If you were in need of the opportunity to escape the house and get your sporting fix over the festive period, the Guinness Pro14 certainly provided it thanks to some keenly contested clashes over the festive period.

The GAA has also attempted somewhat to plug the December gap by bringing forward the beginning of the pre-season – attendances at some of the games showed that there was an appetite to escape the cabin fever that the festive period can bring – but these games are, by and large, glorified challenge matches.

The rugby on the other hand was intense, full blooded and in spots controversial.

The decision to play back-to-back inter-provincial games proved an astute one, generating good games and plenty of entertainment.

As well as being good for supporters, players benefit from shorter travel times for away fixtures – imagine if they had to play one of the South African sides – and the games are an excellent barometer ahead of the return of the Champions Cup, which returns this weekend for its penultimate round of pool fixtures.

Perhaps surprisingly, given the relatively shorter distances, all but one of the interprovincial clashes was won by the home side – Munster’s 31-24 win away to Connacht the exception.

Feisty

Given that game followed a heartening win in a feisty affair against Leinster, Johann van Graan’s side are in good shape heading to Gloucester on Friday night. A win away to the winless English side would guarantee them top spot and qualification if Exeter were to do them a favour on Sunday by beating Castres. Even if the French side were to get something from that, Munster will be favourites to beat Exeter at Thomond Park the following week.

It shouldn’t be taken lightly just how big a win the Leinster game was for Munster. Leo Cullen’s side had won the previous four contests between the provinces – just one short of the record for the fixture – and seven of the last eight. Even in Munster’s Heineken Cup-winning pomp, they couldn’t exert such dominance over their rivals.

In Limerick a fortnight ago, Leinster tried to bully Munster, to keep them down, but it was a challenge met head-on and referee Frank Murphy was, let’s just say, not short of work. Obviously, the red card received by James Lowe and subsequent sin-binning of Tadhg Furlong gave Munster a distinct advantage in terms of manpower, but they were cards that had to be shown.

Opportunity

Up against a near-full-strength opposition, Munster still had to make the most of the opportunity and they did that with an excellent team performance. The final scoreline of 26-17 could be said to have flattered Leinster more than the hosts, given that Max Deegan had a try at the death for the visitors.

The win obviously took a lot out of Munster but they were able to back it up by beating Connacht in a shootout last weekend, with Joey Carbery instrumental as they won 31-24. Having been so influential against Leinster and Jonathan Sexton, Carbery showed that he doesn’t lack for consistency and will be keen to carry that form into the European competition. With Gloucester out of the running, Munster, with more to play for, should have enough about them to get the victory.

Ulster were the unlucky side to face Leinster’s wrath as they unleashed their frustrations after the Munster loss.

Experience

After the defeat, Leo Cullen spoke about learning from the experience and being better in a similar environment in future. A clash with Ulster at the RDS may not have carried the same fervour, but Cullen’s side responded well with a 40-7 win – albeit with a few mistakes that Cullen feared could be punished by Toulouse on Saturday in Dublin.

Leinster went down by a point in France earlier this season and go into the game two points behind their opponents in the table. The handy go-to for French sides away from home is that they’ll roll over but Toulose come into the game knowing that a win would clinch the group and they are unlikely to be a pushover.

A lot to play for

Ulster are in a similar position, sitting in second and hosting the French side that tops their pool, though Racing 92, who visit Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, are five clear at the summit and even a defeat in Belfast would be unlikely to change that.

Nevertheless, with the best three second-placed teams advancing to the quarter-finals, there is still a lot for Ulster to play for. The Leinster game – which was preceded by a loss to Connacht at the Sportsground – showed that they don’t have a huge amount of squad depth but their starting 15 is good enough to challenge and in Jacob Stockdale they have a genuine game-changer.

In the Challenge Cup there is also a top-of-the-table tie in Galway, with Sale Sharks visiting Connacht on Saturday. Both sides have three wins and one defeat, with the English side on top having taken four bonus points – three try-scoring and one losing – compared to just one for the westerners.

After pushing Leinster and Munster close, Connacht may feel they are due some good fortune but it won’t be as easy as that, especially against a side that has scored 20 tries in four games. It may well be another scoring fest, but when that happens there’s a chance of coming out on the wrong side of it.