Wales Online's Delme Parfitt answers questions on the Welsh sides' Heineken Cup performance.

"With another Heineken Cup pool campaign over, Delme Parfitt answers the key questions about the performances of the Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets in Europe’s elite competition, and assesses what it might mean for Wales’ Six Nations campaign

Q: Should we be happy with having one of our regions in the quarter-finals?

DP: Well, if we’d been offered that scenario at the start of the campaign we may well have accepted it given the blank we drew last time out, but there’s something of a flat feel about it all because few will give the Blues much hope of progress away to Leinster in the last eight.

The Ospreys’ failure, not to mention the manner of it, also leaves a very bitter taste.

It says it all that the Scarlets, in beating Castres on French soil and securing an Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final berth, probably came out of the final weekend with the most credit.”

The Scotsman's David Ferguson praises Edinburgh for their journey into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and looks at the financial implications.

"Edinburgh have set up a revenge mission with Toulouse after securing a home quarter-final in the Heineken Cup, but will also trigger a cash windfall that could open the door to professional rugby finally taking off in Scotland.

As part of an historic shift in European rugby, Edinburgh are one of five teams from the Celtic league, now the RaboDirect PRO12, into the last eight for the first time in the tournament’s 17-year history. It is only the second occasion that England provide just one qualifier, Saracens, while France have only Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne.

The Scots defeated London Irish 34-11 at Murrayfield yesterday to top Pool 2 and clinch a home quarter-final with the same French side they faced on the previous occasion they reached the quarter-finals, in 2004. Then, they had to return to France and lost 36-10.”

Saints captain Dylan Hartley, talking to the Daily Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher, has fired a cheeky parting shot at team-mate Chris Ashton following his move to Saracens

"Dylan Hartley, the Northampton captain, has questioned Chris Ashton’s decision to leave Northampton for Saracens, although the England hooker says there will be no lingering animosity when the pair meet at the national side’s Six Nations training camp on Monday.

Ashton watched Saints’ thumping defeat after being left out of the side in midweek, a decision which prompted him to storm out of a training session.

“It is his decision,” Hartley said. “The reason I signed again for Saints is that I don’t think there is any other place I would want to be as a young Englishman. I’m very happy here, but all the best to him. I will still be his mate.”

Edinburgh’s players don’t make life easy for themselves but have the ability to beat anyone, Allan Jacobsen tells the Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison.

"History suggests that you need a big, muscular front five and, instead, Edinburgh boasts a mobile but lightweight pack. Common sense says that experience is all, but Edinburgh won that first match with a 19-year-old stand-off. Everyone knows that you don’t give a team like Racing Metro a 24-point lead but Edinburgh made short work of reeling them in at Murrayfield. Reason insists that a good league showing is important for building confidence but Edinburgh have won four out of 13 in the RaboDirect Pro12.

"Edinburgh have won their four Heineken matches by an average of three points, with the winning kicks in two of them coming as the referee checked his watch. No one can accuse the capital club of doing things the easy way and, if there is a suspicion that this side are concentrating on Europe to the detriment of the league, they would only be copying what the Irish provinces have done to good effect for the last decade.

"Jacobsen insists that he is as confused as the next man by the club’s lowly league position but, in explaining their Heineken form, he points to the contribution from the club’s youngsters, who have come in and shaken the place up with a winning mentality and a hunger for success. “There is a buzz about the club and it’s brilliant,” he beams. “We’ve lost a lot of experienced players over the last few years. We’ve brought some good ones in but you could argue that a lot of players weren’t replaced like for like. A lot of young guys have come through and stepped up to the mark. I think that’s brilliant. I think the young guys have really proved themselves this year, there is a lot of hunger at the club."

The Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford ponders the failure of England's leading clubs to make an impact on this season's Heineken Cup.

"There’s something else that Mark McCafferty [Premiership Rugby chief executive] feels strongly about. He, along with a number of senior figures among the French and English clubs, believes the current qualifying arrangements for Europe’s premier competition are flawed, and that the prospects of the French and English representatives are being unfairly skewed by a cosy Celtic-Italian coalition.

"Put simply, English and French Rugby Union teams have to bust a gut to qualify from their respective domestic leagues while any old middling outfit can get through from the RaboDirect Pro 12, a new name for an old sinecure, the Celtic alliance plus Italy. McCafferty and friends are so peeved about the perceived inequality that they are making, strong representations to European Rugby Cup Ltd, the organisation that runs both European tournaments.

“Our view is that Heineken Cup qualification should be based on league form,” McCafferty explains. “There are three of those – the Aviva Premiership, the Top 14 Orange in France and the Pro 12 – and you should take the qualifying teams from the best sides in those leagues. Then it’s a completely meritocratic system.

"This season the 24 teams in the six Heineken Cup pools are made up of 11 from the Pro 12, six from France and seven from the Premiership. It should be eight across the board."

Ronan O'Gara admits Munster have been far from their best in qualifying for the Heineken Cup last eight © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary talks to Munster fly-half Ronan O'Gara ahead of their Heineken Cup clash with Northampton Saints.

“True, it is incredible that we’ve got to where we have this season because we’ve been on the ropes in nearly every match,” is O’Gara’s blunt assessment.

“It’s testimony to the character and belief that has been ingrained down the years. We’re a team in transition but there’s a good bit of experience there too and that’s been crucial to us surviving. It’s been hugely enjoyable perhaps because it’s been against the run of play, against the grain.”

The Guardian's Paul Rees reflects on a bad week for the Leicester Tigers.

"Richard Cockerill said this week that the salary cap in England was a prime reason why Premiership clubs were struggling to compete in the Heineken Cup. With the final round of group matches starting this Friday, only Saracens and Harlequins are likely English contenders for the quarter-finals.

"I do not think you have the financial clout to compete at the top end, especially if you have injuries," said Cockerill. "You do not have the money to have the depth of squad. That is not a criticism of anybody: that is the fact of it. In England, by and large, you have to be successful in Europe. If you do well in Europe, it is a bonus."

The £4.2m cap did not explain the manner of Leicester's defeat to Ulster at Ravenhill last Friday. The Tigers were short of a few of their internationals, but to lose 41-7 on a night that, in terms of the weather, was kind for Belfast in January, no rain or howling wind, suggested something that went beyond how many caps you had sitting on the bench."

The Guardian's Rob Kitson reflects on yet another good weekend for the Celtic league in the Heineken Cup.

"Munster, Leinster and Ulster, Ireland's three leading sides, have played 15 Heineken Cup pool games between them this season and lost just once in total. All three sit top of their groups. England, in contrast, look likely to end up with just one qualifier – Saracens – from a starting list of seven. Which nation would you back to fare better in the forthcoming Six Nations championship?

Rugby union, clearly, is not quite that simple. It should also be pointed out that France, World Cup finalists and perhaps the strongest Six Nations team on paper, could be represented in the quarter-finals by just two clubs, Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne. The remaining quartet of Castres, Racing Métro, Montpellier and Biarritz have won just five of their 20 games to date. A sense of underachievement is not just confined to English club rugby."

Hugh Farrelly, of the Irish Independent, reflects on Leinster's hard fought win over Glasgow.

"Not quite the Sunday roast many expected, but the champions duly claimed their berth in the Heineken Cup knockout stages, with the prospect of a Lansdowne Road quarter-final if they take care of Montpellier next weekend.

They had to scrap for it all the way, though.

Firhill is an austere outpost on the European rugby circuit, the home of Partick Thistle FC, nestling amid a cordon of concrete tower blocks, and the no-frills surroundings were ideally suited to a contest which bristled with intensity but was always more grunt than guile"

The Irish Times' John Sullivan reports from Thomond Park as Munster become the first side to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

"A fifth consecutive victory guaranteed Munster a place in the Heineken Cup playoffs but the absence of a bonus point against Castres at Thomond Park, coupled with the nature of the performance, will smart. A home quarter-final now rests on a result in Northampton next weekend, where the Saints will seek revenge after having their pockets picked here in November.

"The English club will be chasing a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

"A lack or precision, principally in the opposing 22, saw the home side spurn several excellent try scoring chances. A frustration was that they made a host of line breaks but just couldn’t convert them. Their dominance in the scrum provided a rich seam of penalties and they also nicked several lineouts but couldn’t properly translate the glut of possession into tries. Decision making was also questionable, at times, the home side guilty of kicking away ball and forcing passes.

"Castres couldn’t believe their good fortune and in snatches demonstrated reasonable continuity and muscularity. They might have had one or two more tries of their own without really threatening to win the match."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews the latest round of Heineken Cup action.

"And so to the meat of the season. As a prelude to the forthcoming Six Nations, the next couple of make-or-break, concluding weekends to the pool stages of the Heineken Cup take some beating.

"Aside from providing the usual complications and dramatics next weekend, they are also likely to define some clubs’ seasons. In the cup, it’s all about stayin’ alive beyond January and thus, the Six Nations as well.

"The return to European matters finds three Irish provinces leading their pools and thus never better placed to provide three Heineken Cup quarter-finalists for the first time. Munster are the only team with four wins from four – and all of them by six points or less – while Leinster are the only other unbeaten side."

Former England centre Will Greenwood offers some predictions for 2012 - on the domestic and international stage - in The Daily Telegraph.

"Precision, pace and dynamism everywhere that was built around a very solid set-piece. Jonathan Sexton looked as good as any fly-half on the planet and threw in a 45-metre dropped goal to cap his try. As always, Munster are in the mix, but my days of never doubting them are fading.

"Toulouse and Harlequins have produced an epic, I still love my Clermont boys while Saracens love being party-poopers. But for me, it’s Leinster to win it."

Referee Alain Rolland lectures Quins' team manager Grahame Bowerbank for playing the ball © Getty Images

The weekend’s Heineken Cup games were beset by the inconsistencies of referees, according to Daily Telegraph columnist Brian Moore.

"We should not get to the stage of other sports and blame them for all the ills of the game, but you have to say that at times the standard is simply not good enough.

"Take the eccentric performance of Alain Rolland during Harlequins’ thrilling 31-24 win at Toulouse. Early on Rolland watched a Toulouse forward pick up a Quins forward, drive him up and over a maul and drop him so he fell on his shoulder and neck.

"We know Rolland has a strict policy on dangerous play because he sent off Wales captain Sam Warburton for dropping Frenchman Vincent Clerc in a tackle in the Rugby World Cup.

"The Quins’ player was caused to fall from a greater height than Clerc but this time there was no yellow card, no red, not even a warning."

Writing in The Times (via paywall), Mark Souster believes Quins' victory over Toulouse masks emergence of a two-tier Europe with England in the slow lane.

"Harlequins’ outstanding win in Toulouse yesterday lifted the mood of pessimism enveloping English clubs in the Heineken Cup — whether it signals a genuine revival in the country’s overall European fortunes or was simply a glorious one-off remains to be seen.

"After the first four rounds, the tournament is beginning to take shape and there did not seem to be a huge amount of festive cheer for the seven Aviva Premiership representatives. It may well be that only one, Saracens, makes it to the knockout stages. Nothing though is cut and dried, and Leicester and Harlequins still have realistic hopes of making the last eight. That said, the feeling still exists that it is not only on the political front that England is slightly out of step with the rest of Europe.

"The performances in general may be indicative of a post-World Cup malaise. Questions are once again being asked not only about the inequality in the tournament in terms of the annual battle for qualification, but also the handicap of the salary cap. Two years ago, when Northampton were the only team to make the quarter-finals, there was talk of that being a blip. It is perhaps more deep-seated than that."

The Guardian's Rob Kitson reports from Harlequins' stunning Heineken Cup victory over Toulouse.

"Anglo-French political relations may be strained but no one could dispute Harlequins' glorious riposte to those who had lost faith in English clubs conquering Europe's wealthy elite this season. While Quins have been involved in several remarkable Heineken Cup contests in recent years, this was something else again. If rugby union indulged in credit ratings, Quins would once again be triple‑A material.

"It made a stunning change from the obituaries filed last week about England's tournament prospects. With Saracens in charge of Pool Five and Leicester defeating Clermont, there is life in the old bulldog yet. Only good sides defeat the French aristocrats on their own turf; only mentally tough ones can possibly recover from the serious beating they received at the hands of the same opponents nine days earlier. "It was the size of the heart against the size of the wallet and the heart won today," said Conor O'Shea, Quins' proud director of rugby."

Wales Online's Gareth Griffiths talks to Scarlets boss Nigel Davies ahead of their huge clash with Munster.

"Scarlets coach Nigel Davies has labelled today’s Heineken Cup crunch clash against Munster as a potential defining moment in the region’s short history.

The Scarlets travel to a sellout 28,000 Thomond Park to face the mighty Munster, who have been crowned European champions on two occasions and won 17-14 in Llanelli in the first part of the double-header.

Davies believes it is time for his Scarlets side to come of age and make the transition from promising youngsters to serious contenders."

Clermont's Morgan Parra gets to grips with Leicester's George Chuter © Getty Images

Will Greenwood, writing for the Daily Telegraph, looks at where the England club sides have failed in Europe.

"England’s big sides went out against the powerhouses of Europe and by and large they got mauled. There have been victories but no one can say they have stamped their authority on a group, and many of the sides we fancied have had their metaphorical trousers pulled down and been given a good spanking.

Last week Harlequins were schooled, Northampton battered, Leicester fed through a mincer. There were times in every match when the English sides looked as if they were the stronger, but those moments were fleeting. What I found most worrying was when the instances of genuine quality came, they tended to be reactive rather than proactive.

What this means is that when the key moments came, it was not the English sides who were dictating what happened, and that isn’t good enough if you want to win competitions. It is the step up in intensity and speed of thought that seems to be scuppering their efforts.

For me there were three prime examples of how they fell short."

The Daily Mail's Chris Foy talks to Saracens' Brad Barritt about his aspirations for both club and country.

"When Saracens face the Ospreys in Swansea, Owen Farrell will not be in the No 12 shirt that many expect him to wear for England. At the Aviva Premiership's champion club, that shirt belongs to Brad Barritt.

The Anglo-South African centre has made the place his own after three seasons of incredible consistency since moving from Durban to Hertfordshire.

When Charlie Hodgson arrived from Sale in the summer, it wasn't Barritt who shifted to accommodate him, it was Farrell."

The Independent's Chris Hewett looks at the growing divide between the French clubs and the rest in the Heineken Cup.

"It has all the makings of a humdinger: Saracens, the English champions, travel to Swansea tonight for a Heineken Cup match with Ospreys, the strongest side in Wales, that will go a very long way towards deciding who qualifies automatically for the knock-out stage of the world's best club tournament. Unfortunately for those on the red-rose side of the Severn, there may not be many more humdingers ahead. Collectively speaking, the Premiership contingent are struggling badly in Europe, to the extent that 2011-12 may turn out to be 2009-10 revisited.

Two seasons ago, Northampton were the only English side to make the quarter-finals. It was, statistically as well as in every other sense, a low point for the professional club game in this country, so the growing threat of what might be called "cross-border calamity redux" is alarming indeed. Most alarmed of all are Northampton themselves, for they are already out of a competition that is only halfway through its pool phase. Bath, pioneering European spirits who broke new ground by winning the Heineken Cup in 1998, are on their last legs – defeat against Leinster, the holders, in Dublin tomorrow evening will end their campaign for another year – while Harlequins, the Premiership leaders, are by no means guaranteed to advance. Leicester, two-time champions? Ditto. As for Gloucester... let Bryan Redpath, the director of rugby at Kingsholm, tell it how it is."

The Guardian's Paul Rees looks at the Ospreys' struggle to bring in the crowds.

"Ospreys ban fake tan" is one of the more enduring headlines of the season. It was not a flippant gesture but a statement of intent from a region who had spent millions on building a squad of international players, including expensive imports, but had seen little return in the Heineken Cup.

Coloured boots have gone the way of bogus tans for players who have not made 50 appearances for the Ospreys or won 15 caps. The policy of recruiting galácticos has been abandoned and, like Wales, the region are looking to blood young players with core values.

When Warren Gatland took charge of his first Wales international, in 2008, 13 of his starting line-up were Ospreys. That number had been reduced to four for October's World Cup quarter-final against Ireland and one of those, Shane Williams, has since retired from international rugby."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews a crunch weekend in the battle for this season's Heineken Cup.

"Whatever about completing back-to-back wins, it’s fairly imperative to emerge with a superior head-to-head record from the December rounds. In each of the last three seasons, all six pool winners and the two best runners-up have emerged from these games with a superior head-to-head record, be it match points, try tallies or points aggregate.

"In the last seven seasons, the only slight exception to this trend was in December ’07, when London Irish shared wins with Perpignan and won the pool by two points despite an inferior head-to-head record with the French side, based on tries scored over the two games. Even then though, Perpignan qualified with them as one of the two best runners-up. Similarly, Northampton traded wins but lost out to Toulouse on match points in 2004, but still qualified behind the French team as one of the best two runners-up.

"The back-to-back rounds were introduced along with the current format of six pools each comprising of four teams in the 1999-2000 season, with Munster grasping their importance in registering consecutive wins over Colomiers en route to earning a home quarter-final as pool winners and ultimately reaching the final, where they lost to Northampton.

"By contrast, although Leinster avenged their defeat in Paris to Stade Français at Donnybrook a week later, their inferior try tally enabled Stade to progress."

