**With the bulk of the Guinness PRO14 absent from action for over a month, there will be 12 teams practically chomping at the bit as they return to the field for Round 11 this weekend.** A pair of South African derbies – both won by the Toyota Cheetahs – apart, the Championship’s northern hemisphere sides last took to the turf on January 4, and will no doubt be fully charged and ready to kick on after what was a well-earned winter break. And there is no shortage of narrative to launch back into the mix, as all 14 sides look to get right back to winning ways as the season passes its turn. **THE STATE OF PLAY** Ten games down, the Conferences have begun to take shape as early Final Series predictions are formulated. Reigning champions Leinster are sitting pretty at the summit of Conference A, with a perfect record to defend, and could bring up the 50-point mark with victory over the Cheetahs at the RDS Arena. They meet the third-placed Cheetahs in Round 11, with Ulster the side separating them in the standings and Glasgow Warriors with work to do if they are to repeat last year’s feat and reach the knockouts, with the Scots sitting seven points shy of the South Africans. Conference B, meanwhile, is anyone’s call; just four points separate the top three, with Benetton – in sixth – just 11 behind Edinburgh Rugby at the summit, for now at least.
