United Rugby Championship Round 17: All You Need To Know
The penultimate round of the regular season in the BKT United Rugby Championship, and there's one big Interpro that has the potential to be season-defining at Thomond Park.
Munster v Ulster is the pick of the games on Friday night, where both sides know a defeat could be fatal for their hopes of reaching the play-offs, but more importantly for their chances of qualifying for next season's Investec Champions Cup.
On Saturday, Leinster return to action following last week's devastating Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton Saints. Leo Cullen's side host Zebre, knowing a win will guarantee themselves top seed for the play-offs, which will give them home advantage for as long as they stay in the competition.
Later on Saturday, Connacht host Edinburgh at the Sportsground, looking for their first URC win since early March. Even a bonus-point win against the Scottish side is unlikely to give them a realistic chance at making the top-eight, although quite a few teams around them will be hoping the province can dent Edinburgh's play-off hopes along the way.
TV
Watch Munster v Ulster (Friday, 7.35pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with coverage getting under way at 7pm.
Watch Leinster v Zebre on Saturday from 5.10pm on the RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player.
Connacht v Edinburgh (Saturday, 7.35pm) will be live on TG4 and Premier Sports.
All games are shown live on URC.tv.
RADIO
Listen to live commentary of Munster v Ulster on RTE Radio 1 Extra from 7.35pm on Friday. Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 will have updates of Leinster v Zebre.
ONLINE
We'll have live score updates, reports and reaction from all games.
WEATHER
The weather forecast is a delight this weekend.
Limerick city will have temperatures of around 14C by kick-off on Friday night, with barely a puff of wind.
On Saturday, it will be around 16C and blue skies for Leinster v Zebre, although there could be a bit more wind for the kickers to deal with.
It will also be a beautiful night in Galway for Connacht v Edinburgh, with a clear, dry evening and temperatures in the mid-teens.
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This one doesn't need a hard sell.
With two games to play, both Munster and Ulster sit outside the play-offs, although the packed nature of this middle third of the table means that whoever wins on Friday night will be right back in the mix. It could be curtains for whoever loses.
If this is anything like their pre-Christmas meeting, it will be a dramatic night at Thomond Park. On that occasion it took a late Tom Farrell try for Munster to pinch a bonus-point 22-19 win in Belfast.
The form book leans towards neither side. Both teams have lost three in a row in all competitions coming into this week.
Even recent meetings between these sides make it a difficult one to split. Their last six clashes have been evenly split, both teams winning twice at home and once away.
For Munster, it will be a final Thomond Park outing for Peter O'Mahony and Stephen Archer who are in the starting team, as well as Conor Murray on the bench.
This is one of two away games Ulster have to finish the season, but they have been able to welcome Iain Henderson, Rob Baloucoune and Mike Lowry back from injury.
Munster: Thaakir Abrahams; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Diarmuid Kilgallen; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Peter O'Mahony, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Josh Wycherley, John Ryan, Fineen Wycherley, Tom Ahern, Conor Murray, Seán O'Brien, Alex Kendellen.
Ulster: Michael Lowry; Rob Baloucoune, Jude Postlethwaite, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Scott Wilson; Iain Henderson (capt), Cormac Izuchukwu; Matty Rea, Nick Timoney, James McNabney
It will have been a tough week at Leinster Rugby HQ as they picked apart the remains of their Champions Cup elimination, and the province will be grateful that the stakes aren't as high this week for the visit of Zebre to Dublin.
With an eight-point led over Glasgow Warriors coming into this week, Leo Cullen's side know they only need one win across the next two games to guarantee the top seed for the play-offs.
While Zebre have pulled off a few shocks this season, beating both Munster and Ulster, the Italian side are one of just two teams mathematically ruled out of the play-offs.
Leinster have never lost to Zebre, winning all 18 meetings between the sides, and they haven't lost a URC game on home soil since January 2024.
While Connacht can still mathematically qualify for the play-offs, their chances of doing so are extremely slim.
Even if they pick up bonus-point wins in their final two games, Cullie Tucker's side would still need some surprise results elsewhere to go their way if they're to sneak into the top half of the table.
While they're probably not going to get to the play-offs, they will have a big say on who does get there, with Saturday's opponents Edinburgh right in the mix in tenth place, with a home game against Ulster to follow next week.
Connacht have been in free-fall in recent months, not helped by the off-field issues which saw head coach Pete Wilkins resign following a period of sick leave.
Since their last win in early March, Connacht have lost five of their last six games in all competitions, with their only victory in that time being a Challenge Cup Round of 16 tie against Cardiff.
Edinburgh have won their last two games in Ireland, against Munster this season, and Ulster last season, and have never won three consecutive games on Irish soil.
The Scottish side have also won three of their last four Championship matches against Connacht.
Team news: Friday 12pm
With so many teams still in play-off contention, quite a few of this week's games are worth noting from an Irish point of view.
On Friday, the Sharks host the Ospreys at 6pm, with the Welsh side still very much in the play-off race back in 11th place.
Munster and Ulster fans will be hoping the Bulls can beat Cardiff at home on Saturday at 3pm, while they will be looking for Glasgow to pick up an away victory at eighth-place Benetton.
The Lions could also do the Irish provinces a favour if they beat Scarlets in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.
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