Munster get over the line once more, but remain a team in transition, says the Irish Independent's Brendan Fanning.

"Having played more get out jail cards than are normally issued in the pool stages of the Heineken cup, Munster went to West Wales looking for the sort of performance that would not just give them control of Pool 1, but provide them with a confidence boost about their game in general.

"Last week scrumhalf Conor Murray was asked if it had been a good thing that they lost against a half-strength but feisty Ospreys side -- the question wasn't phrased quite like that -- on the basis that they got it out of their system. Offered the chance to ascribe the setback to a sort of bug that had to be flushed out, so better they do it in the Pro 12 than the Heineken, Murray gratefully toed the line and agreed. It was another get out of jail card, if you like. It's unlikely that the scrumhalf felt a week ago that his team had been cleansed by the experience.

"So this was about re-establishing themselves. The game in Swansea a week ago had been madcap and without structure, and the looser it became the more uncomfortable Munster looked. And what did we get in Llanelli? Another version of the same movie, albeit with a whole lot more entertainment. And the Munster fans got some reassurance about their set-piece, which was top of their wish-list."

The Western Mail's Simon Thomas reflects on the Scarlets' Heineken Cup defeat to Munster.

"Having waited so long for a victory over Munster, the Scarlets will be all the more frustrated at having missed out on an opportunity to finally get the better of their bogey team.

"You have to go back to the Heineken Cup quarter-final at Stradey Park in April 2007 to find their last victory over the men from the south west of Ireland.

"Now the losing run has been extended to 13 games following Saturday’s Euro defeat – a result that has left Nigel Davies’ team facing an uphill struggle to make the knockout stages.

"Coach Davies was left to reflect on what might have been as he ran the rule over a contest which his charges could – and perhaps should – have won."

In the wake of his side's latest euro defeat, Northampton boss Jim Mallinder has backed his flanker Tom Wood for the England captaincy. The Guardian's Pau Rees reports.

"Jim Mallinder has in a few weeks gone from being favourite to lead England into the 2015 World Cup to having to salvage Northampton's season from the wreckage of a Heineken Cup campaign that is the exact opposite of a year ago, when the Saints had won three out of three.

"Defeat by mediocre opposition on Saturday left Saints at the bottom of their pool. Three victories in their remaining matches may be enough to secure a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals, but while just a few months ago Northampton appeared a model of stability compared with England, fault lines are appearing.

"The majority of their England players have yet to rediscover their zest of last season. The flanker Tom Wood is an exception but he followed the previous week's red card at Leicester with a trip to the sin-bin 18 minutes from the end. Wood saw yellow for encroaching as Castres rolled a maul on the Northampton 22."

The Irish provinces are once again the teams to beat in this season's Heineken Cup, according to Bath prop David Flatman Independent on Sunday.

This afternoon we at Bath take on mighty Leinster, the reigning Heineken Cup champions. The truth is that we have not quite hit our straps over the past few weeks so, despite being on our own patch, we go into the game as underdogs. Certainly I would expect the bookmakers to offer us relatively slim odds.

Such is the recent Irish dominance in European competition, these odds would be similar even if we were on top form. Leinster and Munster have become the new European rugby superpowers.

The reason the French teams did well was – and is – often put down to cash alone, and there is some mileage in this most basic theory. Their budgets are enormous and, consequently, their squads are flooded with high-end international players. One goes off, another comes on. This is tough to beat.

But the Irish provinces seem to thrive for different reasons and this, I think, is because they are set up to peak for the Heineken Cup. The Pro12 is a good competition littered with top-class players, but many of them don't play that often.

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly previews the latest Heineken Cup milestone for Munster's Ronan O'Gara.

"His commitment to the team is absolute and it is no surprise that the Heineken Cup final defeats of 2000 and '02 still rankle -- he wants another European crown to add his '06 and '08 medals.

"That's (medals won) not enough. We left two, well certainly one, Heineken Cup behind us. Winning is what you play for," said O'Gara this week. "I'll never leave Munster, not a chance. That's what makes me tick, the red jersey, playing for my club, with my friends. That's what I'm about. That's what defines me.

"I'm not a rugby player, I'm a Munster rugby player. When I do eventually retire that's what I'll be known as -- a one-club man. Being a part of this team very much helps in that regard. I have high standards but Paul O'Connell has maybe even higher standards than me. We drive each other on, all of us."

The Irish Times' John Sullivan previews Munster's latest euro date with the Scarlets.

"Ronan O'Gara commandeered the headlines by virtue of his drop goal heroics in Munster’s two Heineken Cup victories to date this season, a feat he would be content to replicate, not primarily for personal approbation, but if it was the precursor to a third consecutive win for the Irish province.

"This afternoon in Llanelli he’ll reach another milestone by becoming the second player – team-mate John Hayes was the first – to play 100 matches in the tournament. It’s a remarkable testament to longevity of excellence. In 13 years he’s been at the epicentre of many a triumph.

"As he stated in the build-up to the match the latest garland is something on which he’ll reflect when his playing days are past; his immediate focus is on driving his team to another win. It’ll be tough for a variety of reasons, some of which may be traced to Munster’s flawed performances in victory against the Northampton Saints and Castres Olympique; others attributable to the challenge that a rejuvenated Scarlets will muster."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Will Greenwood believes Heineken Cup hopefuls must hold their concentration for the full 80 minutes.

"It’s called Fergie Time. Manchester United may not have managed it in the Champions League this week, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides so often manage a great escape when it comes to the final minutes. They understand that as the sands of time run out, the weight of expectation can all but crush those in the lead.

"Rugby is no different, even if the red zone comes after 80 minutes. The losing side have a desperation that makes them dangerous, and if you want proof of what can happen, then you only need to look at the first two rounds of the Heineken Cup when games and fortunes have turned around in ‘Fergie Time’.

"Go back a few Sunday afternoons, and Glasgow were behind at home to Bath. The clock ticked on, and they were going nowhere offensively. Fly-half Duncan Weir pulled back in the pocket for a speculative dropped goal. It was half charged down and if you had paused the moment there you would have seen there was no way Richie Gray, the Glasgow second row, should have got to it first. But that’s the beauty of ‘Fergie Time’ – it warps reactions and changes perceptions."

Bath's Olly Barkley emerges from dark times hoping to inspire victory over Leinster in Heineken Cup, the Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary reports.

"The manicured 140 acres, the landscaped gardens, the 17th century restored manor house, the hi-tech 3G pitch, the purpose-built gymnasium, Bath’s sumptuous headquarters at Farleigh House seemingly has it all, save for one thing: the kick-up-the-backside facility. The millions invested by owner Bruce Craig allied to the shrewd input of Sir Ian McGeechan have yet to bring tangible yield.

"On Sunday, defending Heineken Cup champions Leinster come to the Recreation Ground, the ground as brimful as it has been for three years with not a ticket to be had. Yet the locals are half-enthralled, half-fearful.

"Their team are maddeningly inconsistent. If they stumble as they did last weekend against Sale, throwing away a significant half-time advantage to lose at home, then it could get very messy. For all Bath’s riches and resources, the glory years are a memory rather than a prospect.

“We’re probably not deserving at the moment of what we have here,” said Olly Barkley, as frank as ever, admitting also that he was still some way short of match fitness after an eight month lay-off with a broken leg."

Shaun Edwards, in his column for The Guardian, previews Harlequins toughest game this season as they prepare to face Toulouse on Friday evening.

"These are heady times at Harlequins. Fourteen wins on the bounce, by a long way the best start to a season by an English club, and on Friday night Toulouse are the visitors. Top of the Premiership versus top of the Top 14 and a chance that the traditional fortnight of back‑to‑back Heineken Cup rugby may kick off with an English win. Quins winning on the banks of the Garonne the following week is another matter.

First Harlequins must not be daunted by the aura that surrounds the French club. They may be the big moneybags of European rugby and they may be four‑times Heineken champions but, as Gloucester showed last month, if you get in their faces, they can be vulnerable. OK, Gloucester did not win but it took Clément Poitrenaud to make something from nothing for Toulouse to keep their home record. And Poitrenaud will not be around tonight at The Stoop."

Andy Howell, of the Western Mail, talks to Scarlets youngster Liam Williams as he prepares to face Ronan O'Gara.

"Liam Williams has done a Leigh Halfpenny and challenged Ronan O’Gara to pepper him with up-and-unders at Parc y Scarlets tomorrow.

Halfpenny issued his “bring it on” plea ahead of Wales’ World Cup quarter-final with Ireland in wet and windy New Zealand capital Wellington two months ago. And veteran outside-half O’Gara proceeded to have one of his worst games for the Emerald Isle as they crashed to a 22-10 defeat at the ‘Cake-tin’.

But exciting Scarlets full-back find Williams, who was in the Wales squad for last weekend’s Test with Australia, certainly won’t be taking Ireland and the Heineken Cup’s record points-scorer lightly when Munster pitch up at Llanelli.

“O’Gara has got a very good mix to his kicking game,” said the 21-year-old Wales Under-20 international. “He’s able to go long and hit grass but, if I’m back, he will put it up. I’m more than happy to take those balls."

The top two teams in all six pools play each other twice before Christmas. But it could lead to dead games in January according to The Guardian's Rob Kitson.

"Perfect symmetry is rare in rugby union. Not this week. The middle fortnight of the Heineken Cup pool stages is always significant but the tournament is about to witness something unique. By a quirk of fate, the top two teams in all six pools will be playing each other home and away in rounds three and four. It is more than possible a number of pools will be virtually settled by Christmas.

"This is unusual to say the least. Traditionally, supporters are still sweating on pool winners entering the final minute of the final games in January. This time around six clubs – Scarlets or Munster, Edinburgh or Cardiff Blues, Leinster or Bath, Leicester or Clermont Auvergne, Saracens or Ospreys, and Toulouse or Harlequins – could secure near-certain quarter-final qualification way ahead of schedule if they achieve successive wins this weekend and next.

"It clearly remains a big "if". The beauty of Europe is that beating Toulouse, say, on a Friday night in south-west London is absolutely no guarantee of doing likewise on the banks of the river Garonne the following week. Last season six teams out of 24 managed to achieve a home-and-away double at this stage of the competition. The previous year it was seven. Would you bet on Bath beating Leinster home and away inside seven days? Thought not."

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly previews Ronan O'Gara 100th Heineken Cup appearance for Munster against Scarlets.

"Munster's new coach Declan Kidney raised more than a few eyebrows in 1997 when he named his team to face Harlequins in London for the opening round of the Heineken Cup.

"Travelling to the Stoop was a daunting assignment by any standards, as Quins had a powerful side featuring world-renowned performers such as Will Carling, Keith Wood, Jason Leonard and Laurent Cabannes, but that did not stop Kidney giving a clutch of youngsters their European debuts.

"For Greg Tuohy, an athletic No 8 from Sunday's Well, it was to be his only taste of Heineken Cup action after a miffed Anthony Foley was restored to the back-row the following week against Cardiff.

"Tuohy's clubmates Conor Burke and John Lacey picked up a few more Heineken Cup caps each that season but were out of the frame by the time Munster made their breakthrough in 1999/2000.

"Other debutants, such as winger Anthony Horgan and flanker Alan Quinlan, would go on to experience long and productive Heineken Cup careers -- and then there was Ronan O'Gara."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley reflects on a dramatic Heineken Cup weekend for the Ireland's provinces.

"After landing a match-winning drop goal in overtime for the second successive game, against Castres in Toulouse, Ronan O’Gara could probably have floated home to Cork on Saturday night. In the event, fog in Cork obliged the squad’s charter flight to circle the city before being diverted to Dublin, though as Denis Fogarty suggested on board: “Let Rog land it. He can land anything.”

"So much for the theory that the weekend’s Heineken Cup activity couldn’t come close to matching the drama of the opening weekend. Not when O’Gara and Munster are around, and following on from the Scarlets’ irreverent bonus-point win at Northampton on Friday night, it sets up the first of the two back-to-back meetings between the Scarlets and Munster in Llanelli on Saturday, December 10th nicely indeed."

The Guardian's Paul Rees reports from Leicester's Heineken Cup victory over Ulster.

"Out with the new and in with the old is a refrain being urged on Twickenham after the resignation of Martin Johnson as the England team manager. It has also been taken up by his former club, Leicester, as they achieved their first meaningful home victory of the season at a point in the campaign when they are usually defending an unbeaten ground record.

"They had been brittle in front of their own supporters but after Ulster led three times in the first half, at no stage for very long, the Tigers took control at forward. When Ben Youngs came on towards the end of the third quarter, the England scrum-half lifted the tempo and sharpened his side's focus.

"This was the old Tigers," said the Leicester director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, who, showing how wacky sport can be, was asked whether he thought he was in line to succeed Johnson, just a few weeks after he himself had been tipped for the sack. "We did just enough and left a good side with nowhere to go."

"The talk was mostly about Johnson, not least whether he would return to the club at which he spent his playing career, and who would replace him. "That job is far too soon for me," said Cockerill. "There are better qualified people than me around, like Jim Mallinder and Toby Booth."

Action replay: Munster's Ronan O'Gara slots a match-winning drop goal against Castres © Getty Images

The Irish Times' John O'Sullivan reports from Munster's latest dramatic last-gasp Heineken Cup victory - this time against Castres.

"It was quite remarkable. Three seconds left on the game clock and Ronan O'Gara dropped back into the pocket just inside the Castres 10 metre line as his forwards sought extra inches and some 20 seconds later the Munster outhalf stuck a delightful drop goal for the second time in the space of a week to ensure a Munster victory.

"Last weekend at Thomond Park it took 41 phases to engineer a position against the Northampton Saints. Tonight in the Stade Ernest Wallon, there wasn't quite the same nerve fraying preamble but the outcome was no less enjoyable for the travelling supporters.

"O'Gara's strike was delightful and within a second of making contact with the ball he wheeled away with his hand in the air. Referee Wayne Barnes waited a little while longer to confirm the score and then blew his whistle for a second time to signal the end of the match.

"The Munster outhalf's ability to function under extreme pressure, to carry the weight, expectation and aspirations of his team on his shoulders and to unerringly deliver is extraordinary. It was at best a fitful performance from the visitors but once again they demonstrated the aptitude to find a solution."

The Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison reflects on Edinburgh's stunning Heineken Cup victory over Racing Metro at Murrayfield.

"C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre.” That was Général Pierre Bosquet’s comment on the charge of the Light Brigade. You could say something similar about Friday evening’s extraordinary match at Murrayfield, although this time the light brigade in the home ranks scored a terrific win over Racing Metro’s stellar array of big guns.

"In 2015 a TV producer in a London studio will most likely sit down and compile the best bits of the first 20 years of the Heineken Cup and will somehow have to cut this match down to 45 seconds or so. I don’t envy him because there were approximately 80 minutes of highlights on offer. “You won’t see a better match all year,” Michael Bradley said to a crowd of journalists the like of which is usually found only when there is a free drink on offer. I hate to disagree with him but you won’t find a better match all decade."

Rugby World-Cup winner Stephen Donald is keen to play part in Bath's return to the glory days. The Sunday Telegraph's Steve James reports.

"His sudden summons from fishing on the Waikato River is a wonderfully alluring story but it does not automatically mean Donald is now the panacea to Bath’s problems.

"It is a point made by the humble Donald himself. “I don’t get carried away with all the hype in the press world,” he says, “I’m no star attraction.

"There’s the English captain [well, Lewis Moody was England captain before retirement], and people like that, so they are the stars. I’m just slipping in the back door.”

"But, of course, there will be many thinking very differently, because the trouble is that Bath, once serial winners, have been military medium for too long now."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews Toulouse's visit to Connacht in the Heineken Cup.

"The day of reckoning is at hand, and as 100th games in Europe go, Connacht’s big day is becoming bigger by the day. Sure enough, as befits a game that will be graced by both the Taoiseach and the newly elected President, the four-time Heineken Cup winners, Toulouse, will also mark the occasion by bringing all their galacticos, including recently crowned World Player of the Year Thierry Dusautoir.

"Guy Noves has made 10 changes to the team which went through the motions a little in eventually overcoming Gloucester at home last week, but then again he can afford to. For as also befits the premier outfit in European club rugby, their annual budget is €26 million – by the sharpest of contrasts, Connacht’s is estimated at €3 million."

North is a hot property following an outstanding Rugby World Cup campaign © Getty Images

Scarlets' George North struggles to evade the limelight after superb Rugby World Cup showing with Wales. The Daily Telegraph's Steve James reports.

"Last weekend George North was nervous before the Scarlets’ home match against Castres. It was his Heineken Cup debut after all.

"Nothing unusual in such emotions, except that not many players take such a bow at 19 years old, with 15 international caps, seven of them at a Rugby World Cup where he was picked in many pundits’ team of the tournament, already in the personal cabinet.

“It’s been a nuts year,” North confesses. Indeed it has. A year ago he was on only a development contract at the Scarlets, earning peanuts, when he was summoned to play against South Africa at the Millennium Stadium. He duly scored two tries, and so began a remarkable story that not even shoulder surgery after his third cap (against New Zealand) last autumn could scupper.

"Sometimes, though, fast steep climbs can shock young minds. Not on the pitch, where North was a stunning man of the match against Castres and continues to amaze with his influence upon matches, but off it where North is not entirely comfortable with the attention he is receiving."

