The perennial Leinster-Ulster collision is always in the top drawer of fixtures in any of the three major Leagues and Friday night's at the RDS Arena will have assumed still more significance in the context of those recent setbacks. The higher the GUINNESS PRO12 finishing place, the less difficult the opposition in the European Champions' Cup, at least that's the theory.
Leinster, beaten 33-6 by Wasps last time out at home, reappear in a citadel where they have not lost in the GUINNESS PRO12 since the Dragons won there more than nine months ago. Never mind Toulon, next up in Europe for Leo Cullen's squad, their need for a win has rarely been more imperative.
Ulster, dispatched 27-9 by Saracens in Belfast last week, have lost all four visits to Dublin since winning there three seasons ago when Robbie Diack and Iain Henderson accounted for the only tries. Never mind Toulouse, their next opponent on a different stage, they need the win as badly as Leinster, one point and one place above them in the fourth play-off spot.
Something, therefore, will have to give and the same can be said without fear of contradiction about the second all-Irish affair in Limerick on Saturday. Munster, out of action last weekend following the postponement of their European Champions' Cup tie against Stade Francais in Paris, are back at Thomond Park for what ought to be a humdinger.
Connacht go there as they have never gone there before, as GUINNESS PRO12 leaders. After gallivanting to the outer Siberian extremities of Europe in the name of the Challenge Cup, Pat Lam's squad will happily settle for the shortest of trips, even if it takes them into conflict with probably the most inhospitable of all opponents.
The gap between them stretches a long way back but it has been closing. On New Year's Day, in the howling squalls as only Galway can generate them, it closed so emphatically that Connacht won decisively enough to deny Munster the crumb of a losing bonus point.
Outscored 3-1 on tries thanks to Kieran Marmion, Craig Ronaldson and Aly Muldowney, Munster's avengers replied with six of their own in the home return. That Connacht have raised their game since then can be gauged from their try count for the season hitherto - 30 in nine matches.
Their well-documented trek to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia for their opening Challenge Cup tie and last week's home win over Brive, European champions in 1997, puts them in control of their European pool with two wins out of two. It also puts them miles ahead in the race for any Marco Polo prize as the most-travelled team in Europe. When it comes to endurance, they already have a GUINNESS PRO12 record-breaker of their own in John Muldoon, due to make his 199th appearance in the competition on Saturday.
Edinburgh, the only other GUINNESS PRO12 club to match Connacht in Europe, return from their handsome win in Agen to the familiar surrounds of BT Murrayfield where the Dragons will be waiting, just as they were for a European quarter-final last April. The Dragons, unfortunate in running Castres so close, are due a change of luck.
The other Friday match takes Treviso to Glasgow for a tilt at the Warriors who will know exactly how Leinster and Ulster have been feeling since the weekend. The champions also suffered at home last week against English opponents, in their case Northampton.
For the Italians, it's yet another stop along a punishing road, their 15th attempt to win for the first time since beating Zebre last Christmas. Zebre's crack at the Scarlets on Sunday takes them back to Wales where they last won in the PRO12, at Cardiff Arms Park in September 2013.
The Blues are also long overdue an away win. They make the 40-mile journey westwards along the M4 to Swansea where the Ospreys have every right to feel pleased themselves at having prised a double bonus point out of last Sunday's European Champions' Cup mission in France.
Four tries at Clermont takes some doing, the never-say-Dai Ospreys managing it thanks to two tries within the last 90 seconds from substitute hooker Sam Parry followed very rapidly by one from substitute scrum-half Tom Habberfield - scores made by Justin Tipuric and Dan Biggar respectively.
The reward is there for all to see - leadership of a pool including Exeter Chiefs and Bordeaux-Begles.
Leinster-Ulster: The last six matches at the RDS:
January 3, 2015:
Leinster 24 (Tries: Madigan, Conan. Con: Madigan. Pens: Madigan 4).
Ulster 11 (Try: Herbst. Pens: Pienaar 2).
December 28, 2013:
Leinster 19 (Try: Murphy. Con: Gopperth. Pens: Gopperth 4).
Ulster 6 (Pens: Jackson 2).
May 27, 2014: Play-off semi-final:
Leinster 13 (Try: Madigan. Con: Gopperth. Pens: Gopperth 2).
Ulster 9 (Pens: Jackson 3).
May 25, 2013: Grand Final:
Leinster 24 (Tries: Jennings, Heaslip. Con: Sexton. Pens: Sexton 4).
Ulster 18 (Pens: Pienaar 6).
March 30, 2013:
Leinster 18 (Pens: Madigan 6).
Ulster 22 (Tries: Diack, Henderson. Pens: Pienaar 4).
December 26, 2011:
Leinster 42 (Tries: Carr, Cronin, Auva'a, Madigan, Hogan, pen. Try. Cons: McFadden 6).
Ulster 13 (Try: Cochrane. Con: McKinney. Pens: McKinney 2).
Aggregate results of matches between Ireland's four provinces in the GUINNESS PRO 12 since the start of the 2011-12 season: (excluding play-offs)
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | |
| Leinster | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 75 |
| Munster | 25 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 66 |
| Ulster | 25 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 63 |
| Connacht | 24 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 21 |
Since last home defeat:
Leinster 7
Scarlets 5
Since last away win:
Zebre 24
Cardiff Blues 10
Since last defeat:
Connacht 5.
Since last win:
Benetton Treviso 14.
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