And then there were eight – including three Irish provinces: Leinster, Munster and Connacht – on the URC’s quarter-final dance card. A point of clarification: if Ulster beat Montpellier in the Challenge Cup final in the San Mamés Stadium next Friday night they will appropriate Connacht’s place in next season’s Champions Cup but not in the URC playoffs.There is a rider. If Connacht win the URC and Ulster the Challenge Cup, Connacht will qualify for next season’s Champions Cup, and in that scenario the seventh-placed side in the URC, the Lions, would miss out.Munster could have taken Connacht out of the “bubble” position of eighth place if they had kicked a late penalty to deny the Lions a losing bonus point. The South African side would then have dropped to eighth, with Connacht in seventh.Stuart Lancaster’s Connacht will return to Scotland in the quarter-finals – they beat Edinburgh on Friday night – to take on the number one seeds the Glasgow Warriors in the quarter-final. Munster’s priority, understandably, was to remove any possibility of an adverse outcome, ostensibly if the kick struck an upright, remained in play, and was regathered by the Lions, who went the length of the pitch and scored. Unlikely but not impossible.Munster's JJ Hanrahan in action during the URC match between Munster and Lions in Thomond Park. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Clayton McMillan’s side showed their traditional resilience in adversity, at one point down to 13 players, with Andrew Smith and Alex Nankivell in the sin bin, to forge a 24-17 victory. They lost Jack Crowley to injury before the game, but JJ Hanrahan proved an able deputy and, led by brilliant performances from captain Craig Casey and Brian Gleeson to highlight two, they grabbed the required result.The only sour note struck was when Munster hooker Diarmuid Barron claimed that he had been spat on/at by a Lions player. The game was held up for several minutes as the match officials investigated but were unable to find evidence, and the referee, Andrea Piardi, asserted that it would be further examined after the game.McMillan said: “Ah look, he’s been around a long time and we’re not a team that plays silly buggers, so you’d imagine he felt or he saw what he saw.“We only have three or four angles available to us. I’m sure others might have a look at it but that’s not our job to do now, other people will have a look and if there’s something there to see then they’ll deal with it and if there isn’t, then we’ll move forward.”[ URC final day playoff permutations and Champions Cup qualification explainerOpens in new window ]Munster’s reward is a URC quarter-final against the Bulls in Pretoria. McMillan said: “It’s probably a relief more than anything. Not just the blokes out on the field, but the 15,000 in the stands and lots in their homes. “There was big pressure coming into a game like this where it’s obvious what we needed to do. It was never going to be easy, but I thought our guys acquitted themselves well under the circumstances. We were tough when we needed to be. I’m pleased for the players. We’ve been working hard to give ourselves an opportunity to get to finals rugby and that’s been achieved.”Leinster's James Lowe scores his side's 10th try to demolish Ospreys at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho Leinster grabbed their spot as second seeds with a thumping 10-try, 68-14 demolition of the Ospreys at the Aviva Stadium. The Stormers’ defeat to Cardiff on the Friday night gave the Irish province a chance to leapfrog over them in the table, thereby guaranteeing home advantage for their quarter-final against the Lions and, if they win, a semi-final.Joe McCarthy grabbed a hat trick of tries while two players returning from long-term injury, Jordan Larmour (2) and James Lowe also crossed the visitors’ line. Lowe’s try equalled the club record of 69 previously held by Shane Horgan.Larmour, Lowe, Tadhg Furlong, Alex Usanov and Jack Conan both came through the match with no adverse reaction to pre-existing injuries and issues. Harry Byrne and Jamison Gibson-Park came off at half-time. Tommy O’Brien, a late withdrawal, was pulled out of the game as a precaution. Leo Cullen explained: “Harry [had] a little bit of [back] tightness but I think he’s okay. Jamison, again, we just decided to make the change with the halfbacks at halftime. Hugh Cooney, he probably looked the most significant there. Obviously, he had come off the bench to replace Garry [Ringrose], so he’s done something to his knee there. Hopefully, it’s not too bad, but he looks like the most significant.”Leinster’s immediate priority is this Saturday’s Champions Cup final against reigning champions Bordeaux-Bègles in Bilbao. Cullen said: “This is going to be a huge week for the club, and I know it’s going to be an amazing challenge against Bordeaux. They’ve probably been the form team in Europe over the last couple of seasons.“I know they are heavy favourites going into the game, but we’ll do everything we can to give it our best shot. Bordeaux is literally up the road from Bilbao, so it’ll be a hostile atmosphere over there, but hopefully there’ll be a few Leinster jerseys in the crowd. [Our players] know what’s at stake here now. And that’s why you see guys play to the very end, really.”URC quarter-finals Friday, May 29thGlasgow v Connacht, 7.45pm Saturday, May 30thBulls v Munster, 12pm Stormers v Cardiff, 2.30pmLeinster v Lions, 8pm