Edinburgh prospect Harry Leonard will continue his rise against Racing Metro tonight but insists he’s no star yet, writes The Scotsman's David Ferguson.

"The most animated Harry Leonard gets during a chat in Edinburgh is when it is suggested that he is among a group of young men beginning to light up Scottish rugby.

"Up until that point, he’d been a fairly relaxed interviewee, looking back on his life so far from childhood in Brighton to the Heineken Cup, via Prestonpans, the long grass of Meggetland and training sessions with All Black Dan Carter.

"It was all very convivial but, the suggestion he was a rising star, brought the teenager out of his chair.

"No, no, no, you can’t say that,” said the 19-year-old, with a stare. “I’m not the latest ‘star’. Not in the slightest. I’ve only played three games, four hopefully this week and, hopefully, five next week. I just keep looking to the next job, next training session and next game.”

At 32, Connacht hooker Adrian Flavin is hoping to catch Declan Kidney's eye during the province's Heineken Cup adventure, he tells the Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly.

"The heavy clouds, wind and rain may have painted a different picture yesterday, but this is Connacht's week in the sun. The Heineken Cup... Toulouse... the Sportsground ... you would never have joined those dots a few years ago, but Connacht's 'Jim'll Fix It' dream is about to become reality.

"The province has never known such attention. Media requests are flooding in, with Ireland internationals Gavin Duffy, Mike McCarthy and John Muldoon in heavy demand, along with young centre Eoin Griffin -- whose rise to prominence has earned him the tag of 'Grico' from a squad who do not allow anyone to lose the run of themselves.

"And that is the ethos of Connacht. This is no place for superstar notions or unchecked egos. It is a haven of hard work and unheralded aspiration, a home for the lesser lights of the Irish professional game, men who have toiled away for years in the shadows and are now ready to step into the glare."

Munster's Ronan O'Gara celebrates his match-winning drop goal at Thomond Park © Getty Images

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley reports from Munster's last-gasp Heineken Cup victory over Northampton at Thomond Park.

"Stand Up and Fight, and Until the Final Bell indeed. In a tournament that pours out the drama as if on tap (though you could never bottle it) no team has patented last-ditch dramatics, especially at their Thomond Park fortress, more than Munster, while no player in the game’s history has assumed this responsibility more than Ronan O’Gara – and no one has delivered more than the Cork maestro.

"However, at the summit of a pulsating weekend, even by theirs and his standards this was a bit special. With 77 minutes gone and a scrum inside the Northampton half, Munster were trailing in a cracking contest by 21-20.

"Not only were their Heineken Cup prospects seriously imperiled, but coming after last season’s failure and the Challenge Cup defeat to Harlequins, so too was the mystique they’d built up with a home record second to none.

"The fat lady was clearing her throat and not for the first time, Munster were staring into the abyss. But it’s when they stare into that abyss that Munster find themselves. To witness that 41-phase drive which culminated in O’Gara’s 40 metre-plus drop goal was to behold something that almost defied belief. You get goosebumps just thinking about it."

The Scotsman's David Ferguson reports from Glasgow's dramatic Heineken Cup victory over Bath at Firhill.

"After a turbulent week for the young lock, Richie Gray emerged as Glasgow’s match-winner by scoring a stunningly bizarre try with the last act of this game to cap an historic weekend for Scottish rugby.

"The 22-year-old, who announced last week that he had agreed a move to Sale next summer, was first to the bouncing ball in the last seconds after Duncan Weir’s attempted drop-goal was deflected and then bounced backwards over the head of Bath full-back Nick Abendanon ten metres from the posts.

"Gray’s nearest challenger was the equally impressive Warriors flanker Rob Harley, but the 6ft 9in second row’s reach claimed the ball and he was then driven over the line as his and Harley’s force combined with that of despairing Bath tacklers.

"French referee Christophe Berdos went to the television match official, which only delayed confirmation of what everyone in Firhill knew, but Gray’s leap of delight when the whistle sounded sent the 4,000-plus support delirious."

The Daily Express' Steve Bale was impressed with the performance of Owen Farrell in Saracens' opening Heineken Cup victory over Treviso.

"Owen Farrell is far from the only Saracen worth England’s attention, if only there was anyone to give him or anyone else any attention at a time when there is a Six Nations squad to work out ready for the new year.

"Instead, English rugby is in a vacuum as well as torment, so another worthy showing by Farrell in yesterday’s uncomplicated bonus-point Heineken Cup opener in Watford against the outgunned Italian ‘superclub’ went largely unremarked – unless someone relevant was watching on TV.

"Farrell, 20, is the Premiership’s player of the month and was last night’s man of the match.

"He has his supporters for immediate inclusion among the next England selection, whoever makes it, along the lines of a number of Welsh players who flourished at the World Cup when Warren Gatland had the courage of his convictions."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley reports as Connacht prepare to make their Heineken Cup debut.

"f Connacht feel any sense of due toward Leinster for their backdoor route towards their long-awaited debut in the Heineken Cup this season, they are entitled to quickly park it. Leinster and the other Irish provinces, under the IRFU umbrella, have long since owed Connacht one after decades of institutionalised bullying and maltreatment.

"Now though, after the Sword of Damacles hung over Connacht for almost a decade, under the more enlightened leadership of Tom Grace and others, the IRFU have removed the moratorium on longterm contracts and given the province and their newly-formed and progressive Professional Game Board (PGB) their full backing.

"However, for the PGB to make tangible progress in the badly-needed redevelopment of the Sportsground, Connacht needed the Heineken Cup after 16 years on the outside as the poor relations of Irish rugby. Cue the newly-built Clan Terrace. Just like that.

"Now too, the players and supporters no longer feel like the pariahs of European rugby. So it was that they reacted with such undiluted glee to meeting the ultimate European powerhouse, Toulouse, for Connacht couldn’t have asked for a more attractive fixture around which to shape their season-ticket, marketing and ground redevelopment strategies."

The Irish Independent reports as Munster prepare to launch their latest assault on the Heineken Cup.

"For the first time since the tournament began 16 years ago, Munster will run out without an Anthony Foley, Alan Quinlan or David Wallace in their team, and last season's pool exit has eroded the air of impregnability and inevitability that habitually accompanies the province's European outings in Limerick.

"Northampton fancy their chances of emptying Munster in this one, as do some bookmakers, and a low-key build-up amid talk of a tickets flying around the province seeking takers has created a certain degree of first-day uncertainty ahead of their European opener.

"Coach Tony McGahan knows exactly what is at stake. Defeat would place his side under inordinate pressure heading to Castres the following week, with qualification immediately hanging in the balance. It is a tough station.

"Defeat by Leinster last Friday did not engender confidence, but there was enough in that match to suggest that Munster are not too far off where they need to be. McGahan is well aware of the pluses and minuses going into Saturday's clash."

Writing in The Guardian, Shaun Edwards believes it could be Northampton's turn to get the better of Munster in the Heineken Cup.

"A tough old group, which is hard on the young Scarlets team that probably does not have enough up front. Perhaps in another year, but it's hard to look beyond Northampton, who came within 40 minutes of winning the Heineken Cup last time, and Munster, the two-times winners who have bags of pedigree. They know each other well and this time it's Northampton's turn to go away from home first up and Thomond still has that aura about it, even if Harlequins did dent Munster's pride last season. That said, this is the group where anyone can beat anyone on their day and while Castres don't often get out of the pool stages themselves, they frequently have a say in who does and, despite going off the boil a bit in the past couple of weeks, are still third in the Top 14."

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary previews this season's Heineken Cup.

"The Heineken Cup adds colour to the canvas, intensity and vibrancy on the field of play, noise and passion around it. Given that we’ve already had the season’s climax in the Rugby World Cup, it is only right that the Heineken Cup should show that it too can hit a few sweet spots. There is a raft of new stars to follow, principally Wales's thrilling young World Cup brigade, but taking in battle-hardened warriors such as Toulouse’s Thierry Dusautoir or Biarritz’s Imanol Harinordoquy is never a task to cause regret.

"English and French clubs in particular relish participation for the simple reason there is no guarantee that they will qualify. For once, that feeling will be shared by the opposition at the Stoop this evening when Connacht, for too long seen as the country cousins of Irish rugby, take their bow in the Heineken Cup by dint of Leinster winning last season’s tournament.

"What is true for Connacht will also hold good for Harlequins. Old-stagers they might be but, burnished by ‘Bloodgate’ three seasons ago, it has taken them until now to reclaim the status lost that day. The manner of the narrow quarter-final defeat to Leinster in April 2009 triggered a period of calamity for Quins. Controversially, they were allowed to compete in the following season’s Heineken Cup. It was a pyrrhic triumph, for Harlequins lost all six pool games, slumping also in the Premiership and having to work their way back through the Amlin Challenge Cup."

The Irish Independent previews the eagerly-anticipated Heineken Cup clash between Munster and Northampton.

"It's the tie-breaker. Munster and Northampton have met four times in the Heineken Cup and have two wins apiece in a well-contested rivalry that sees Munster just 12 points ahead on aggregate (80-68).

"It adds an extra spice to Saturday's Pool One encounter at Thomond Park (the venue for both of Munster's wins in this fixture) -- and it is not as if this particular rivalry is short on flavour.

"Their previous meetings have been sparky affairs, dating back to the final in 2000, when Munster felt Mick Galwey was unfairly sin-binned, through to their next encounter in Franklin's Gardens nine years later, when the visitors felt referee Christophe Berdos should have brandished yellow for persistent Saints infringement.

"The return clash at Thomond was another fractious affair, as was the quarter-final at the same venue, when Northampton unwisely talked themselves up in the build-up, predictably provoking a furious Munster response when the contest began."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Brian Moore believes the sides that manage to shrug off the excesses of the World Cup will spearhead the challenge for the Heineken Cup.

"Whatever disappointments came from northern hemisphere sides in the World Cup, fans can find succour in the world’s best club rugby competition. While excitement is guaranteed; who will shine is altogether less certain.

"Irrespective of when they exited or how well or poorly they played, those players who went to the World Cup will vary in their performances in the Heineken Cup.

"It will not be lack of effort or application, but they were so focused on the World Cup that it is almost impossible for them to simply switch into club mode. Whichever sides’ stars find their form first will go a long way to deciding the crucial first few pool games. This is significant because as only one team per pool is guaranteed to progress, a bad start could be irredeemable.

"For example, will the French internationals be buoyed by knowing they pushed the world champions right to the edge or will they carry residual disaffection from knowing they could, possibly should, have won on that day?"

Writing for the Irish Times, Gerry Thornley reports from the latest launch for this season's Heineken Cup.

"The Heineken Cup has a low, if improving profile, in the Southern Hemisphere, and on foot of French sides moving matches beyond their country’s boundaries on the continent, McGrath cites Saracens’ decision to host Biarritz in round five next January in Cape Town.

“It’s their initiative but we’re thrilled with it,” admitted McGrath. “The Heineken Cup doesn’t have the penetration it could have but its awareness is building. And what’s important is that less is more, so that when we expose it we want it to be something of value.”

“When we looked at going to South Africa, we wanted it to be a good quality product and we took the view that commercially it makes a load of sense. At that time, that match would be shown live in South Africa anyway, so why not take the product there? But way beyond that, and the commercial interests of ourselves and Saracens, we had discussions with the FFR (French), the RFU, with the South African rugby union and with the IRB, with the clubs themselves.”

This landmark fixture will expose the tournament beyond live television and, given the smaller time differences, South Africa is the most fruitful market for the ERC in the southern hemisphere."

The decision by the ERC to bridge a 10-year gap by staging the 2013 Heineken Cup final in the Aviva Stadium is likely to generate around €25 million for the local economy. The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley reports.

"This estimate is based in large part on economic impact studies of the biennial Six Nations games between Ireland and England in Dublin, which the IRFU have been tracking since 1997: last March the figure for the economic impact, primarily in Dublin, was over €51 million.

"The IRFU estimates that the big international and provincial matches generate more than €200 million for the economy, which is almost certainly a conservative figure. Indeed, union chief executive Philip Browne reckons the 2013 final may generate “significantly more” than €25 million.

“At least 40 per cent of the tickets are sold in advance of knowing who the finalists are and a significant proportion of those tickets are sold in the UK, with a lesser proportion sold in France and Ireland. It could well be that you could have more people travelling to Dublin for a Heineken Cup final, depending on the teams, than you’d have for a Six Nations game."

In his weekly column in The Independent, former England boss Brian Ashton hails Jonathan Sexton's performance in last weekend's Heineken Cup final.

"After another punishing season of Premiership activity, I am quite willing to believe that fatigue played its part, especially as Leinster had been able to rest one or two individuals in the run-up. Even so, the Dubliners' metamorphosis was remarkable.

"Technically speaking, their first-half performance resembled that of an indifferent school side – the Under-14 B team sounds about right – yet after the break they were their formidable, overwhelming-on-all-fronts selves.

"Much has been made of Brian O'Driscoll's influence, but they now have something else working in their favour, off the field as well as on it: the Jonny Sexton factor. The outside-half is fast maturing into a genuine commander – certainly, Northampton could not live with the breadth and variation at the heart of his game – and, given the outstanding performances we have seen from him in recent high-profile matches, Ireland's forthcoming World Cup campaign should be very interesting indeed."

Gerry Thornley meets the European Player of the Year, Sean O'Brien, and runs through some pretty impressive stats in The Irish Times.

"In starting all nine of Leinster’s Heineken Cup games, O’Brien played the first four at number six, the next two at eight and the three knockout games at seven, scoring four tries and picking up three man-of-the-match awards, and even before his storming performance in the final, he led the Opta rankings as the tournament’s top-performing attacking and defensive player.

"O’Brien had made more carries (115) than any other player, as well as more metres than any other forward. The 24-year-old had also beaten 19 defenders, a competition high by any back or forward, before taking that into the 20s in the final, prior to which only Joe Worsley (90) had made more tackles than O’Brien (84)."

David Kelly plots the developments that have created the Leinster that we know today in The Irish Independent.

"It has taken only a decade but Leinster have constructed an empire. Two Heineken Cup wins in three years -- it could easily have been a hat-trick but for injury last season -- frank their status as the kings of Europe.

"Good teams win Europe's premier competition once. Great teams win it twice -- and more. When Toulouse lifted their second crown on Irish soil in 2003, many within Irish rugby were already meekly accepting that theirs would be a supporting act for the so-called giants of European rugby.

"Instead, Munster forged a path that Ireland and Leinster have followed. Seemingly insurmountable obstacles, whether French budgets that soar beyond €20m, or the vastly superior playing numbers boasted by England, have been spectacularly vaulted."

Mick Cleary reflects on Leinster's Heineken Cup triumph and the 'level playing field' debate in The Daily Telegraph.

"A game too far? No, half a game too far. But the drop-off was immediate and telling. We all rushed to acclaim this as the greatest of all Heineken Cup finals.

"Yes, we did have the rolling back of the stone by Leinster as they rose from the seeming dead. And, yes, in the all-consuming play of fly-half Jonathan Sexton we had an individual performance to rank with the finest that there has been.

"But the contest, which has appeared to be Northampton’s by half-time, was over by the hour mark. There was little drama in the eventual outcome, no late shifts in the scoreboard, no real uncertainty. The turn-around was that swift, that emphatic and that decisive."

Leinster celebrate their latest Heineken Cup success © Getty Images

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley reflects on Leinster's Heineken Cup triumph over Northampton at the Millennium Stadium.

"Never mind rugby, this was an epic comeback in any sporting context and if anybody in the Leinster machine recorded their ten-minute interval crisis management, they could release it and make a mint. Greg Feek having taken the pack through a DVD of their first-half scrum problems on his laptop, Jonny Sexton, sporting anorak that he is, had the presence of mind to cite Liverpool’s comeback from 3-0 down to Milan in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul during his animated rallying call.

"Brian O’Driscoll described him as like a man possessed during the interval, and thereafter Sexton played like one too. Those of us hailing him as the best outhalf in Europe had been given the most compelling proof on the most perfect of stages.

"Thus, this was the best final, best final comeback and the best individual performance in a final all wrapped up in one game. But for Sexton’s performance, on any anything resembling a normal day, Seán O’Brien would have walked off with the bubbly, though starting with the lap of honour, that was not in short supply."

In his column for the Irish Independent, George Hook hails Leinster's match-winner Jonathan Sexton.

"Much will be made of the half-time discussion in the dressing-room that supposedly changed the course of the match. The reality was that Jonny Sexton had assumed leadership of the side long before the break. As his dejected colleagues gathered behind the posts after conceding another soft try, it was the fly-half that took control.

"Like O'Driscoll, Sexton leads by example. On Saturday, the future captaincy of Ireland moved from No 8 to No 10. Joe Schmidt had a dream team to work with, a group awash with individuals that can stand up and be counted in a crisis."

The Irish Independent's David Kelly plots Leinster's path to Heineken Cup glory.

"...Meet Joe Schmidt - He admitted once again the other day that he feared the sack after a horrendous opening month. Once he began to understand the unique tenor of Irish rugby, he was unstoppable in providing direction and inspiration to his willing cohort of intelligent players. His calm assuredness at half-time in what was hitherto a disastrous final was key.

