Pro12 highlights: it was derby weekend for the Irish sides in Round 7 of the Guinness Pro12 after a largely successful European break, as Ulster hosted Munster in Belfast on Friday night before Connacht travelled to Dublin to take on a Leinster side trying to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to Montpellier in the Champions Cup.
Both games turned out to be entertaining for different reasons.
Leinster's display in dispatching of Connacht was scintillating to watch at times and they seem to be really clicking under Leo Cullen following the disappointment of last year's domestic and European campaigns. Connacht will perhaps look back on a spell at the end of the first half when they were putting the squeeze on Leinster, only to be turned over, as a key moment in the losing of the match.
Meanwhile Munster's performance in beating Ulster was the sort of battling, fighting display they have been known for in the past. They impressively managed to recover from the emotional rollercoaster of last week's match against Glasgow and come from 14-0 down to eventually win by a single point. In a quite incredible reverse mirroring of Ulster's match last week against Exeter Paddy Jackson just missed a 78th minute drop goal that would probably have won Ulster the game after Rory Scannell had slotted a kick to put Munster ahead shortly beforehand.
After the weekend's games, the Pro12 table standings look like this (taken from the BBC):
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