Now that it is October we can talk about rugby again. Only when the evenings have gotten much shorter and the pitches a lot heavier does it feel like rugby season. The organisers of the Guinness PRO14 and the European Cup feel the same way as their fixture schedule is designed to ramp up now that we are officially in the throes of autumn. The meeting of Leinster and Munster this Saturday signals that the real stuff is upon us now. Lions from both sides wet their beaks last weekend and will be let loose on each other at 2pm in the Aviva.

This game is the kickoff for the Irish rugby season and has set the tone for six of the last eight domestic and international campaigns. Whoever wins the first of the local derbies tends to have laid down a marker; we often end up name-checking this early season performance as the winners go on to have a good year.

For the players, this game can often be viewed as something of a final trial for the autumn internationals. Despite the long-term absence of Jamie Heaslip, the Irish back row still has a lot of options and the quickest way to separate yourself from that (part of the) pack is to dominate this fixture.

It is in this game that reputations are established. Both sides have had decent starts to the season, sitting second in their respective groups, having lost a game each. Just a week out from the beginning of the European competitions, this is a huge weekend.

Munster have issues with their coaching ticket but surely the players are professional enough to ignore those distractions when it is game time. Limping into Castres the following weekend is just what they’ll do if they don’t come out of Dublin with something. A bonus-point loss might not be enough. They must deliver a performance.

Leinster, as happens a lot, have a friendlier opening to these crucial weeks, with Munster and then Montpellier both at home. The French side must be beaten, Munster must be matched – the former a necessity, the latter likely.

On Friday night, there is a somewhat overlooked clash at Ravenhill when Connacht visit. Both sides are spluttering somewhat in recent times but for Ulster their whole season might be on the line in the next three weeks.

Having lost to Zebre last weekend, they must rediscover their form against the visitors, who put it up to a Scarlets team that have been the team of the competition to date in Wales last Friday night.

Les Kiss is now in year two with Ulster and surely most of his eggs are in the European Cup basket. Seven nights after this game, Wasps come to town. That game is crucial – much more so than this one – and that might define how Ulster attack their neighbours this weekend.

Kiss is highly regarded and naturally is entitled to time to put his own stamp on the Ulster squad, but patience will wear thin if Ulster don’t stand up in the coming fixtures. He hasn’t been helped by off-field events, ones that have deprived him of his preferred half-back pairing. His back row looks a little light but he may have aces in attack, Charles Piutau for one is a game-breaker when the mood takes him.

For most of us tuning in this Friday night and next, our eyes will be trained on Jacob Stockdale, a certain star of the future. This young man (21) has been hugely impressive with Irish underage sides. He’s 6ft 4in, not slow and he can play wing, centre or full-back. Already capped for the Irish senior side during the summer, he is Ulster’s Garry Ringrose and his September form has been exciting.

Connacht will have their hands full, but there is no better side to battle with their backs against the wall and they are exactly what Ulster need this weekend. Two proper matches to whet our appetite for the winter ahead.

Two home wins. CL

No point in judging the hurling changes until they’ve been tried

It’s hard to know what to make of the multiple and seismic changes that were made to the hurling championships over the weekend until we actually see them in action.

Initial thoughts from the Special Congress are concern over the way the fixtures have been grouped, coming in bursts as they do in May and ending with an All-Ireland final in the middle of August. I’m all for four Munster championship matches and a fifth if a county makes a final, but an All-Ireland final in August will take some getting used to.

Much of what was agreed was sold on the fact that April is now free of inter-county activity and this will mean that club championships will be played up and down the country. Right? Wrong.

Five Munster and Leinster hurling counties will be getting ready to play four championship matches starting in the middle of May – are managers going to say goodbye to their squads for a few weeks to let them play club in the middle of April? To let them wear off each other in matches that mean something? A few weeks out from four championship games in six weeks?

The charade that Croke Park can do something for the club player on fixtures is a balloon that needs to be pricked because too many of the GAA’s top table are flagging that notion in regard to these changes. Counties are 32 very independent bodies and only the county boards can fix club fixtures. If the clubs cared enough about the current anomalies, then they can step in any time they want. Most, however, recoil at the supposed strength of county managers.

The new look to the hurling championship must be given a chance and much of the 2018 format has merit to it, but let’s not kid ourselves that it is designed to help club players. It will greatly assist provincial councils, that we know for sure. An early finish I’m not in love with, but the early start is just fine.