"Drico inks it - Last February, O'Driscoll's decision to extend his IRFU contract was one of the crucial junctures in stabilising the Leinster unit, ensuring that both Jamie Heaslip and Jonathan Sexton would echo their talisman's significant endorsement of the new coaching regime. Ending the issue after the completion of the pool stages ensured that idle speculation would not detract from the side's unswerving focus."

Daily Telegraph columnist Brian Moore believes that one "masterful" scrum was enough to break Northampton's spirit in the Heineken Cup Final.

"The Leinster pack shoved Tonga’uiha et al nearly 10 yards and the weapon that had subjugated Leinster was rendered obsolete; the effect on the morale of the whole Northampton team was devastating.

"This reversal of fortunes was caused not by altered front-row tactics, but because Northampton’s back row assumed Leinster would settle for static ball and their flankers stood up to see from where might come the attack. In the first half, all eight of their pack had committed to driving, but with an early score conceded and the tide of momentum threatening to build against them, they assumed wrongly. Whoever called the hold-and-drive at that scrum for Leinster deserves enormous credit because it was a tactical masterstroke.

"From then on, Leinster cut Northampton to shreds and the East Midlands side lacked the experience to halt the tide. After nearly 18 minutes, during which Northampton had almost no possession and Leinster had scored 17 points to take the lead, fly-half Stephen Myler kicked the ball back to Leinster. The rest, as they say, is history."

Writing in The Independent, Chris Hewett reflects on the impact made by a 'half-fit' Brian O'Driscoll during Leinster's amazing Heineken Cup triumph over Northampton.

""Old age takes away from us what we have inherited and gives us what we have earned." If Brian O'Driscoll, the one indisputably great player in modern-day European rugby, had done nothing else during the course of the finest Heineken Cup final in a decade – in the event, he did pretty much everything, ranging from the dramatically good to the desperately poor via the profoundly indifferent – he proved the truth of that maxim. There were any number of reasons why Northampton lost themselves in storm-tossed seas after reaching the mid-point of the contest with the harbour in clear view, but O'Driscoll was the rock on which they foundered."

Tactical changes introduced at half-time laid the foundation for Leinster's Heineken Cup victory but the Irish side's experience was also critical, according to The Guardian's Paul Rees.

"Northampton defied their stereotype from the off. When James Downey received the ball after 30 seconds, Leinster would have expected him to run at Gordon D'Arcy. Instead, he stepped away from his opposite number. The Saints were physical but they opted less for pick-and-go and more for pace and width. Ben Foden was influential and Stephen Myler played with his head up, running past Sean O'Brien to create his side's second try. Leinster were sucked into a game for which they were not prepared. Their back row was based on bulk rather than pace and they were turned over six times in the first 35 minutes. Shane Jennings's introduction at openside flanker helped to plug turnovers and O'Brien, hapless at No7, became hugely influential on the blind side. Northampton had their platform kicked away and Leinster, keeping hold of the ball, dictated the pace."

Northampton can only imagine what would have happened if Leinster talisman Brian O’Driscoll had been at his “finest”, according to the Daily Express' Steve Bale.

"Northampton saw less than the best of Brian O’Driscoll in the Heineken Cup final but this peerless player - through force of personality as much as his boundless prowess - is good enough even on one leg.

"Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton was the obvious Leinster match-winner and, with his two tries and 28 points – and rousing half-time revivalism – a meritorious man of the match.

"But would it have happened, would Northampton have disintegrated from their 22-6 interval lead to this defeat, without O’Driscoll metaphorically taking hold of the game and reshaping it in his own image, as is his wont? No way."

Leinster savour success while Saints suffer in defeat © Getty Images

Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph delivers his verdict on Leinster's thrilling Heineken Cup final victory over Northampton in Cardiff.

"The scenes at the end told the story in graphic detail. Every Northampton player slumped to the ground. Many of them were in tears. The despondency was almost tangible. They were broken physically and mentally.

"There is losing, and then there is losing when you have been utterly dominant for half of the game. And Northampton had been utterly dominant. They had led 22-6 at the break. Every scrummage had been a car crash for the Irishmen. Even when Northampton’s prop Brian Mujati was sin-binned, a seven-man effort was far too much for them as they were trundled backwards for some 20m at an embarrassing rate of knots. At that stage of the first half, that Northampton could lose was thoroughly inconceivable."

Leinster have joined the list of European rugby greats after their remarkable comeback in the Heineken Cup final against Northampton on Saturday, according to Peter Bills in the Irish Independent

"To win the Heineken Cup is one thing. But to do it in less than 40 minutes is something else entirely.

"Leinster did it in Cardiff yesterday, clinching their second Heineken Cup in three years. And in doing so, they entered the pantheon of the Heineken greats, true champions whose exploits had sane men and women standing on their feet, roaring and shaking with excitement.

"This was a classic, almost certainly the greatest comeback in Heineken Cup history, especially in a final. From the depths of half-time despair at 22-6 down to the dancing delight of a compelling 33-22 victory and that champagne moment, Leinster showed themselves worthy champions.

"In footballing terms, it was Liverpool v AC Milan in the Champions League final all over again. Milan, 3-0 up at the break, were stunned and shocked that Istanbul night by Liverpool's roaring comeback in 2005. It was a similar tale at Cardiff yesterday."

Northampton skipper Dylan Harltey lines up with Leinster captain Leo Cullen ahead of the Heineken Cup final © Getty Images

Leinster head into this afternoon's Heineken Cup final in Cardiff as favourites, according to former England and Bath head coach Brian Ashton in the Independent. But he believes Northampton can draw on their underdog status.

"The most intriguing question surrounds Northampton's ability to hit the ground running, mentally as well as physically, following last weekend's bruising defeat. Have the scars healed? They were out on their feet at the end of the Leicester game and little wonder, given the enormous pressure they were forced to absorb and the huge tackling load they found themselves carrying. Add the post-match distractions preying on the minds of the players and it's clear the coaching staff have had their work cut out.

"If I'm right in my suspicion that Northampton go into their final with Leinster as slight underdogs, they can draw on it: when you're cast as outsiders, why not use it as a two-fingered, up-yours motivational tactic? But they must take a positive approach. If semi-finals are notorious for generating an all-embracing restrictive mentality, finals should always have a sense of anticipation and potential enjoyment about them. They offer an opportunity to puff out the chest and show real courage in all its facets.

"Neither Northampton nor Leinster will be found wanting for courage in the physical sense. It is mental courage that is likely to be the key factor. There will have been much talk in the rival camps of bringing everything to the table today, of not leaving ammunition locked up in the armoury. But who can translate the message into action most effectively amid the hurly-burly and the hostility?"

Hugh Farrelly offers his take on the European Cup showdown in Cardiff in the Irish Independent.

"Judgment Day. That's according to Harold Camping, a former civil engineer from California (where else?) whose Bible studies have convinced him that Armageddon is upon us today and has won over thousands of followers to the same way of thinking.

"On May 21, 2011, two events will occur," says Camping. "One will be more wonderful than can be imagined; the other more horrific than can be imagined. A great earthquake will occur, so powerful it will throw open all graves. The remains of all the believers will be glorified... the bodies of all unsaved people will be thrown out upon the ground to be shamed."

"So, there you go. Against this backdrop, the result of a rugby match, even one as important as the Heineken Cup final, appears inconsequential.

"That being said, after all they have been through to get to this point, defeat for either Leinster or Northampton this evening (kick-off 5.0) is bound to seem like the end of the world."

Hugh Farrelly selects his all time Leinster Heineken Cup XV in The Irish Independent.

"The advent of the Heineken Cup coincided roughly with the dawn of professionalism in 1995 and the role of the Irish province changed irrevocably.

"Rugby has been constantly evolving in the 16 years since, to the point where the game is significantly different in style even compared to the last Heineken Cup final Leinster played in two years ago. Imagine then, the differences between rugby today and the game that confronted Ollie Campbell's Leinster team in the 1980s, Bill Mulcahy's in the 1960s or Jammie Clinch in the 1920s."

The Irish Times Johnny Watterson talks to Leinster's Jonathan Sexton about how much has changed since he replaced Felipe Contepomi late in the 2009 Heineken campaign.

"Brought into the Leinster team at the semi-final stage after Felipe Contepomi had spannered his knee, Sexton was the 23-year-old rookie who carried the freight of great promise but little weight of experience or guile for a European final. That they were facing Leicester, proven dogs of war around Europe, drew the image of Sexton the gladiator rising up from the bowels in the lift to the Coliseum, the gates bursting open to be faced by a guy with half an ear and swinging a spiked iron ball at his head.

"As if Hollywood had a hand here too, Sexton’s contribution was bookended by insouciantly kicking a spectacular drop goal from the halfway line as well the winning penalty. No mistakes.

"This week he remains the same unflappable figure. But in two years he has advanced aeons and is central to Leinster’s cause. Coaches and players now demand from him. They expect him to control tempo, kick territory, bang over the points, lots of points. Sexton’s dynamic with the team has drastically changed."

David Kelly talks to Brian O'Driscoll, who is desperate to help Leinster into the ranks of Europe's elite this weekend, in The Irish Independent.

"Brian O'Driscoll was looking forward to spending Saturday afternoon in front of the TV. But that was not necessarily how it ultimately panned out.

"Instead of wallowing languorously on the couch as his beloved Manchester United eased to a record league title triumph, Leinster's talisman had to sit bolt upright with his swollen knee swaddled for protection.

"He may have punched the air in delight when United's ascent to English football's perch was confirmed but he dared not dance a jig. Besides, as he watched Alex Ferguson immediately project his mind from this success to Barcelona, so too were O'Driscoll's thoughts already drifting elsewhere."

London Irish's Bob Casey gives some insider details of the challenge posed by Northampton in The Irish Times.

"But there is so much more, not least in the ethos of the club. Director of rugby Jim Mallinder and forwards coach Dorian West champions old-school virtues: the team plays hard, celebrates with a few beers and are a tight-knit bunch. They can be a bit lippy and full of themselves – not yet backed up by silverware – and they wouldn’t win any awards for popularity. To some extents they are a product of their hinterland.

"Northampton wouldn’t be the most picturesque town – the surrounding countryside is breathtaking with stunning scenery and well-heeled enclaves – and there isn’t a vast array of amenities. Players tend to congregate together socially. Rugby is the main sport and the Saints are idolised. There is plenty of interaction with supporters down to the fact they’d be discussing what’s in a player’s trolley at the supermarket."

Hugh Farrelly previews the Heineken Cup final, where Leinster will be guarding against a bite from the underdogs, in The Irish Independent.

"It's all set up for a mugging. Northampton slip into Cardiff later this week as unfashionable underdogs, portrayed as a hard-working side with a dash of flair pitted against a superior force with stars in every position -- an easy psychological trigger for coach Jim Mallinder to press.

"Then there is the Romain Poite factor. It is hard to think of another referee better suited to Northampton's style of play, and the Saints will be delighted if the game breaks up into a pernickety procession of penalties, hindering Leinster's ability to find their flow.

"Without the squad resources of their opponents, Northampton are pretty battered after the long season, but that was the case in 2000 also, when they still found the energy to puncture Munster's European dream with a similarly-styled side based around forward muscle."

Brian Moore believes that the Heineken Cup final could be one game too far for Northampton, and that Manu Tuilagi should be banned for his attack on Chris Ashton, in The Daily Telegraph.

"It looks like a case of two bridges too far for Jim Mallinder’s troops from Franklin Gardens. In another physical battle, Northampton could not be criticised for their effort but, in the end, looked exhausted as Leicester pressured the creative life out of their game. Their minds may be willing when they face Leinster in next Saturday’s Heineken Cup final but there has to be a doubt as to whether their bodies will respond to the physical challenge that the Irish forwards will undoubtedly issue.

"It would be a shame to see Northampton emerge from this season with nothing other than a few plaudits for their attempts to excite, but sport, as life, is not fair and it is probable that they will have to settle for this rather than silverware. It may not be the same for their East Midland’s neighbours and conquerors Leicester, who have the all-round game to cope with the attrition of Saracens, who beat Gloucester in the other semi-final."

Peter Bills previews next weekend's Heineken Cup final between Leinster and Northampton in the Irish Independent.

"Do Leinster have too much experience at this level for Northampton? Where will the game be won and lost? What do Leinster need to do to win? Who will win?

"They certainly have the benefit of having been in the final two years ago so they should know what to expect. In that respect, experience is well and truly on their side as Northampton haven't been in a Heineken final since 2000. Leinster also have the advantage of experienced players in the right positions. Guys like Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy, Shane Horgan and Jamie Heaslip have played Test match rugby and also Lions rugby. Jonathan Sexton is a quality player. They are littered with players with a lot of game experience and they have a lot of leadership potential in those positions.

"In major games in any competition, your ability to re-start the game efficiently, to defend and to disrupt the flow of the opposition attack are all essential qualities. But then, both sides can do that and Northampton have been excellent in the last two seasons, the way they have progressed as a side and as a club. They have quality coaching and they will be very difficult to upset."

Eddie Butler hails Irish rugby's resiliant record within European club rugby ahead of Leinster's Heineken Cup final clash with Northampton at Cardiff next weekend in the Observer.

"Back in 2000, when Munster were beaten 9-8 by Northampton in the Heineken Cup final at Twickenham, there were questions about Ireland's capacity to stay alive at the top level of professional rugby. How could the Irish provinces compete with the free-spending English and French clubs? How could Munster, turning grey together, replace the old guard when they finally dropped? Oh, woe was Ireland.

"How they tricked us then and how they continue to tease the world now. Munster kept going, fuelled by the slaps of fate – or the hand of Back – on their big days out, until they won the Heineken Cup in 2006, then again in 2008. This was not merely gratification for the rugby of one corner of Ireland, because as a driving force in Europe, Munster also dragged their nearest rivals with them, until in 2009, at one of the most spectacular fiestas thrown at Croke Park or anywhere, Leinster charged past the standard-bearers, 25-9. And went on to beat Leicester in the final.

"Leinster are now the powerhouse and the questions about Ireland's rugby resources and chances of survival have evaporated. It might appear that a professional sport in a troubled economy would struggle but in hard times everybody loves a success story. As the only professional sport in Ireland rugby seems a special case, resistant to collapse."

Brian Moore highlights the lessons that Northampton and Harlequins must learn from their weekend victories in The Daily Telegraph.

"In a gloriously flawed 80-minute performance against Euro giants Munster, Harlequins showed all that is good and bad about the club.

"The spirit demanded by Quins’ director of rugby, Conor O’Shea, for the Amlin Cup semi-final was apparent from the first whistle and at a venue that has reduced many good teams to a nervous pastiche of their normal selves.

"O’Shea also said in his pre-match interview that his side needed to convert more of the line breaks that they have made all season. He knows, as do the Quins players and supporters, that this is the reason for their failure to break into the top echelon of English club rugby."

Brian O'Driscoll salutes the crowd after Leinster's win over Toulouse © Getty Images

Hugh Farrelly salutes Leinster's victory over Toulouse as a crowning achievement for Irish rugby in The Irish Independent.

"When you have been following Irish rugby consistently for 30 years, the last 10 in a professional capacity, you think you have seen it all.

"Like being with an irritating girlfriend in the DVD rental shop, the prospects of a fresh, exciting experience are reduced by the level of over-exposure -- "This one looks good?" "Seen it." "What about this one?" "Seen that, too."

"There have been matches to thrill the soul over the years: the win in Cardiff in 1985; giving the Wallabies an almighty rattle in the 1991 World Cup quarter-final; Warren Gatland's near-miss debut as Irish coach in Paris in 1998; Munster v Saracens in 2000; and, of course, the Grand Slam clincher two years ago. However, in terms of drama, physical intensity and sheer quality of rugby, Leinster-Toulouse 2011 sits on top of the pile."

Oliver Brown puts aside Perpignan's limp performance against Northampton to examine their Catalan heritage in The Daily Telegraph.

"Would anyone have believed, on this evidence, that Perpignan rugby is officially twinned with the great Barcelona of Lionel Messi? Assuredly, their eclipse by Northampton was not a happy harbinger for their football cousins.

"While Messi and company seek to advance to a Champions League final in tomorrow night’s Clasico, the poor relations surrendered the chance to reach rugby’s equivalent quite dismally.

"The untrammelled joy for the Saints was matched only in misery for Perpignan — or Perpinyá, as we should probably call them. So passionately does this club cleave to its Catalan heritage that banners at the Stade Aimé Giral, their home ground, have been seen declaring: “This is not France.”

Writing in the Sunday Independent, Neil Francis hails the performance of Leinster in Saturday's stirring Heineken Cup win over Toulouse.

"I'm pretty sure Aristotle never played rugby but what he said centuries ago bears testament to what happened yesterday, and he described the core values of every player who played in such a scintillating match. He said: "Character is that which reveals moral purpose exposing the class of things a man chooses to do or avoid."

"I'm still trying to make my mind up whether I have seen a better game played on this planet; certainly at this level I have never had my breath taken away to such an extent.

"This match will have set a standard which very few teams will ever come close to. The fact that Leinster managed to run out winners shows the level they have moved to."

Tony Ward previews Leinster's Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulouse, and believes that their run to the cup is far more difficult than in 2009 in The Irish Independent.

