Rest week.

With over 46,000 tickets already sold for this weekend’s heavyweight inter-provincial PRO14 clash between Leinster and Munster – it’s pretty safe to say there will be a lot of interest when the two Irish provinces collide.

But with Champions Cup rugby set to return next week, and the November internationals looming – fans may be a little disappointed come lunchtime on Friday when the two sides name their teams.

Both Leinster and Munster have fielded a number of their frontline internationals for the last three weeks, meaning a rest week is due for the likes of Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose, Jordan Larmour, Jack Conan, Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony, Andrew Conway and Joey Carbery.

In the grand scheme of things – neither set of fans will be disappointed if this rest week results in a positive start to their European campaign. And on an even grander scale – it may bode well for Ireland come November, which is a win for fans across the country. But it does take a little bit of the sting out of this weekend.

Should the likes of Sexton and Carbery been rested in previous games in order to make themselves available for this weekend? Or was the plan to always rest them a week before Europe?

This weekend should be a cracker anyway – with both sides still littered with stars given the depth in both squads. But one can’t help feeling a little deflated that we won’t get to see them go at it full whack. I suppose you can’t have it all at the end of the day.