Rugby fans were already looking forward to the 28th of September as Joe Schmidt's Ireland face hosts Japan in their second game of the Rugby World Cup. It's also the start of the Guinness PRO14 for three provinces.
Fans can continue to enjoy the oval ball thrills or focus on the provinces (delete as appropriate) for the rest of the day as three of the Irish provinces get their Guinness PRO14 campaigns underway on the last Saturday in September.
Leinster will get their defence of the Guinness PRO14 underway with a trip to Italy. Leo Cullen's men or at least those of who will be left, face Benetton in the Stadio Monigo.
Home
Ulster and Munster will both enjoy home comforts for their opening games of the competition.
Thomond Park plays host to the Dragons at 3.00 on the bumper day of rugby. While at 5.15 Connacht visit Parc y Scarlets for their first league outing of the new season.
Ulster welcome Ospreys to the Kingspan Stadium in Ravenhill on Friday September 27th.
Derbies
The first weekend of Interpro derbies take place on the second weekend of November. It could be a week after Ireland are crowned World Cup champions, or maybe not.
As we collectively rake over the coals of another plucky but ultimately disappointing Rugby World Cup effort. These games will be the first round of domestic derbies in the post-Joe Schmidt era, aka The Faz Era.
Anyway the 6th round of the Guinness PRO14 is when the Irish sides will first face each other. Leinster travel to the Showgrounds, with all of the World Cup heroes either paraded before the crowd or buried in club official beanies hanging their heads in collective shame amongst the freezing cold punters in the biting Galway gales.
That's on Friday night, on Saturday, November 9th, Munster and Ulster fans will get the chance to ovate or berate (delete as appropriate) the suited Irish playing contingent at Thomond Park.
Regular Season
The regular season runs it's 21 rounds of matches until the 29th of May. The venue for the final is yet to be confirmed. Last year's record attendance at Celtic Park looks unlikely to be beaten with rumours that the 2020 final will be held at the Cardiff City Stadium.
