The first games of 2023, but the last of the Interpros in the regular season of the BKT United Ruby Championship.The structure of this campaign has seen the derbies frontloaded on the season, where we've had a big Interpro almost every week so far, but the New Year's Day games will see us round out the Interprovincials until the playoffs, or Champions Cup knockouts at the very least.We were treated to two close games either side of Christmas, but in contrasting ways.
Ulster's 22-20 victory against Connacht didn't seem in any real doubt until the hosts struck for two late tries, and only for Jack Carty's missed conversion, they very nearly secured a valuable draw.Meanwhile down in Limerick, Leinster and Munster played out a brilliant back and forth tussle, which didn't get the dramatic ending it deserved thanks to some stellar game management by the league leaders.Leo Cullen's side have been unstoppable this season, 10 wins from 10 in the URC and two out of two in Europe, and they welcome Connacht to the RDS on Sunday looking to maintain that 100% run.Third-place Ulster look to be back on track after their December wobble, and a win against Munster would see them solidify their place in the top four of the table, while Munster are desperate for points as they look to stay in touch with the bottleneck of teams fighting for the playoff and Champions Cup spots.TV Leinster v Connacht (Sunday, 7.35pm) is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with Ulster v Munster (Sunday, 5.15pm) live on TG4.All games are live on URC TV.RADIO RTÉ Radio 1 will have live commentary of both games in a Sport Extra special, starting from 5pm.ONLINE Follow our live blogs on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app with match reports and reaction from around the