Sean O'Brien
Connacht have an opportunity to finally get their show on the road with the visit of fellow strugglers Edinburgh. The Scots ditched their coach of three years Alan Solomons, having never really reached the height they might have under his reign. I think pure desperation might see Connacht home!
Munster will sort out Zebre no problem, although even the Italian teams have upper their game this season. Peter O'Mahony looks to making his long, long awaited return form injury, which could be a boost for Ireland ahead of the Autumn Internationals.
Ulster have the Ospreys up next, and a big challenge to the good start to their season. Well, not on the evidence of the Ospreys performance against Leinster, but they are a much better team than that. And there's Welsh places up for grabs so I'll expect they'll find from form from somewhere. However, on form Ulster, at home, I think the Welshmen are going to be going home unhappy again. In injury news, Stuart McCloskey is out for 4 weeks, but Tommy Bowe is hovering in the wings.
Finally, Leinster face a tricky visit to Cardiff to take on the Blues with their best start in ages. Leinster have Sean O'Brien, Robbie Henshaw and Rob Kearney hovering in the background, but if they have the same team and bench as last week they have enough firepower to do the job. What they need is an 80 minute focus, put everything into the game that they've practiced, and they can keep their winning run going. Either way, it's an excellent warm up for Munster next week.
In the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks have picked a much younger team for the trip to New Zealand, so that match is definitely up for grabs.
Finally, South Africa have pretty much a hodge podge of a backline, which is going to make seamless attack and defense a problem, so Australia have to start as favourites.
Guinness Pro12
30 Sep 2016
Connacht vs Edinburgh
Newport Gwent Dragons vs Glasgow Warriors
1 Oct 2016
Munster vs Zebre
Ulster vs Ospreys
Benetton Treviso vs Scarlets
Cardiff Blues vs Leinster
Rugby Championship
1 Oct 2016
South Africa vs Australia
Argentina vs New Zealand