"If the route to Edinburgh and outright success in 2009 was tough for Leinster, well two years on, it's all of that and quite a bit again. It's a measure of the increasing level of intensity of the Heineken Cup that the '09 champions' path to today's semi-final showdown at the Aviva Stadium has been rugged in the extreme.

"Home and away against Racing Metro, Clermont Auvergne and Saracens, followed by do-or-die matches against Leicester and Toulouse in the knock-outs, there could not be a more difficult path to the final for Leo Cullen & Co should they make it -- with due respect to Northampton and Perpignan, who meet in the second semi-final tomorrow.

"For the record, two years ago it was Wasps, Edinburgh and Castres, followed by Harlequins (Bloodgate and the day Leinster Rugby came of age), Munster and Leicester in that order. Winning (6-5) in a slug fest at the Stoop, followed by the annihilation of Munster at Croke Park and the systematic dismantling of Leicester in the Murrayfield final, saw Leinster cross the Rubicon and join European rugby's elite."

Mick Cleary analyses the weapons available to Toulouse prior to their Heineken Cup semi-final against Leinster in The Daily Telegraph.

"Toulouse are a team for all-seasons, as capable of winning through hard-core scrummaging as they are of free-wheeling attack. They can slog it out or sling it wide, at ease in all elements and all situations.

"That they have class is without question, from the Michelin-starred bistro on site at their training ground and upmarket merchandising boutiques that adorn La Ville Rose to their star-studded roster of blue-chip players such as Maxime Medard, Florian Fritz, Vincent Clerc and Cedric Heymans.

"But this is a team also of muscle and bone, their force on the field stemming from the narrow-eyed commitment of the likes of hooker, William Servat, understated flanker, Jean Boulihou, the heart-beat of the team, and the selfless Argentina workhorse, lock Patricio Albacete."

David Kelly salutes one of rugby's great entertainers, Rupeni Caucaunibuca, prior to Toulouse's meeting with Leinster in the Heineken Cup semi-finals in The Irish Independent.

"The great entertainer, Rupeni Caucaunibuca, is back -- and it's been worth the 'weight'. He was at it again last weekend. In the midst of a Toulouse cruise against Bourgoin, Caucaunibuca combined neatly with Cedric Heymans as the aristocrats made another trademark burst.

"After completing the one-two with the French full-back, the Fijian, known to all and sundry as Caucau, inevitably could not resist infusing the imminent dotting down with a decorative twist.

"You can view the results yourself on YouTube; suffice to say that Caucau's grand vision was not translated into reality as his spectacular somersault begat a terrific tumble. It was not so much belly-flop as jelly roll."

Mick Cleary talks to Northampton's sinning Saint, Ben Foden, in The Daily Telegraph.

"Foden, who was formally upbraided by the Rugby Football Union as well, also revealed that England manager Martin Johnson had given him a stern warning about the need for improved behaviour.

"If any more reminders were needed that one of England’s most high-profile players, who has a showbiz girlfriend (Una Healy of pop group The Saturdays), would forever be under scrutiny, it came last week when Gloucester fans taunted him with cries of “taxi” every time the ball came near him at Kingsholm. Foden has been in penitent mood since.

“Yes, it was embarrassing and something that I deeply regret,” said Foden as he finished a team training run at stadium: mk where Northampton will take on Perpignan in the Heineken Cup semi-final on Sunday. “I got caught up in something that I ought not to have allowed to happen. There were other Northampton lads there but they weren’t involved. It’s on my head. I’ve been punished, I’ve learnt from it and it’s something I won’t be repeating.”

Shaun Edwards believes that we could see an Anglo-Irish Heineken Cup final in The Guardian.

"Many have had their fingers burned predicting the demise of Toulouse, but how about this for risking a whole hand: put your money on there being no French team in this season's Heineken Cup final.

"Of course it's happened before – as recently as 2009 – but with so much worry about the power of the euro and the wealth of the French clubs, an Anglo-Irish set-to at the Millennium Stadium in three weeks would come like a breath of fresh air.

"Last season's all-French affair at the Stade de France, when Toulouse arm‑wrestled their way to a fourth title against Biarritz, brought a general sense of foreboding and suggestions that our much more restrictive salary cap would strangle the game this side of the Channel while adding a bit more pep to the exodus of players."

Cian Healy will be key to Leinster's chances against Toulouse © Getty Images

Leinster prop Cian Healy will be desperate to exorcise some demons against Toulouse in the Heineken Cup semi-final on Saturday, according to the Irish Independent’s Hugh Farrelly.

"As Cian Healy's career unfolds, May 1, 2010 could well be flagged as a turning point.

On that clammy evening in the Stade Municipal in Toulouse, the young Leinster loose-head was presented with a test of such physical and psychological enormity that it automatically arrived with the "making or breaking" moniker attached.

The then 22-year-old was turned inside out by Toulouse tight-head Benoit Lecouls, and with Daan Human performing similar acts of savagery on Stan Wright on the far side, Leinster's primary set-piece platform was in disarray from the off, handing the impetus to the home team and preventing Michael Cheika's men from establishing any sort of a foothold….

Toulouse have an array of formidable front-row options to choose from again this weekend, but they are coming up against a different animal this time around."

The Irish Times’ Mark Rodden talks with Leinster’s former head coach Michael Cheika ahead of the Irish province’s match against Toulouse

"Cheika, now the head coach of Stade Français, believes his former club have a much better chance of reaching the final this season.

“It’s obviously a big advantage playing in Dublin as opposed to playing in Toulouse,” he says. “But I also think that Leinster are a better team this year and Toulouse are probably not as strong as they were last year. So the combination of those factors all together point pretty clearly for me to Leinster winning.”

The recent return to full fitness of Shane Jennings is a massive boost for Heineken Cup hopefuls Leinster © Getty Images

Leinster back-row Shane Jennings talks to the Irish Independent ahead of Saturday's eagerly-awaited Heineken Cup semi-final clash with Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium.

"A buttermilk sky may have enveloped Leinster's training session in UCD yesterday, but it didn't seem like there were any clouds in their world. All its hungry constituents are fighting fit for Saturday's Heineken Cup semi-final with multiple champions, Toulouse.

"A game of bulldog indicates the carefree nature of the squad's preparations; yet the innocent childish larks have a serious side. As any coach knows, the playground favourite of old instils strength and unity into its teams. To every thing a purpose, even amid the giggles and high-pierced squeals.

"Not even the gentlest rib-tickling revealed even a remote concern within Leinster ranks at the appointment of Declan Kidney's bete noire, Dave Pearson, as the chief whistler for the eagerly awaited, sold-out Lansdowne Road contest."

Leinster talisman Brian O'Driscoll will skip Friday's Royal Wedding in favour of Leinster training ahead of their Heineken Cup showdown with Toulouse on Saturday. The Guardian's Donald McRae writes.

"Brian O'Driscoll has sidestepped his invitation to the royal wedding on Friday in favour of a Leinster training session and admitted that he would never have lived down the backchat from his team‑mates if he had put William and Kate ahead of a huge European match in Dublin.

"Mike Tindall, as Zara Phillips's fiance, presumably has no option but to grit his teeth and turn up but O'Driscoll has found the perfect excuse to evade royal wedding duties. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Leinster and Ireland centre admitted he could not miss the captain's run on Friday afternoon as his club prepares for this weekend's Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulouse.

"As big an honour as it was to be invited I can't ask for team runs to be at half-six in the evening so I can go to the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey," O'Driscoll said. "One thing I learnt early on my career is that personal gratification takes second place. The team ethos comes first even after 12 years. My wife [the Irish actor Amy Huberman] is going on our behalf as we also felt there was an element of our representing Ireland as well. It's going to be an incredible thing, with two billion watching, but I'll be at home, preparing for Toulouse."

Gerry Thornley assesses the size of Leinster's task in overcoming the mighty Toulouse in The Irish Times.

"As Leinster discovered in their 14-year quest for the mountain top, which was reached with back-to-back wins over Euro giants Munster and Leicester, and then having run into Clermont and Toulouse last season, nothing comes easy in the Heineken Cup. And so it is again.

"Having put away the current leading side in England, two-time winners and five-time finalists Leicester, in the quarter-finals, Joe Schmidt’s squad must now overcome the leading side in France in four-time Heineken Cup winners and six-time finalists Toulouse.

"Stade Toulousain are, quite simply, the most decorated club in the world, and that includes provincial powers. The Canterbury Crusaders may be the Super force of the Southern Hemisphere, but they are primarily a 21st century phenomenon. Toulouse have been a phenomenon, pretty much, since 1985."

Writing in The Independent, Brian Ashton reflects on last weekend's Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

"Poor old Serge Blanco. What could the great man of Biarritz have been thinking as he watched the Basque side's Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat by Toulouse on Sunday evening?

"Here was a remarkable individual who performed, almost on a weekly basis, astonishing feats for club and country: a rugby genius blessed with imagination, invention, pace, skill and courage – a master of the counter-attack who would back himself to make something happen when everyone else on the field was paralysed with fear. Quite simply, Blanco was one of the finest full-backs ever to play the game. Has any of his stardust been sprinkled on the Biarritz of today? Apparently not.

"Quite what he made of his team's approach down there in San Sebastian, heaven only knows. It amounted to nothing more than a collision-based driving game, based around an unending series of pick-and-go rumbles around the side by forwards who, quite literally, kept the ball close to their chests. Behind these behemoths, Dimitri Yachvili steered the close-quarter strategy from scrum-half, hoofing the ball in the air or down the short side in primitive kick-and-chase fashion."

The Irish Independent's Niall Crozier reports from Ulster's Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Northampton in Milton Keynes.

"Ulster's Heineken Cup dream is over for this year. Yesterday afternoon at a sun-kissed stadium:mk they were beaten by opponents whose brawn ultimately made the difference.

"Northampton Saints have an awesome scrum, their line-out is sound, Courtney Lawes was immense, and they have a maul which wears opponents down.

"But Ulster contributed to their own downfall, with 17 of Northampton's 23 points attributable to avoidable errors. The Saints made the most of those lapses, punishing Ulster on the scoreboard.

"Having led 13-10 at half-time, Ulster failed to score a point in the second half, during which the screw tightened. Slowly they were strangled as Saints squeezed the life from them."

Perry Freshwater, the England prop, will remember his decisive second-half try against Toulon for a long time, "a golden moment at the Olympic Stadium in the autumn of his career" according to the Daily Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher.

"He certainly upstaged former England Test colleague Jonny Wilkinson who was making his debut in a Heineken Cup knockout match.

“I get paid to push not score tries, I can’t even remember the last time I scored,” said Freshwater after Perpignan overcame an error-strewn first half to salvage the day for the Catalans who took a big risk in moving the match to Barcelona.

“It was nice to score and one day I will look back on it with pride but I can’t overemphasise how important it was simply to win this game. For us, for a long time, it has been all about Perpignan reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals as a top-four team and getting a home draw so we take the match to Barca but I kept telling the guys that wasn’t enough. We needed to win the bloody thing.”

"Freshwater, a second-half replacement, was part of a much-improved forward effort from Perpignan after the break when they took a stranglehold of the game and manufactured a win that was considerably more comfortable than the scoreline suggested. As for Wilkinson it was a disappointing afternoon."

Writing in The Independent, Hugh Godwin reports from Leinster's Heineken Cup quarter-final victory over Leicester in Dublin.

"Whatever it was that enabled Leicester to dominate European competition a decade ago, it was not playing to the letter of the law. That turn-of-the-century team waged the physical battle to its limits and had a few hard-eyed so-and-so's led by Martin Johnson capable of getting the rest of the job done with mental resourcefulness.

"Unfortunately there are only so many Johnsons to go around in a generation, or even a lifetime, and everyone from the kids waving blue Leinster banners at the renovated Lansdowne Road to the Dublin taxi drivers ferrying sad-eyed Tigers supporters to the airport yesterday morning had seen it in this Heineken Cup quarter-final. Leinster beat Leicester at their own game."

The Irish Times' Carl O'Malley reports from Leinster's Heineken Cup quarter-final victory over Leicester in Dublin.

"The ground may be a little different but this was familiar territory for two old foes with a 10-game European Cup history equally shared into five wins apiece. The bragging rights had to fall in someone’s favour this evening and it was Leicester, for so long the experts in trench warfare, who gave that inch as their hosts booked a home semi-final against Biarritz or Toulouse.

"It wasn’t their fight that let them down, it never does, but in comparison to previous incarnations they were desperately lacking in ideas behind the scrum. That said, their opponents have evolved defensively in the time since they won this competition two years ago.

"Their organisation was impeccable and benefitted from admirable discipline and restraint when temptation could have led to trouble at the breakdown. They stayed on their feet, tacklers released and Leicester, more often than not, made their own mistakes."

The man mountain Soane Tonga'uiha has been a rock for Northampton this season and will be unmoved by Ulster tactics today according to the Independent on Sunday's Hugh Godwin.

"When Soane Tonga'uiha says it is destiny that Northampton will reach this season's Heineken Cup final, you are inclined to agree – and not just because a simple raise of the eyebrow from this huge son of the South Pacific might split the ceiling, cartoon-style, of the hospitality box where we meet. Whereas the Saints were knocked out at the quarter-final stage away to Munster in 2010, the Irish must come to them today, albeit Ulster travel to Milton Keynes rather than Franklin's Gardens. The winners are guaranteed a "home" draw in the semi-finals – Northampton would use the same venue – and Tonga'uiha says: "It's a massive plus for us. It's almost like it was destined for us to get to the final."

"Northampton won the cup in 2000 but there are no survivors playing today, and they hope the "learning curve" moment everyone in Europe appears to subscribe to was in Limerick 12 months ago. As the 20-stone Tongan-born, New Zealand-raised loosehead prop recalls, they played well but were beaten by age-old tactics. "We got into too many of those one-on-ones off the ball," Tonga'uiha says. "Munster had been around the block and we hadn't. We learnt we need to take it on the chin and move on to the next play. To stay composed and not panic if we're behind or down to 14 men."

The Heineken Cup quarter-finals have found lovelier stages than stadium:mk but the Northampton-Ulster match must be taken seriously according to The Observer's Eddie Butler.

"It is a landmark fixture that pitches former champion against former champion. Twelve years have passed for Ulster and 11 for Northampton since they were Heineken Cup winners, but this is a quarter-final that should be approached respectfully. You don't make the last eight in 2011 lightly.

"And yet, you can't help but chuckle. This is a weekend of grand rugby, of Leinster against Leicester at Dublin's sparkling Aviva Stadium, of Biarritz and Perpignan transporting themselves deep into the spiritual heartlands of the Basque and Catalan peoples: to San Sebastián, a jewel of Europe's Atlantic coast, and Barcelona, giant of the Mediterranean.

"Northampton? Today they're playing at stadium:mk (sic) in Milton Keynes. It's a journey of 10 miles according to my distance-calculator.com, 15 for the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, who wanted to put a little more distance between the destinations when, in 2008 and in a different sport, Northampton Town first played against the MK Dons (once Wimbledon FC) in League One. The tone seemed to be that Northampton had thousands of years of history; MK had Ikea and concrete cows."

Leinster skipper Leo Cullen is wary of the influence of Leicester coach Richard Cockerill ahead of their Heineken Cup showdown. The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly writes.

"Cockerill played hooker at Leicester for many years forming the renowned ABC front-row (the Tigers used to wear letters instead of numbers on their jerseys) with Rowntree and Darren Garforth and Cullen believes the Leicester coach is overseeing a team in his image -- direct and confrontational.

"He's your classic pit bull," said Cullen. "He was always pretty irritating to play against, and in his coaching style he's pretty prone to mood swings. As a forwards coach it was very much dependent on what we were like at the weekend.

"He actually pays real great attention to detail, spends a lot of time working with players individually, just on the smallest details from every game. He's a good, tough, hard character, 'Cockers.' There's a certain Leicester way of wanting to be a tough, physically imposing type of player and that's what he probably instils the most," added Cullen.

Sharing 10 meetings with five wins apiece, Leinster’s record against Leicester reflects their own European odyssey, writes the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley.

"Nothing quite defines Leinster’s 15-year history in the Heineken Cup quite like the 10 meetings with Leicester, especially the first and last. They have five wins apiece, dating back to 1996 when Leicester came to Lansdowne Road and won 27-10, and most recently when Leinster reached their Holy Grail in the Murrayfield final two seasons ago.

"A mere 3,500 turned up for that initial meeting in the Cup’s second season. Reflecting the flight of the wild geese to England, Eric Miller was playing with Leicester while the London Irish duo of Malcolm O’Kelly and Victor Costello, along with Saracens’ Paul Wallace, were “guesting” for Leinster.

“It was bizarre,” chuckles O’Kelly, who was playing in the first of his seven games against Leicester over 13 seasons. “We were getting beaten up and down England with London Irish, so we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It was a savage team but it was like a re-union of sorts. We were just drafted in for these matches and there was no Celtic League.”

Toulon fly-half Jonny Wilkinson will compete in his first Heineken Cup quarter-final on Saturday - the Daily Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher previews their clash with Perpignan.

"Remarkably, after 14 seasons as a professional, it will be the first time the England fly-half has played in a Heineken Cup knockout game, having missed out on Newcastle’s solitary quarter-final appearance against Stade Francais in Paris in 2005 with a knee ligament injury.

