With the line-up for the Guinness PRO14 Final on Saturday, March 27 confirmed, attention now turns to the race to secure Champions Cup places.
Ulster will finish behind champions Leinster in Conference A but Ospreys have a 10-point cushion over fourth-placed Glasgow Warriors, who do have a game in hand. The Welsh side head to Scotstoun on Friday night for a crunch clash, knowing defeat will ensure Ospreys of third and also end the slim chances of Dragons, a point further adrift.
But it is Conference B where the real battle is as four teams can still finish in different positions, with Munster top and winless Benetton finishing bottom. Connacht will secure the second spot with a home win over Edinburgh, who are 14 points behind third-placed Scarlets although they do have two matches extra to play.
While Scarlets face a tough trip to Munster on Friday night, Cardiff Blues head to Benetton as they attempt to reduce the eight-point gap between them and Glenn Delaney’s side.
Friday - Zebre v Leinster
Leinster will head to Italy in high spirits after securing their place in the Guinness PRO14 final with two games to spare.
Last week’s 38-19 bonus-point victory over nearest challengers Ulster ensured they cannot be caught at the top of Conference A.
Zebre were beaten 31-20 by Glasgow Warriors and face a tough test in their final home match of the campaign as they look to climb off the bottom of the table.
History is not on their side, though, with Leinster having won all 14 previous meetings and unbeaten in Italy since 2010.
Friday - Glasgow Warriors v Ospreys
Ospreys go to Scotland knowing a victory will secure third place in Conference A and a Champions Cup place.
The Welsh side is 10 points clear of their hosts having played a game more and will be keen to get the job done ahead of a daunting trip to Leinster in Round 16.
They have suffered back-to-back defeats against Ulster and the Dragons but October’s 23-15 victory in the reverse fixture will give them hope of getting back to winning ways.
The Warriors returned to fourth in the table last weekend thanks to a hard-fought 31-20 win at Zebre.
Friday - Munster v Scarlets
Munster reached the Guinness PRO14 final last weekend and Scarlets will hope to take advantage of any drop in intensity from the Conference B winners.
Munster have an unassailable 12-point lead at the top after Joey Carbery came off the bench to kick the match-winning 68th-minute penalty in a 20-17 victory over Connacht last Friday.
Scarlets are eyeing a third straight win after victories over Benetton and Edinburgh which have left them on the brink of Champions Cup qualification.
They were narrowly beaten 30-27 when the teams last met in October despite Munster scoring all three tries in the game.
Saturday - Connacht v Edinburgh
Connacht’s hopes of reaching the Guinness PRO14 final evaporated last weekend with a 20-17 defeat by Conference B leaders Munster in a physical interprovincial clash at Thomond Park.
That ended a three-match winning run in the PRO14 for the Westerners, who are eight points clear of Scarlets with two games remaining.
Edinburgh’s three-game winning run against Connacht came to an end five months ago in a 37-26 defeat and they go into Saturday’s clash having won just one of their last four matches.
Last week’s clash with Benetton was postponed after a positive coronavirus test in the Benetton camp.
Saturday - Dragons v Ulster
Ulster saw their bid to reach the PRO14 final come to an end with Saturday’s incident-packed 38-19 defeat by Leinster.
Despite their loss at Kingspan Stadium, Ulster head to Wales in good heart having lost just once in their last eight PRO14 games on the road and they are unbeaten in their last nine fixtures against the Welshmen.
Dragons, meanwhile, halted a six-match losing run last Saturday with a 31-20 victory against Ospreys and are looking to beat an Irish province for the first time since a win against Connacht three and a half years ago.
Sunday - Benetton v Cardiff Blues
Blues will be hoping to avoid a third successive defeat when they travel to Treviso following losses to Irish provinces Connacht and Munster in recent weeks.
Cardiff have won their last seven fixtures against Italian opposition in all competitions though, and they are on a three-match winning run against Benetton, whose last victory against the Welsh side came two and a half years ago.
Benetton has lost all 12 matches in this season’s PRO14 and a positive Covid-19 test within their ranks meant last weekend’s scheduled game against Edinburgh had to be postponed.