This weekend sees the return of European Rugby following the break for the Six Nations. Three of the four Irish provinces are in action. First up on Saturday it’s the turn of Connacht in the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup, then later that evening Leinster will be looking to bury the ghosts of their past performances in the competition when they take on Leicester in Landsdowne Road. Finally on Sunday all eyes will turn to San Sebastian, Spain, where Munster are set to face French giants Biarritz. All in all it’s set to be a massive weekend of European Competition.

Munster’s Ronan O’Gara who picked up a leg injury last night against The Dragons has been ruled out of Munster’s Heineken Cup clash with Biaritz. The good news however is that should Munster progress to the semi-finals O’Gara will be able to play.

>Ulster finally put some daylight between themselves and Connacht when they beat the Borders by 17 points to 13 last night at Ravenhill. While they are now 3 points ahead of Connacht they’ll be very dissapointed that they weren’t able to beat bottom placed Borders by more. However Connacht have a more difficult final two matches so Ulster will be confident of claiming the final Heineken Cup spot.

The Brian Lima mystery has continued today with his supposed arrival in the country. Since this was officially announced earlier in the week we’re going to wait until we see a picture of him in a Munster shirt before we believe it.

• Munster have announced their team to take on The Dragons at Rodeny Parade tomorrow evening. The match will see the return of all their internationals with the exception of Paul O’Connell who will miss out due to his suspension. More confusing however is the story of Munster’s new signing Brian Lima. Lima had been scheduled to arrive last Tuesday and some reports said he had even completed his medical, but today it was announced that he is arriving tomorrow. The late arrivial will mean he will not play with Munster before the quarter-final with Biarittz

Word is creeping out that Paul O’Connell will be available for Munster’s trip to San Sebastian for their Heineken Cup quarter final on April 3rd. O’Connell has been at a hearing today related to an incident between him and Rob Sidoli last weekend in Cardiff.

Munster saw off a determined Ulster side in Musgrave Park tonight to end their recent poor league form and keep the title chase on for one week more. Munster will be delighted that the experiment of trying Frank Murphy at scrum-half payed off with him being named Man of The Match.

Frank Murphy will make his first start for the province in almost a year on Friday night against Ulster. Murphy has not played a game for the province this season but following the announcement that he has been added to Munster’s Heineken Cup squad, coach Alan Gaffney has decided to give him a start.

Munster have nominated scrum-half Frank Murphy and utility three-quarters Brian Lima (Samoa) as their additional players for the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup. Both names were submitted to ERC by 12 noon today ahead of the deadline for registration.

Munster have recieved a huge blow ahead of their upcoming Heineken Cup quarter-final with Biarittz with the news that full-back Christian Cullen will miss between 4 to 6 months due to a shoulder injury he picked up in Saturday’s defeat to the Cardiff Blues.