Connacht /ˈkɒnɔːt/ (Irish: Connachta / Cúige Chonnacht [ˈkɔnəxtə]), formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" (in Irish: rí ruirech). Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties. In modern times, clusters of counties have been attributed to certain provinces but these clusters have no legal status. The province itself, while enjoying common usage and forming a strong part of local identity, has no official function for local government purposes. Along with counties from other provinces, it lies in the North-West constituency for elections to the European Parliament.

It consists of the counties of Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Its main urban centres are Galway in the south and Sligo in the north. It is the smallest of the four Irish provinces, with a population of 542,039.

Munster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Munster, is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from Ireland. They compete in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Heineken Cup. The team represents the IRFU Munster Branch, which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish province of Munster. Their main home ground is Thomond Park, Limerick, though some smaller profile games are played at Musgrave Park, Cork. Munster currently play in a red and blue home strip, while the away strip is white striped horizontally with the colours of the six counties of Munster. The Munster Rugby logo consists of three crowns and a stag. The team motto is "To the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible"; it is derived from the motto of the MacCarthy clan – "Forti et Fideli nihil difficile".

Munster is known for its passionate support and games involving Munster hold several Heineken Cup records for highest attendances in every stage of the finals, as well as the highest ever attendance for a rugby game in both Spain and Switzerland. In 2008, Director of Coaching Declan Kidney left to take up the head coach job with Ireland, and Munster ensured continuity by promoting Australian Tony McGahan to the position from within the coaching setup.