By Aaron Doyle

LEINSTER are one win away from getting home advantage in the Champions Cup while we will know this weekend who will play in this year’s Superbowl in American football. Here are your highlights of the weekend.

1 Castres v Leinster
European Champions Cup, Stade Pierre Antoine, Friday

Cian Healy returns to the Leinster front row

Leinster’s massive win over Montpellier last weekend has turned this clash with Castres into a game that decides whether Leinster play their quarter-final at home or away.
Leinster come into this in fine form having won their last three games in all competitions while Castres have lost four of their last six games, with last week’s defeat to Northampton putting them out of reach of a best loser’s spot in the quarter-finals. Leisnter’s home tie against Castres ended with a 33-15 win to the eastern province but Castres will want to end on a high and spoil Leinster’s day with a spot of revenge.
Leinster have made three changes to the side that demolished Montpellier last weekend with Cian Healy and Richardt Strauss coming in for James Tracy and Jack McGrath, who both drop down to the bench, while Ross Molony replaces Hayden Triggs, who is serving the first week of his three week suspension after he was cited for an eye-gouging incident in the game against Montpellier.
Castres will want to win to restore some pride in a campaign that has only seen them win twice but both wins were at home. They will call on important players like flanker Yannick Cabellero and scrum-half Rory Kockott. Kockott in particular is one of the French side’s biggest scoring threats as he is the place kicker for Castres and his play is vital in linking forwards and backs.
Leinster should win but it all depends on the motivation of Castres. Kick-off is at 7:45pm Irish time.

2 NFL Championship games
Sunday

Matt Ryan hopes to inspire the Atlanta Falcons to victory this weekend

The NFC and AFC championship games are being decided this weekend with the winner of these games qualifying for Super Bowl 51 in Houston.
The NFC game is the first one on Sunday with the Atlanta Falcons hosting the Green Bay Packers. The Falcons will be looking to christen their final game in the Georgia Dome with a win to go through to their first Super Bowl since 1998, while the Packers will look to spoil the party by winning their ninth game in a row.
The Packers will be hoping Aaron Rodgers can continue his hot hand in the quarterback position, having thrown two touchdowns and a total of 355 yards, including the final drive that put them into position for Mason Crosby’s game winning field goal.
The Falcons have their own talisman in Matt Ryan, who threw for three touchdowns against the Seattle Seahawks last weekend as he led the league’s most potent attack to a 36-20 win over the NFC Western champions. This could well be a shootout with kick-off at 8:05pm Irish time.
The AFC game will see the New England Patriots take on the Pittsburgh Steelers and with that will see a clash between two of the game’s most successful quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. Since 2003, there has only been five Super Bowls that Brady or Roethlisberger haven’t played in so they know how to navigate the strong waters of the play-offs. The Patriots beat the Houston Texans at home 34-16 while the Steelers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas 18-16. The Patriots have home advantage in this one which kicks-off at 11:40pm Irish time.

3 Australian Open
All weekend, Mebourne Park

Denis Istomin knocked out Novak Djokovic on Thursday

The first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis calendar began this week and this weekend will see the third and fourth rounds of the men’s and women’s competitions take place.
A shock has already taken place in the men’s draw as Novak Djokovic lost his second round tie in five sets to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
Istomin will take on Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta on Saturday. There was no such hassle for Andy Murray who won his third round match in the early hours of Friday. He will face Germany’s Mischa Zverev in the fourth round on early Sunday morning.
In the women’s draw, there has not been a major shock with Venus Williams and world no1 Angelique Kerber winning their third round ties and Serena Williams qualifying for the third round. Kerber will face American Coco Vandeweghe while Venus will face Mona Barthel of Germany. Serena will face Nicole Gibbs on early Saturday morning our time in her third round clash. British No 1 Johanna Konta is still in the competition and she will face Caroline Wozniacki in one of the final third round games. The opening session starts at 11pm Irish time while 6am is the start of the second session every day.

4 Premier League Weekend
Saturday-Sunday

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino come face to face on Saturday

The big match of this weekend’s Premier League action sees second place Spurs travel to the Etihad Stadium to take on Manchester City. Pep Guardiola suffered his largest league defeat as a manager last weekend when City lost 4-0 to Everton last Sunday and they are outside the top four after losing two of their last three league games. Tottenham are the form team in the league as they have won their last six games. This game kicks-off at 5:30pm on Saturday.
The league leaders have an easier tie on paper as Chelsea host relegation battlers Hull City on Sunday. Hull won their first league game since November 6 after beating Bournemouth while Chelsea were convincing winners against Leicester last Saturday, beating the champions 3-0. This game is on at 4:30pm.
Liverpool are currently in third place and they host another relegation-threatened team in Swansea. The Reds haven’t lost in the league since their thriller with Bournemouth in the first weekend of December while Swansea are at the foot of the table and they have only won once in eight games. This is the 12:30 kick-off on Saturday.
Manchester United are away to Stoke City in the pick of the 3pm Saturday kick-offs. United are unbeaten in the league since losing to Chelsea 4-0 back in October while Stoke have won their last two league games.
Arsenal host Burnley on Sunday with the Gunners unbeaten in their last four league games while Burnley have been a mixed bag of late, winning three and losing three in their last six in the league. This one kicks-off at 2:15pm.

5 O’Byrne Cup Semi-finals
Sunday

Meath’s Kevin Ross celebrates scoring a late penalty against Laois in the O’Byrne Cup. They now play Louth in the semi-final

While it may not set the GAA world alight, the O’Byrne Cup is down to its final four as teams look to prepare for the upcoming league and championship campaigns.
The first semi-final sees Kildare take on Dublin in Newbridge. Kildare beat Longford 1-15 to 0-12, hammered IT Carlow 4-24 to 0-1 and won well against Offaly 3-11 to 0-8 to make it to this stage while Dublin defeated DCU Dóchas Éireann (formerly St Patrick’s College) 1-15 to 0-11 and Wexford 1-12 to 1-9 with a two-point loss to UCD sandwiched in between their two wins to qualify on top of Group One.
The other semi-final sees a rematch of sorts of the controversial 2010 Leinster final as Meath take on Louth at Páirc Tailteann. Meath had a convincing win against Wicklow 2-22 to 0-9 and a 2-15 to 0-10 win over DIT before drawing with Laois in their final group game to qualify on score difference, having drawn with Laois on top of the table with two wins and a draw each. Louth had a one-point win over Westmeath before beating Maynooth University by five points and beating Carlow in their final game 3-14 to 2-12.
Both matches have a throw-in time of 2pm.