"It is a poor return for one of the modern game’s great match-winners, brought about by a combination of persistent injury and his loyalty for over a decade to the Falcons, but now comes his chance to set the record straight.

"And the stage could scarcely be bigger or more colourful. Perpignan, proud Catalans first and French second, finally achieve a long held ambition by staging a big match across the border in the Catalan capital of Barcelona and although the Nou Camp would have been their first choice the Olympic Stadium at Montjuic is a splendid and emotionally charged second choice."

Writing in The Independent, Brian Ashton looks ahead to this weekend's Heineken Cup clashes.

"One would expect all eight quarter-finalists to enter the arena with an overview – in other words, a clear idea of how they might dominate field position and impose their will on the opposition. But there is an ever-present danger when fixtures as important as these come around. All too frequently, coaches and players clutter up the overview with so much detail that the performance becomes robotic. Instead of people manoeuvring their way through situations as and when they arise, they fall back on the so-called "game plan" memorised during the week's preparation. Do the wonderful footballers of Spain allow themselves to be locked into a pre-ordained plan? I think not.

"This evening's big game in Dublin between Leinster and Leicester will be extremely instructive in this regard, for it throws up a classic confrontation between two half-back pairings – Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton; Ben Youngs and Toby Flood – who, at their best, understand the importance of clear thinking and sound decision-making under pressure. They met at the same venue as recently as last month, when England crossed the Irish Sea in what turned out to be a fruitless search for the Six Nations Grand Slam, but it would be a gross error of judgement to assume that these four individuals will perform in precisely the same way. Certainly, neither coach will fall into this trap."

Former Ulster No.8 Roger Wilson has warned his Northampton team-mates to be wary of their Irish rivals ahead of their Heineken Cup quarter-final clash. The Guardian's Paul Rees reports.

"The No.8 spent six years with Ulster before joining Northampton in 2008 and, while the Saints are unbeaten in Europe since losing at Munster in last season's quarter-final, they have only just returned to form after a mid-season wobble.

"The Heineken Cup is different from the Premiership," said Wilson. " Knock-out games are about pressure and we have to be able to deal with it better than we did a year ago. I think we will and this is a game I have been looking forward to ever since I knew we were going to be facing Ulster. I have always wanted to play against Ulster since leaving for Northampton and I have had a lot of people looking for tickets. I know a number who are coming over from Belfast and it will be a special weekend."

Chris Hewett looks at Ulster's recruitment drive in The Independent.

"Outmuscled financially by the French – the Eurozone may be falling apart in the real world, but on Planet Rugby it goes from strength to strength – the last thing England's beleaguered Premiership clubs need as they attempt to restore their Heineken Cup credibility is a fresh threat from Ireland. Which is precisely what they face.

"Ulster, who take on Northampton in the third of this weekend's quarter-finals, have set their sights on matching their more illustrious provincial rivals, Leinster and Munster, after a decade of playing second fiddle, and while they will start as underdogs on Sunday afternoon, they will not be outsiders for very much longer."

Shaun Edwards previews the weekend's Heineken Cup action, and is looking forward to some tribal warfare, in The Guardian.

"This is one of those weekends when rugby's tribes are on the move. Possibly even more than in the Six Nations, this is when the truly committed fan hits the road.

"Nearly 52,000 will pack the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday for Leinster versus Leicester, which would be a record for a Heineken Cup quarter‑final had Perpignan and Toulon not already crammed a guaranteed 55,000 into Barcelona's Olympic Stadium 90 minutes earlier.

"Then, on Sunday, the full-house signs will be up again in San Sebastián, where the Basques of Biarritz choose to play their big European games – and they don't come much bigger than those against Toulouse – and at Milton Keynes, which may not sound as colourful as either the Estadio Anoeta or the Catalan capital, but will certainly generate as much heat when Northampton lock horns with Ulster."

Mick Cleary digs out the differences between the Heineken Cup and Super Rugby one last time in The Daily Telegraph.

"Super rugby is sport as entertainment, a high-tempo exhibition of skill played out before a predominantly home-grown audience. Heineken Cup rugby in the knockout stages is a different experience: the seething, raucous backdrop is invariably an element in the drama of the day. Confronting the opposition is the prime task. But taking on the crowd is very much part of the challenge, too.

"Ah, but is the rugby any good? An interesting question, although it should be no surprise that the top three ranked countries in the world, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, produce a better overall quality of rugby. It’s worth pointing out, too, that Super rugby can serve up duds, too. Would Crusaders or the Bulls beat Toulouse or Munster? Tight call, that one, but probably, yes."

Robert Kitson previews the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and comes over all misty-eyed in The Guardian.

"If there was ever a week to persuade neutrals that rugby union is a more satisfying sport than football this is it. The Heineken Cup quarter-finals will spread the gospel to previously uncharted territory from Barcelona to Milton Keynes, offering as vibrant and enthralling a spectacle as European rugby can deliver. Even the Six Nations, in all its traditional glory, cannot provide quite the same kaleidescopic range of backdrops.

"Will Leinster v Leicester be as good an occasion as Ireland v England in the same stadium last month? You would be unwise to bet against it. Perpignan v Toulon in the Catalan capital of Barcelona? Atmosphere-wise, it will make the Stade de France feel like a wet Sunday evening in Lowestoft. Even the Amlin Challenge Cup, once a decidedly second-tier competition, will serve up four games with a genuine edge.

"A better matchday experience than football? It is, naturally, a subjective debate with strong arguments for and against. To disciples of either sport it is like comparing the relative merits of cats and dogs. Minds tend to be made up early and habits duly formed."

Eddie Butler of The Guardian looks ahead to Leinster's mouth-watering Heineken Cup showdown with the Leicester Tigers.

"It is certain that neither Leinster nor Leicester will have lingered for a second longer than it takes to utter a brief phrase of praise or consolation to their international players in the wake of what happened on the final Saturday of the Six Nations, when Ireland upset England's grand slam pretensions and there began a public inquiry into what this meant for victor and loser with regard to the World Cup. For in Dublin and at Welford Road province and club had to get on with the business of completing the remaining weeks of the season.

"Leinster, for example, had to prepare for Saturday's meeting with Munster in the Magners League, a fixture that, even if there were only a bag of dog biscuits for a prize, would still demand the full concentration of its participants. The result: victory by a point for Munster. The rivalry among the provinces of Ireland is one reason why their rugby as a collective continues to prosper.

"And the strength of Leicester is one big reason why England found themselves in a position to challenge for the grand slam in the first place. With Toby Flood scoring 22 points and Ben Youngs and Dan Cole also back in their club team, Leicester registered their biggest victory at Bath in 96 years a week after England lost to Ireland."

Gerry Thornley praises the impact of Joe Schmidt at Leinster as the Kiwi coach emerges from the shadow of predecessor Michael Cheika in The Irish Times.

"Michael Cheika was always going to be a tough act to follow, and the affable and honest Kiwi Joe Schmidt unfairly came under the microscope when Leinster lost three of their first four League games in September, all away from home while the Irish front-liners were gradually being re-introduced. But he looks like just what Leinster needed.

"Cheika, one of the brightest young coaches around, laid the foundations of a hardened professionalism and steely desire, but, with the emergence of Mike Ross and arrival of Greg Feek helping to stabilise the scrum, the former Clermont backs’ coach has added a more ambitious running and offloading game. In terms of their approach, they are the nearest thing to the All Blacks in Europe right now.

"He’s been helped, too, by the continuing emergence of more young jewels off the Leinster production line, but 24 points and 21 tries in such a Heineken Cup group was a remarkable effort. Only Leicester and Perpignan scored more, with 14 of the Tigers’ 25 tries and 10 of Perpignan’s 23 tries coming against Treviso."

Munster ended an otherwise disappointing Heineken Cup campaign with victory over London Irish in Limerick - the Irish Independent reports.

"Twelve minutes left on the clock and Ryan Lamb's conversion of Sailosi Tagicakibau's try has pushed London Irish into a 14-7 lead. With Munster looking like they couldn't score in Newcastle on free Bacardi Breezer night, the Exiles were justifiably bullish that they could go on to become only the second visiting side, after Leicester in 2007, to record a Heineken Cup victory at Thomond Park.

"They had been pretty brutal. Plenty of effort, endeavour, possession and position but precious little execution. The fact that the first half ended scoreless was largely down to Munster's inability to finish off the opportunities they had ground out for themselves.

"When they got close to the line, there was the instant reversion to the blinkered forward-drive mode Munster know best. It does produce tries, and did for Damien Varley just after half-time, but there needs to be more variety to prosper against Europe's best.

"So, when London Irish got their second try, adding to their 58th-minute score from the excellent Seilala Mapusua, it looked like curtains for the home side, another nail in the coffin for the former champions -- relegated to red-button status on Sky Sports as yesterday's men. What happened next was remarkable."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews Leinster's Heineken Cup date against Racing Metro with the Magners League side looking to secure a home quarter-final.

"For Leinster, the job is almost done, but there is more to do. Switch their hitherto impressive Heineken Cup machine into over-drive one more time, treat the demands of an away night in France with the respect the encounter merits and play with their Test-like Euro intensity.

"For with one more win they will have secured a highly-advantageous home quarter-final.

"It may not have the demands of a must-win game, they may have already qualified, but history has shown us that earning a home quarter-final almost puts a foot in the semi-finals. To pass up the opportunity which knocks now would leave them kicking themselves."

The scrum has been a major factor this season, just ask Soane Tonga'uiha © Getty Images

Robert Kitson dusts off the stats cap and delves into the try-scoring trends from this season's Heineken Cup Pool stage in The Guardian.

"A little bit of research for you. Did you know that, barring a late scoring avalanche, this year's Heineken Cup pool stage is on course to produce fewer tries than in any season since the current pool format began in 2000/01? Even if the final round produces a healthy average of five tries per game it will still yield the lowest aggregate total for seven years. It is enough to make Europe's attack coaches weep.

"There are all sorts of possible reasons why. The Italian teams no longer wave opponents through the way they once did. The weather has been extreme and no team, other than Bath at home to Aironi on Saturday, has topped 50 points in a single game. Standards of fitness are now pretty similar across the board; space is at a premium, even when the attacking side is granted more leeway at the breakdown. Last but not least, video analysis is now so intensive, and some gameplans so rigid, that defenders frequently know what to expect before the opposition do."

Hugh Farrelly looks at Munster's fall and the unenviable task of ensuring their rebirth as a major European force in The Irish Independent.

"Reinvention is a process that has produced 'phoenix from the ashes' results for individuals as diverse as John Travolta, Kylie Minogue and even the ghastly Noel Edmonds -- now it is the prerogative for Munster coach Tony McGahan.

"The Australian inherited a team from Declan Kidney that had powered its way to two Heineken Cup triumphs -- glories he had contributed to significantly through his role as defensive coach -- and one imbued with confidence and self-belief about their way of doing things -- a tough ask.

"There are parallels to be made with Brian Clough taking over the streetwise, trophy-winning Leeds side of the early 1970s from Don Revie. The difference is the Leeds players never bought into Clough's radical and confrontational style and drew constant comparisons with Revie, while McGahan had the support and respect of the Munster squad when he came in."

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly reports from the end of an era as Toulon end Munster's Heineken Cup hopes at the pool stage.

"Well that's the end of that then. After 12 years of memorable, competition-defining Heineken Cup knock-out action -- a storied period when the tale was Munster elevated to the point of mythology -- the dream is over.

"No quarter-final place and plenty of questions to answer. The speculation that Munster were an ageing team and a fading force had been forcibly refuted by the camp all season and backed up by their confident progress to the summit of the Magners League and hammering of Toulon in Thomond Park last October.

"Now, the evidence is irrefutable. Yes, the group was extremely difficult but Munster have emerged from tough pools in the past, upsetting odds and confounding critics just as they did when de-frocking then French champions Perpignan in glorious style last season.

"There wasn't a glimmer of a repeat performance here. Toulon got their tactics and selection (Jonny Wilkinson at out-half) spot on, Munster got theirs badly wrong."

Glasgow dented Wasps' euro hopes with a shock victory at Firhill Arena on Sunday - The Scotsman's David Ferguson was there.

"Glasgow coach Sean Lineen was the least surprised man at Firhill yesterday after his side pulled off another of the great Heineken Cup upsets by beating Wasps, leaving the English Premiership side struggling to qualify for the quarter-finals.

"Lineen had seen it before, notably two years ago when Glasgow stunned Toulouse in France, while Wasps, fresh from winning the Heineken Cup, also came to grief in Edinburgh five years ago. Yesterday, he needed his charges to restore some pride in Scottish rugby after a campaign with just one win in four games and a demoralising thumping for Edinburgh at Northampton on Friday night.

"They did that in disposing of a star-studded Wasps side by 20-10 at Firhill in the penultimate round of Heineken Cup pool action, and what made Glasgow's achievement even greater was that they did it without first-choice internationalists Johnnie Beattie, John Barclay, Max Evans, Canadian winger DTH van der Merwe, Graeme Morrison, Chris Cusiter and Rob Dewey."

The Independent's Chris Hewett reports from the Madejski Stadium where London Irish brought an end to a 10-game win-less streak with victory over Ospreys.

"London Irish had nothing to play for in the Heineken Cup yesterday, but as there is more to life than the Heineken Cup – reputation, self-respect, contracts and careers spring to mind, among other things – the idea that they would adopt a horizontal position from the start and accept a thorough seeing-to, from a team whose European campaign was still a going concern, always seemed a little far-fetched.

"After a 10-match losing streak stretching back to October, the Exiles duly rediscovered the best of themselves to beat the Welsh glitterati with something to spare, handing Pool Three's automatic quarter-final place to Toulon in the process.

"They scored the game's only tries – the left-wing Sailosi Tagicakibau crossed in the first half after brilliant work from Delon Armitage; the unfeasibly quick Topsy Ojo did likewise at the start of the second following a clean midfield break from Daniel Bowden – and they won the big-hit tackling contest hands down."

Ulsterman Mark McCall is looking to reignite coaching career following ascension to Saracen's hot seat, starting tomorrow at Leinster. The Irish Independent's David Kelly reports.

"So which Irishman has the best coaching position in European club rugby?

"You reckon Munster's chief, having guided them to Magners League summit and second place in their Heineken Cup qualification pool? Sadly, Tony McGahan may have cut his coaching teeth here before winning a league title but he's a Queenslander by birth, from just outside flood-afflicted Brisbane in Warwick.

"What about Leinster's head guy? Regrettably, Joe Schmidt is a Kiwi and only pitched up on these shores in the summer before guiding Leinster to the top of their Heineken Cup group and third place in the Magners League table.

"Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin was part of a Triple Crown-winning back-room team but as a primus inter pares he is a belated work in progress, with his team, as ever, on the verge of either implosion or explosion.

"And Connacht's Eric Elwood is only taking baby steps with the fallow fourth green field of Irish rugby.

"So step forward Mark McCall. The 43-year-old Bangor native this week stepped into the hot seat at the second best club in the English Premiership following the return to South Africa of erstwhile head coach Brendan Venter."

Edinburgh have now encountered European rugby red tape after a bizarre ruling by ERC bosses yesterday left them to face Northampton tonight without any genuine cover at hooker and mired in the possibility of raising legal action.The Scotsman's David Ferguson reports.

"Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat had left the replacement position vacant when he named his side on Wednesday for the Heineken Cup match, but insisted that that was purely until receiving full confirmation from ERC that Crombie would be eligible to play which had still not come through from ERC.

"Crombie was released by Edinburgh in the summer as the club strove to work within the SRU's budget freeze but, with promising young players Fraser Brown and Alun Walker undergoing operations - from which they are still to return - Crombie agreed to provide cover. He played for Boroughmuir and, when Newcastle invited him for a loan spell at Kingston Park to provide cover there, he agreed on the proviso that he would still be available to Edinburgh if they required him.

"He played for Newcastle in the LV= Cup, but did not feature in any Amlin Challenge Cup squad, for which Newcastle would have had to register him. He remained on Edinburgh's Heineken Cup list throughout and this week, when Andy Kelly fell victim to an eye injury, Moffat called him into the squad.

"However, ERC told Edinburgh yesterday that they did not consider him eligible because he had played for another club this season, even though it did not involve European competition and there is nothing in the rules and regulations that debars this."

Former champions Leicester and Munster are both vulnerable as another intense fortnight of European rugby beckons, according to Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"It was John Connolly who described the Heineken Cup as perfect preparation for Test rugby. And with his pedigree – Queensland Reds, Stade Français, Swansea, Bath and Australia's 2007 World Cup team – he should know. But in case there are lingering doubts, just look at the games in Europe this weekend. It makes your palms sweat just thinking about some of them.

"There are things to be sorted everywhere; on a club level I can't remember so many pools being so wide open and on the players' level it will be in their minds that this weekend and next will be about impressing national coaches doing their homework for the Six Nations squads and teams.

"Just consider the Scarlets versus Leicester in Pool Five on Saturday and Toulon v Munster in Pool Three on Sunday. Monumental stuff, the kind of games that help form careers."

Toulon's Felipe Contepomi is set to face a familiar foe this weekend © Getty Images

The Irish Independent's Peter Bills talks to Toulon's Felipe Contepomi before he locks horns with old foe Munster in the Heineken Cup.

"He's swopped Temple Bar for Toulon, Molly Malone for the Med. But, as they say, you can take the boy out of Dublin, but you can't take Dublin out of the boy.

