Especially Munster. Declan Kidney included Mick O'Driscoll and the Anthony's, Foley and Horgan, in his starting line-up against Glasgow at a packed Hughenden but a decent looking team on paper simply made too many simple errors on the night. Scottish out-half, Dan Parks, ran the show for the home side and ended up with a personal tally of 19 points for his considerable efforts, but the Munster management team will be more concerned with the form of their own number 10, Jeremy Manning.

The first problem appears to be the fact that the outhalf and his scrum-half, Tomas O'Leary, don't really appear to have hit it off as a partnership, but while the waspish number nine has got through mountains of impressive work over Munster's three Magners League games to date, Manning has struggled to find the form that impressed so many observers over the course of last season. Against Glasgow, the out-half looked indecisive and apprehensive with the ball in hand, something that must be a worry for Kidney, and of course Eddie O'Sullivan, who's apparently keen to include the out-half in Ireland's World Cup squad as soon as he becomes eligible to wear the green shirt next summer. The worrying thing for all parties is that the youngster is likely to spend a lot of time on the bench when Ronan O'Gara gets the nod to return to action in a fortnight's time.

The Irish out-half 's return . . . and that of Paul O'Connell, Donncha O'Callaghan, Marcus Horan, Denis Leamy, David Wallace and Peter Stringer . . . will be against Ulster, who went down to their first defeat in 12 Magners League games against Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

Despite having Rory Best, Bryan Young, Matt McCullough and Isaac Boss back in action, Mark McCall's side endured a difficult night against an extremely physical and focused opposition.

"We're very disappointed with the result and our performance, " said the Ulster coach, who must have found it difficult to explain away a defeat after so many victorious post-match press conferences. "There wasn't much shape to our play in the first half and although we improved a bit in the second half we were second best to Edinburgh in this one. We made crucial mistakes at vital times, gave away soft penalties and had no killer touch while Edinburgh played well and defended strongly. We deserved to lose as we were not good enough in this game but we have a big game at home to the Ospreys next week and we will look for a reaction."

Connacht, meanwhile, couldn't bring any optimism to the Irish table following their 37-15 home defeat to Llanelli. Like his counterparts in Munster and Ulster, Michael Bradley could have no argument with the result against a Scarlets side playing their second match in the space of three days. Having won their opening two Magners League games, a third win on the trot would have given Connacht something to get genuinely excited about, but the sheer quality of the opposition made that task impossible.

"We found it difficult to cope with them out there, " Bradley admitted afterwards.

"They're a top side and it just shows the strength of their playing resources when they can play two games in three days and still win both."