Ulster face a tough challenge to the unbeaten run they have enjoyed in the early stages of the Guinness PRO14 season when they travel to Edinburgh for a repeat of last year’s semi-final on Monday night.
Memories of the play-off game should be fresh for both teams, perhaps even more so though for Edinburgh than for Ulster. Richard Cockerill’s team, having made history by securing a home semi-final at Murrayfield, looked like they were on their way to a fairly comfortable win back in September when it all turned against them in the last quarter. They ended up losing after the hooter.
It was a mortal blow to Edinburgh’s rise to become one of the top teams in the competition, as they have struggled ever since. There were two successive wins before they were beaten 50-10 by champions Leinster two weeks ago, but generally, it has been a poor season for Edinburgh, who will hope to return to action feeling re-energised after last week’s scheduled clash with the Dragons was postponed.
A win over the team that beat them in the semi-final to send them into something of a downward spiral will be a massive boost for a team that will start at Murrayfield desperate to gain revenge as a step towards obliterating that memory. However, with South African loose-forward Marcell Coetzee in such impressive form and very much the talisman, Ulster has started the new season as if they have a train to catch, and are one of three teams unbeaten.
While the Edinburgh team will be motivated by revenge and the need to halt their losing momentum, Ulster will go to Murrayfield with a different objective - they need to try and keep pace with Leinster, who are two points ahead of them in their conference.
The other unbeaten team at this point is Johan van Graan’s Munster, who have already opened up an 11 point lead at the top of Conference B and will rate their chances of holding on or extending that advantage as they host Italian team Zebre at the same time as the Edinburgh game will be played.
Leinster go to Llanelli in the feature game on Sunday to face play-off challengers Scarlets and will consider it a potential banana peel as Scarlets have famously beaten them in play-off fixtures in the past. Scarlets have won just one of their last five PRO14 meetings with Leinster but will be buoyed by the knowledge that they have lost just twice to Irish teams at Parc y Scarlets since September 2016 - by Ulster in the European Champions Cup in 2018 and Munster in the PRO14 earlier in the current campaign.
They also pushed unbeaten Ulster close, losing by just two points, in Belfast in their most recent game. Leinster though has scored seven consecutive bonus-point wins and are in imperious form.
Weekend GuinnessPRO14 Fixtures
Connacht v Ospreys (Galway, Saturday 21.35)
Benetton v Dragons (Treviso, Sunday 18.00)
Scarlets v Leinster (Llanelli, Sunday 19.15)
Cardiff Blues v Glasgow Warriors (Newport, Sunday 21.35)
Munster v Zebre (Limerick, Monday 22.15)
Edinburgh v Ulster (Edinburgh, Monday 22.15)