"A warm smile spreads across the face of Felipe Contepomi when you ask him about matches with Munster. He has a simple response. "One of the best things I have experienced in my rugby career," he says, recalling past battles between his beloved Leinster and Munster.

"They are the best memories. Those were very happy times for me."

"And now comes another barn-storming clash with the men of Munster, except that Contepomi will be wearing a different shirt this time. Will it seem strange?

"Possibly, he says, cheerfully conceding that he is still in regular contact with some of his former playing pals from Leinster, and Dublin will always hold a special place in his heart.

"But all eyes will focus on the Stade Mayol this Sunday when Toulon will attempt to put an abrupt end to Munster's Heineken hopes for this season. A black and white scenario? Contepomi thinks so."

Leinster's Jonny Sexton threw a spanner in the works for Saracens back in October © Getty Images

Gerry Thornley believes that Munster could do with taking a leaf out of Leinster's book this weekend as the Heineken Cup reaches the sharp end in The Irish Times.

"Leinster and Munster head into their final two similarly tricky, defining Heineken Cup pool games – banana skins at home to faltering English Premiership opposition and rather more daunting treks away to nouveau riche French teams. They do so on the back of scratchy home wins dominated by pedantic Welsh referees, while indebted to their frontline Irish outhalves and place-kickers. Perhaps, the similarities end there.

"Whereas Munster are much better placed in the Magners League, that is secondary to the holy grail that is the Heineken Cup – pretty much to all Irish players, supporters and media alike. Thus, Leinster can secure qualification by beating Saracens at the RDS on Saturday, though as Saracens showed in round four when picking up their first win away to Racing, there is little likelihood of them rolling over. This is especially so given the history of the first meeting when Leinster won at Wembley in one of the tournament’s finest displays to date, although it may be a little diluted by Brendan Venter’s return to South Africa yesterday bearing in mind another of his rather lop-sided post-match loser’s rant which contained the bizarre claim that rugby would die."

Doug Howlett was vital to Munster's home success against Toulon © Getty Images

Hugh Farrelly previews Munster's make-or-break Heineken Cup tie with Toulon in The Irish Independent.

"Most of the selection speculation this week will centre on whether Paul O'Connell starts on the second-row or comes off the bench, but the composition of the outside backs could be equally significant and the following are some of the options available to McGahan.

"Option A -- As you were

15 Warwick, 14 Howlett, 13 Earls, 12 Tuitupou/Mafi, 11 Murphy

"The formula which took the field against the Ospreys (when Mafi came off the bench for his cousin Tuitupou) and was supposed to against Glasgow when Mafi started at No 12. Having one of the Tongan cousins at inside-centre indicates a direct approach and would mean Johne Murphy on the wing when his rich vein of form promotes a switch inside to get him involved as often as possible."

Sean O'Brien crashes over for Leinster © Getty Images

After the latest European battles, Gerry Thornley believes that Leinster are the best placed of the Irish sides heading forward in The Irish Times.

"Crucially, the integrity of the tournament has been maintained, with no match, as things stand, set to be deferred beyond rounds five and six in this arctic winter. It still seems more fiendishly difficult than ever to pick the eight quarter-finalists at this juncture, but Leinster are both best placed of the Irish trio going into the final two rounds, and look best equipped to ultimately win the trophy after two outstanding performances in a row against Clermont.

"Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Leinster did, after all, reach the semi-finals last season, only to be without Jonathan Sexton when also having the distinct misfortune to be drawn away in the semi-finals. You need a bit of luck in these things too, and as an aside it was interesting to contrast the way Sexton hurriedly had a plate inserted in his jaw the day after last season’s quarter-final in a failed attempt to have him fit for the semi-final three weeks later whereas without an operation and returning to the care of his specialist, Brian O’Driscoll was able to play again 20 days after suffering a cracked jaw against Argentina."

Hugh Farrelly looks at the importance of the scrum following Munster's demolition by the Ospreys in The Irish Independent.

"We were told a story recently about a special fixture that took place back in the 1980s to celebrate the centenary of the Munster Branch.

"It was a clash between a Cork XV and a Limerick XV and, though just an exhibition match, the deep-rooted rugby rivalry between the cities produced a ferocious affair with little holding back on either side. Limerick were captained by Munster and Ireland tight-head Ginger McLoughlin (you may have seen footage of him scoring a try in Twickenham) and the Shannon man advocated a direct, up the jumper approach.

"As the game progressed, the rate of attrition saw Limerick lose their out-half and they had to go the Cork bench for a replacement. Those were the days of Cork backs and Limerick forwards -- the ratios have come closer together in recent times -- and the story goes that Ginger was none too impressed by the new man's Corinthian approach to the game."

Mick Cleary delves deeper into a rare occurrence - Leicester's refusal to dip onto the replacements bench against Perpignan - in The Daily Telegraph

"It was quite a Sunday double for the Leicester director of rugby and if he can do it, then why can’t others? Cockerill chose not to use any of the eight substitutes available to him, a nigh-on unprecedented act in the modern game. Ah, but Leicester didn’t win? True, but Perpignan’s last-minute equalising penalty had nothing to do with the fact that eight Leicester blokes were sitting swaddled like Michelin men on the sidelines. The Tigers’ starting XV were still punching their weight, driving hard in the scrum and in the loose.

"Shaggy-haired, breast-beating, fist-pumping Martin Castrogiovanni was a compelling sight at Welford Road, the prop glaring and roaring over the crumpled heap that had been the stable, upright Perpignan scrum a few seconds earlier. Interestingly, Perpignan’s difficulties in the scrum started when they hoicked off their hooker, Marius Tincu, early in the second half. The Catalan side used seven substitutes in all, yet had to rely on a late penalty to get the draw.

"The men with clipboards will tell you that subs do make a difference, that there is an impact, that fresher is fitter and better than battle-worn and jaded. Well, it wasn’t on Sunday."

In his column in the Irish Examiner, Donal Lenihan analyses the performances of the three Irish performances over the course of the latest round of Heineken Cup action.

"The net result of the weekend’s deliberations is that all three Irish sides have qualification to the knockout stage within their control even if some, Leinster in particular, are in a better position than others.

"It was inevitable, given the quality in their squad, that the Ospreys were going to dent Munster’s European aspirations at some stage in this tournament, and Saturday was the day.

"The only consolation for Munster was that it could have been worse. At least they had the satisfaction of clinging on to that bonus point at the death. If the one secured at the outset of this pool at the Madejski Stadium against London Irish was fashioned by some quality work from David Wallace, Duncan Williams and Sam Tuitupou, this one owed more to very poor game management and decision-making by Ospreys captain Alun-Wyn Jones."

Chris Hewett of The Independent feels that Bath's defeat by Ulster at the Recreation Ground on Saturday proves that there are some things that money can't buy.

"He may have been the most merciless back-row bandit ever to rob an opponent of his sanity and self-respect in a public place: certainly, the phrase "mad, bad and dangerous to know" was an insipid understatement when used in his connection.

"Roger Spurrell, the captain who launched Bath on their golden decade, travelled north from his beachside home in Cornwall at the weekend to cast an eye over his old club in their fight for Heineken Cup survival, hob-nobbing with the owner Bruce Craig in his private box, catching up with a few greying ex-playmates in the public bar, offering an opinion or two, listening to a whole lot more. It was good to see him again.

"Quite what he concluded about what he had seen and heard was anyone's guess - there was always something elusive about him, even in the early days - but this much was blindingly obvious: there was not even a trace element of the Spurrell spirit to be found among the current Bath players on Saturday.

"Against an Ulster side missing a talismanic flanker of their own in Stephen Ferris, struggling with their discipline around the tackle area and down to 14 men at the last knockings, the West Countrymen were so lacking in killer instinct that this "should win" game became a "can't win" game almost without them noticing."

Writing in the Irish Independent,, Peter Bills hails what he feels was a "seminal performance" by Leinster in Saturday's Heineken Cup clash with Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

"If Leinster faces were creased in smiles after this marvellous match, those belonging to two other, quite separate, groups of rugby men were lined with furrowed brows.

"For this encounter, this seminal performance by Leinster, raised some pertinent and uncomfortable questions for two other rugby parties.

"The most obviously discomforted group was the French contingent. Here were the reigning champions of France, a club that had targeted the Heineken Cup this season as its most-wanted trophy, swept away by the pace, power and unrelenting intensity of the Leinster team."

Writing in The Guardian Shaun Edwards urges those lambasting the scrum to think again.

"The scrum is in danger of getting a bad name. It's becoming the butt of those rugby fashionistas who seem intent on portraying it as a waste of playing time and merely a method of restarting the game, rather than something very much at the core of the sport. They should know better and if last weekend didn't help them to see the light, then I suspect little will. We'll continue to get "Scrum time 8 minutes" flashed up on our television screens or retired backs poking fun, when a little thought would go a long way.

"At scrum time packs have been instructed to "Crouch, touch, pause" before they "Engage". The result has been endless collapses and resets, and when referees were then instructed to crack down on the resets, we got streams of penalties instead. Now, them that knows say that scrums have been turned into balancing acts as front rows struggle not to concede any advantage in the hit and increasingly they are suggesting removing the "pause" phase of the preliminaries because it's one complication too many, especially if the referee gets the rhythm wrong and delays too long before calling engage. Also because there is a de facto pause in the instruction anyway."

The Daily Mail's Chris Foy launches a defence of Brendan Venter's infamous interview and says both sides need to take a step back from the dispute.

"There is a certain irony in the fact that Brendan Venter has provided rugby with yet another talking point by saying next to nothing in a post-match interview. Saracens’ out-going director of rugby has a habit of rattling cages and he was at it again last Saturday. He delivered a series of mumbled, non-answers on Sky – in protest at a huge European Rugby Cup fine last month for publicly criticising referees, and inspired by the film Mike Bassett, England Manager. From the out-pouring of angst and recrimination that has followed, you would think the ex-Springbok centre had kidnapped a kid or drowned a cute kitten. A dash of perspective is in order here.

"First and foremost, there is undoubtedly an element of pettiness at play. This circus sideshow has all the hallmarks of a lovers’ tiff – with both sides wanting to have the final word. And so ERC duly stewed on Venter’s rambling, verbal version of a two-fingered gesture, then delivered a statement condemning his behaviour, having already privately acknowledged that they had no scope to take action as, strictly-speaking, he had done nothing wrong. Their riposte merely served to prolong the pantomime when they should have realised that this was merely an example of a feisty character demonstrating his frustration in a way that was harmless enough and unlikely to be repeated."

Munster boss Tony McGahan opted against a bit of referee bashing in the build-up to his side's re-match with the Ospreys, the Irish Independent's David Kelly reports.

"Following last Sunday's incendiary affair at Thomond Park, Munster completed their only contact session of the week in Cork Institute of Technology facilities yesterday ahead of their Heineken Cup re-match with the Ospreys in Swansea. Their physical preparedness is undeniable. Much of this week's challenge will be in the mind.

"Hence, yesterday there was little of the spikiness evidenced after Sunday's bruising win from Team Munster, merely a myopic focus on ensuring that they maintain their progress in this mine-filled Pool 3.

"Introspection trumps indiscretion, within Munster at least. McGahan could be forgiven, for example, some apprehension that the Ospreys' accusations of illegalities by Munster's tight-heads could influence Saturday's French referee, Roman Poite -- especially as Monsieur Poite has had a rocky history with Munster in the Heineken Cup."

While the spirit of liberty and independence runs through French rugby, the tricolore flutters alone according to The Guardian's Paul Rees.

"French rugby has long been regarded from outside as an enigma. It has been seen as an antidote to the trench rugby being waged elsewhere; racehorses rather than shire horses, as one writer put it in the 1960s, a feast of unpredictability.

"A few weeks after France were thrashed by Australia in Paris, taking their points conceded against two Tri-Nations sides this year to three figures after crashing to South Africa in the summer, seven French clubs lined up in the third round of the Heineken Cup.

"Racing Métro were at Saracens, Toulon were in Reading to face London Irish, Perpignan welcomed Leicester, Castres were at home to Edinburgh, Toulouse travelled to Glasgow, Clermont Auvergne entertained Leinster and Biarritz, who had not lost since September, went to Aironi, who had not won all season.

"Biarritz were the biggest bankers to win but they ended up the only losers. If they confirmed the stereotype of the French being poor travellers, Racing, Toulon and (again) Toulouse shredded it. All the leading French clubs have at least a handful of players from other countries: old shibboleths now have little relevance."

David Kelly previews what is set to be a tumultuous Heineken Cup showdown between the Ospreys and Munster in The Irish Independent.

"From the moment that Brett Sinkinson stamped on Ronan O'Gara's ankle en route to Munster's Celtic League final romp in 2003, bad blood has coursed through the recent history of clashes between the two-time European champions and the perennial pretenders from Wales.

"In fact, it goes back even further. During the 2003 World Cup, Munster travelled to Neath with a callow side minus 13 internationals and Jeremy Staunton was singled out towards the end of a narrow 33-26 defeat.

"Bearing the visible scars of a terrific shoeing, a dejected Staunton prompted Declan Kidney to issue a stirring broadside to his deflated troops. "Look at the state of that man's face," Kidney said to a stunned dressing-room. "I don't mind if you get beaten on the scoreline, but don't ever let yourselves be beaten up again."

Aironi bucked the trend with victory over Biarritz © Getty Images

Gerry Thornley crunches some numbers following another hard-fought round of Heineken Cup action in The Irish Times.

"As Heineken Cup weekends go, that was quite unusual. Although eight of the dozen games were won by the home side, most unusually in all bar two of the games (Biarritz’s stunning defeat to Aironi and Perpignan’s five-point win against Leicester) anyone backing the away side on the handicap betting with the bookies would have come out on top.

"Toulouse were the biggest winners of the weekend when beating Glasgow in Firhill on Friday night, and this set a trend as Racing Metro and Toulon defied their odds as six-point underdogs to actually win away to Saracens and London Irish. Apart from Glasgow, the only sides who didn’t obtain losing bonus points were Treviso and Cardiff, who lost by eight points at the Scarlets and Northampton. All other nine losers extracted bonus points, which was a record for the competition and confirms the impression that this is the most competitive Heineken Cup ever.

"Consider the previous record was set in the first round of this season’s competition when seven of the dozen games ended within the seven-point margin needed for a losing bonus point. In the previous 42 Pool rounds over the last seven seasons the most losing bonus points secured in a round were six on four occasions (round two 09/10; rounds four and six 08/09; round three 04/05)."

David Kelly looks at the fallout from Munster lock Paul O'Connell's red card against the Ospreys in The Irish Independent.

"Paul O'Connell did not need the judgment of his peers to realise that Sunday's moment of madness offered as little wriggle room for escape as that afforded to the hapless, shirt-tugging Jonathan Thomas.

"But they were damning nonetheless, and their harsh scrutiny should mirror the post-mortem that will certainly be taking place behind closed doors within the Munster squad this week, as they prepare for their pivotal return clash with the Ospreys on Saturday.

"Indeed, Munster's Denis Leamy abruptly rejected any defence from his own camp by starkly outlining the bare facts of the matter yesterday."

Mick Cleary puts forward his love of the scrummage following Perpignan's battle with Leicester in The Daily Telegraph.

"If you find that slow build-up of tension dull, that creation of climax as 600 kilos of beef and bone slug it out tedious, the feeling that at any moment one of the sides might crack and the slow, death-march towards the opposition line begin mind-numbing, then I suggest you watch rugby league, football or Strictly Come Dancing.

"The scrum is an integral part of rugby union, as loved by the sport’s connoisseurs as spin bowling is by cricket lovers, and it must remain so. Let us get rid of the notion that it is a mere restart, a chance to get play on the move again after an infringement.

"That’s cobblers. It is a fundamental part of the contest, a mano-a-mano contest to discover who is the more powerful, the more courageous, the more technically accomplished and, often, who wants it most."

Robert Kitson offers his take on Saracens coach Brendan Venter's bizarre post-match interview in The Guardian.

"Voltaire never actually wrote the phrase most frequently attributed to him. Apparently his famous mantra - "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" - simply paraphrased a passage in his Essay on Tolerance, specifically the key line: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too." How ironic that a man who best defined the concept of freedom of speech should end up being misquoted.

"At least his memory lives on, courtesy this week of a rugby coach whose name also starts with a V. For those who did not see it, Brendan Venter's post-match interview on Sky following Saracens's defeat to Racing Metro on Saturday is worth studying. This is what happens when an intelligent man tries to be a bit too clever and attempts to expose the stupidity of others without realising he is actually making an idiot of himself. The fact Venter had a point when he delivered his original rant about refereeing consistency in Europe back in October was rather lost on those who simply saw a man in need of urgent psychological help."

Sarries boss Brendan Venter is in the headlines once again © Getty Images

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former England international and now award-winning author Brian Moore offers his take on the bizarre post-match interview given by Saracens boss Brendan Venter at the weekend.

"How you interpret Venter’s behaviour rests largely on whether you agree with his claim that both he and Saracens have been treated unfairly by referees generally and by European Rugby Cup particularly. So preternatural was Venter’s performance that it could evidence numerous things; the only common verdict being that it was, by any yardstick, unusual to the point of disturbing.

