycherley, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Tom Farrell, and Calvin Nash all returning to the starting team.

Ospreys, currently 13th in the table, received another blow this week, with news that Welsh internationals Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake are leaving the region for Gloucester at the end of the season.

The exodus is partly conditioned by doubts over the region’s future, with the WRU committed to reducing the number of regions from four to three by 2027.

The hosts have one win and a draw from their six games so far, the former coming at home to Zebre, the latter in a 19-19 apiece draw with Dragons.

Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Paddy Patterson; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Conor Bartley, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern, Ethan Coughlan, JJ Hanrahan, John Hodnett.

Stuart Lancaster’s side head to Newport in mid-table with two wins from five, though they did register an impressively one-sided win over the Sharks in Galway three weeks ago.

They were unlucky not to win in Munster in a strange game, where only one of six tries was converted, JJ Hanrahan’s one successful kick proving the difference on a 17-15 scoreline.

In the intervening period, they’ve a win and a loss from the Challenge Cup campaign. It started on a bum note with a narrow loss away to Ospreys. Last weekend, they slaughtered Georgian outfit Black Lion 52-0, with back-rower Paul Boyle completing a hat-trick before the half hour mark.

That didn’t quite banish the bitter after-taste of the loss in Wales, the westerners surrendering a 21-0 lead to lose 24-21. Despite claims of a forward pass in the lead-up to the Ospreys winning score, Lancaster passed up the chance to blame the referee, insisting his frustration lay with his own team and their loss of momentum in the set-piece.

Notwithstanding their encouraging performance/ moral victory against Leinster three weeks back, Dragons are second bottom and still searching for their first win, with two draws from six so far.