"Depending from where you begin your diagnosis, any of the following could be mooted as a reason for Venter’s exposition – mental illness; the influence of mind-altering substances; autism; incivility; arrogance; childishness; an ill-judged attempt at humour; an appalling lack of appreciation of his position or defiance towards ERC and the disciplinary measures visited on him for previous comments made post-match.

"People who know him were sufficiently concerned about his behaviour to state that something was not right with him and you have to wonder what Venter, who is also a doctor, would have made of a person exhibiting symptoms similar to those captured on camera. If Venter is not ill, then none of the alternative explanations is acceptable for a man holding his position in what purports to be a professional outfit."

Both Leinster and Munster face an anxious wait on the availability of their respective Lions’ captains and totems, Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell, according to the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley.

"The fallout for Munster was arguably the more unnerving. They appeared well set to press on and secure a bonus point win of their own when Johne Murphy crossed for their third try in the 63rd minute to put them 22-13 ahead. That they didn’t was due to a Dan Biggar penalty and a red card for Paul O’Connell which left them hanging on at the end and facing the possibility of their inspirational captain being suspended.

"Scarcely in the infancy of his comeback, and making just his second appearance for Munster since last January, O’Connell’s desperation to make up for lost time may or may not have contributed to him lashing out while being tugged from behind by Jonathan Thomas. In the process, he caught Thomas in the face with his forearm.

"O’Connell had his back turned to Thomas and it didn’t look like a red card at the time, but as ever slow-motion replays make instinctive offences look worse. The Lions captain had been on the pitch for 10 minutes but was then obliged to cut a familiarly frustrated figure for the final 10 minutes."

The Times' Mark Souster reports from Toulon's valuable Heineken Cup victory over London Irish.

"Jonny Wilkinson made a happy return to England yesterday and, with 14 points, helped steer Toulon to victory.

"In the process he proved conclusively, if indeed proof was needed, that anyone contemplating writing the fly half’s international obituary would be wise to reconsider. Wilkinson is about to commit himself to a new contract in the South of France, a move that will make Martin Johnson, the England team manager, think twice about not considering players based overseas.

"Wilkinson’s perfect return of four penalties and a conversion — and his overall game management — contrasted sharply with the fortunes of Ryan Lamb, his opposite number, who missed two penalty-goal attempts and failed to put his stamp on the game.

"The overall impact was that in the tournament’s tightest group, Wilkinson’s contribution to his side’s win keeps them in the hunt for qualification for the quarter-finals from pool three while London Irish’s hopes have all been extinguished, despite the late retrieval of a bonus point.

The Scotsman's Gareth Black reports as Edinburgh's euro hopes take a dive against Castres.

"There goes another year where Edinburgh have knocked themselves out of the Heineken Cup before the half-way mark in the pool stages, but what really, really frustrates Rob Moffat, the coach, is that he knows this was yet another in the season's already long catalogue of results that got away.

"...As with Glasgow against Toulouse the previous night, the issue was the set piece. For the team in the west, the problem had been the scrums, but for Edinburgh it was the lineout that misfired badly, particularly when Scott Murray was on the field and picking the ball out of the air with all the enthusiasm of a player 15 years younger than he really is before being forced off by a calf injury."

Ospreys were handed another harsh lesson in what it takes to be a top team in Europe as they failed to overcome a misfiring Munster, the Western Mail's Andy Howell reports.

"Scott Johnson’s team did keep their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for a fourth consecutive year by picking up a valuable losing bonus point during a bruising battle. But the truth is the Welsh flagship region were not good enough to win... again.

"Their back play was pitiful with their midfield triangle of outside-half Dan Biggar, James Hook and Andrew Bishop offering next to nothing in offence, while neither centre defended particularly well either.

"Without the individual brilliance of injured superstar Shane Williams, the limitations and lack of structure in the Ospreys’ three-quarters line, which has been an on-going theme for a number of years, was again evident."

The Independent on Sunday's Hugh Godwin reports that Andy Powell has moved on from the infamous golf-buggy incident and is flying at Wasps ahead of his side's Heineken Cup clash with the Dragons.

"Andy Powell knew he would be treading the green, green grass of home this afternoon, and though the venue for Wasps' Heineken Cup match has changed from Newport Gwent Dragons' Rodney Parade to the Cardiff City Stadium, the sentiment is the same.

"The much-travelled Welsh No 8 is happy to visit when playing for his London employers, or when he is needed by his country, and one day he will settle down in his Brecon birthplace. Otherwise there is no going back. "I'll start talking with Wasps over Christmas," says Powell. "I'd like to see out my rugby-playing career here."

"Knowing the history of this 29-year-old Wasp who trains in Acton, plays in High Wycombe and lives in Westminster, where a taxi driver might think Rodney Parade is the Dragons' star player, he is, it is fair to say, very Welsh. He is, by turns, wistful, warm, impulsive, barmy. Twp, they'd say, in Welsh. In London, maybe, lively or lairy."

Such was the intensity of autumn engagement that many teams return to European action nursing injuries and fearing the worst. The Observers' Eddie Butler writes.

"You can't avoid the feeling that the return to Heineken Cup action this weekend lacks its customary edge. Europe still seems to be, if not reeling from, then certainly rocked by what happened in November's rounds of international matches. France, in particular, were left gasping in defeat by the Wallabies. The final few minutes of that game could well exert an influence for months to come.

"Now may be a good time to exploit French fragility. If only London Irish were not wobbling a bit themselves, they might fancy giving Toulon a bit of a run-around in Reading.

"If it is possible to travel to the formidable Stade Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand with a fair degree of confidence, then Leinster, whose coach, Joe Schmidt, used to be the backs coach at Clermont Auvergne, could well be in the right mood. They will be telling themselves that they have already won away, at Saracens, without Brian O'Driscoll.

"Dealing with the fall-out of November is going to be an issue everywhere. Wales managed a single draw from four matches in the month but have generally not been deafened by calls for a coaching cull, which must come as a bit of a relief for Warren Gatland."

Writing in the Irish Times, Gerry Thornley previews Munster's Heineken Cup showdon with the Ospreys in Limerick on Sunday.

"Thomond Park has often spooked visiting teams from almost the moment they step into the Munster citadel, and even though the Limerick venue and the city almost assumes a different persona on Heineken Cup days, familiarity through the Magners League makes the Ospreys more dangerous tomorrow.

"Compare and contrast, say, to the first-day nerves when Toulon came to Thomond Park (or indeed Racing-Metro to the RDS). For the Ospreys, the rout in the quarter-finals here two years ago probably remains their most sour memory of recent times, establishing Munster as something of a Euro benchmark for them, and this was put to good effect when they won in the league at Thomond last season.

"That was part of a three-game, week-long Irish tour which also took in a win over Ulster, and though they lost to Leinster, subsequently avenged that defeat in the Magners League Grand Final. Mentally, it was a very significant week for the Welsh region."

The Ospreys' Mike Phillips has never shied away from a confrontation in his life and he certainly isn’t going to start now. The Western Mail's Simon Thomas reports.

"The Wales and Lions scrum-half prides himself on his ability to withstand any kind of physical and mental intimidation on or off a rugby field.

"The pressure of Grand Slam games, Lions Test matches and even the personal criticism he endured over his performances for Wales during the autumn are all part and parcel of his career.

"So Phillips’ assertion that the Ospreys’ Heineken Cup double-header against Munster, over the next two weeks, is the defining moment of their season shouldn’t be dismissed"

Northampton's down-to-earth set-up should ensure England players don't let fame go to their heads. The Independent's Chris Hewett reports.

"The American jockey Eddie Arcaro knew a thing or two about success: he rode almost 5,000 winners, bagged two Stateside Triple Crowns – one more than anyone else, ever – and rattled off classic victories in the routine way a bingo caller might mumble his numbers into a muffled microphone.

"Once a guy starts wearing silk pyjamas, it's hard to get up early," he said when asked to reflect on the difficulty of keeping things in perspective. Right now, the best rugby team in England have a number of players in silk pyjamas.

"Ben Foden, the full-back; the wing Chris Ashton; Dylan Hartley, the hooker; the lock Courtney Lawes ... suddenly, these young men are the talk of every clubhouse in Christendom. And they all play for Northampton, who have some very important business on their agenda, not least this evening's Heineken Cup meeting with Cardiff Blues at Franklin's Gardens and the return leg in the Welsh capital in eight days' time. Will the red-rose quartet revisit the heights they scaled in helping England to that startling victory over the Wallabies last month, or will they, to pinch Arcaro's metaphor, stay in bed?"

France rugby's version of Manchester City - Racing Metro - have huge ambitions for the future, have dropped the good-time image and they also play in sky blue. The Guardian's Rob Kitson reports.

"It has, by Parisian standards, been a quiet revolution. Nothing too flashy or triumphalist, no provocative celebrations. Even so, in years to come rugby historians will regard the past seven days as hugely significant in terms of the European club game. A sky-blue power is starting to emerge within French rugby and the implications on both sides of the Channel threaten to be seismic and long-lasting.

"An exaggeration? Not if a multimillionaire named Jacky Lorenzetti has his way. The real estate magnate is one of France's wealthiest men; three years ago he was estimated to be worth about €700m (£587m). Having sold 93% of his company, Foncia, at the height of the property boom in 2007, he has poured bucketloads into Racing Métro 92, an amalgamated club better known for Racing's evocative past than their more recent accomplishments."

Chris Hewett offers his pool by pool form guide ahead of the latest Heineken Cup showdowns in The Independent.

"Damned clever, the Heineken Cup. Europe's premier club tournament launches itself in mid-autumn with a fanfare of trumpets and an entire season's worth of razzamatazz, yet it keeps its true nature hidden until the dark days of winter, when the contenders play a series of back-to-back matches that invariably dictate the future course of the competition.

"The central section of this season's pool stage begins tonight with Glasgow welcoming Toulouse, the champions, to the Arctic outpost of Firhill Stadium, but if the temperatures north of the border are at rock bottom, the mercury will rise very rapidly over the weekend when the leading clubs from four of the six pools meet in a series of highly significant contests."

Wasps coach Shaun Edwards previews the latest round of Heineken Cup action in The Guardian.

"This is it. A fortnight of the best in club rugby. From Perpignan in the deep south of France to Limerick in the west of Ireland, via Viadana in Lombardy, the cream of Europe goes head to head. In my experience only back-to-back Tests with the Lions creates such concentrated pressure.

"This is when teams with a history use their heads and when the new kids on the block discover whether they are learning fast enough. An away win is heaven; even a bonus point on the road and you're doing somersaults. Lose at home and you're looking at a bleak Christmas.

"If you think I'm exaggerating then look at the fixture list: Northampton v Cardiff Blues, Saracens v Racing Métro, Perpignan v Leicester … and that's just tomorrow. On Sunday Munster welcome the assembled stars of the Ospreys to Thomond, London Irish have Toulon, Jonny and assorted galácticos at the Madejski while Clermont Auvergne host Leinster and the ghosts of last season."

Leicester's Thomas Waldrom celebrates his try against the Scarlets © Getty Images

There are 24 teams in the Heineken Cup. No more than a fortnight into the tournament, it is transparently clear that two-thirds of them are making up the numbers, according to The Independent's Chris Hewett.

"Welford Road was an absolute bear pit yesterday: between them, the Tigers' coaches Richard Cockerill and Matt O'Connor generated more heat and noise than 82,000 England supporters ever produce at Twickenham, and even if the visitors had been tougher, nastier and less weak-minded than Scarlets, they would still have found it a scary place to be.

"The Welshmen are fast building a reputation as one of the best counter-attacking sides in Europe, but as they had no way of countering the Leicester pack in any phase of the forward game anywhere on the field, their opportunities to attack could be counted on the fingers of one hand. If they suffer a worse hiding than this any time soon, they will be within their rights to ask the almighty what it is he has against them.

"At the heart of the Midlanders' exceptional performance was Thomas Waldrom, their summer signing from All Black country. A useful career as a Super 14 back-rower with the Canterbury Crusaders, who win that elite competition at least as often as not, is testament to his powers, but it is doubtful whether the Christchurch faithful ever witnessed a better performance than the one he delivered here."

Munster offered a signal of intent with a shock-and-awe slaughter of mighty Toulon, so writes the Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly.

"Another riotous entry on Munster's 'Hooked on Classics' album, this thumping victory over Top 14 heavyweights Toulon had all the characteristics of the province's best European days over the last 10 years.

A 'win or bust' prerogative against highly rated opponents. A cacophony of noise from a Thomond Park full house determined to play their part in proceedings.

Refereeing injustice, as Wayne Barnes and his team ignored a preposterous pass that allowed Toulon open the try-scoring while Munster waited for the whistle to sound.

A pantomime villain in Felipe Contepomi, whose slow second-half trudge to the sin-bin elicited the loudest roars of the day.

Peter Stringer firing the ball out with dizzying speed and accuracy and executing a trademark ankle tap when Toulon broke free. Ronan O'Gara kicking the ball over from all angles and exuding the control that saw him honoured as this competition's most effective operator last season.

And, an overall intensity from the men in red jerseys that totally swamped the opposition, sounding out a war cry that will be heard all over Europe."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews Leinster's Heineken Cup clash with Saracens at Wembley.

"A near 50,000 crowd at Wembley for the Leinster galacticos, albeit without their greatest galactico of all; the men in red fighting for their lives in round two in front of a 27,000-packed house in their Thomond Park bear pit, the Springbok-infused Ulstermen sampling the delights of the Basque country in Biarritz and mouth-watering matches wherever else you look.

Even by Heineken Cup standards, this is not an average weekend.

Proving that he is not, after all, super human, no doubt to his great disappointment Brian O’Driscoll will not be adorning the new Wembley as Keith Wood and co did 11 years ago – when uncle Fester scored one of Ireland’s tries in the 29-23 win over Wales. In his stead, Joe Schmidt has opted to play Luke Fitzgerald in the number 13 jersey against Saracens today, thereby recalling Shane Horgan to the wing (as well as Cian Healy to the frontrow)."

The Irish Times' Gavin Cummiskey meets Ulster lock Johann Muller, one of four Springboks giving the province a new edge.

"It has long been established that the toughest place to go and win a game of rugby is New Zealand. Just ask the 2005 Lions. Or the 2007 Springboks.

"Before the last World Cup, then South Africa coach Jake White made the brave decision to sacrifice the Tri-Nations away matches to New Zealand and Australia in an attempt to find the best 30-man squad. With Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha put on ice, Johann Muller got his opportunity. If it wasn’t for these two brilliant locks we would know more about the man who will carry the battle to Imanol Harinordoquy and the Biarritz pack on Sunday.

"When Bobby Skinstad cried off from the Christchurch Test in 2007, the captaincy went automatically to Muller. Despite the 33-6 defeat to the supposedly world champions elect, White had seen enough to know how valuable the big man would be as a squad member."

Blues must up their game but they must feel there is a chance of a crucial win at Stade Pierre-Antoine, according to Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"Tonight Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys, two of the more favoured sides before the competition got under way, play matches which could go a long way to deciding how far they go in the competition. Ospreys because defeat at home to London Irish means a struggle to get out of Pool Three, where no second team is likely to go through. Cardiff because they should be sensing the chance of a vital away win against a side that can blow hot and cold.

"That said, the Blues were a long way off their best against Edinburgh, winning by a point, and Martyn Williams is now among the ranks of the missing while, but for a disputed try, Castres might have pulled off the shock of the first round at Northampton. I'm not suggesting the trip south will be easy, hardly anything is in Europe these days, but there's the sniff of a chance."

Munster’s Donncha O’Callaghan in no mood to let down the fans ahead of the Toulon's visit to Thomond Park. The Irish Times Keith Duggan reports.

"This isn't quite a last stand for Munster but around the famous ground in Limerick this week, there was a growing sense that Munster – team and raucous fans – will have to concoct one of those days if they are to prevail against Toulon.

The French team, shimmering with wealth and a motley crew of superstars are seeking to inflict a third defeat in succession on the Irish club. A defeat here could seriously debilitate Munster’s season even as if just beginning. The losses to Leinster in the Magners League and London Irish in their opening Heineken Cup match were competitive.

Still, three on the trot would make for a black October. And the Munster players are in a familiar place: smarting and desperate for a return to what they know best.

“It is what gets you across the line,” Donncha O’Callaghan said of the Thomond Park atmosphere that has acquired an international mystique since European club competition caught hold."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Hugh Farrelly previews Munster's Heineken Cup meeting with Toulon.

"Bankrolled by Mourad Boudjellal -- who made his millions in the cartoon business -- Toulon have been throwing their financial weight about for some time, having had the likes of Tana Umaga, George Gregan and Andrew Mehrtens on their salary sheet as they set about gaining a foothold in the top flight of French rugby.

"Since that was achieved, the same financial clout has allowed Boudjellal to assemble a squad of superstars that would do justice to one of his comic- strip fantasies, with Jonny Wilkinson, Felipe Contepomi, Carl Hayman, George Smith and Joe van Niekerk representing some of the most talented and well-established names in the world game.

"Munster have had a smattering of glamorous overseas signings over the years -- Christian Cullen, Doug Howlett and Jean de Villiers -- but their success has been driven by parochial power through an identification with the jersey and province rather than from acquired overseas talent."

Saracens' Alex Goode on the charge in France © Getty Images

English clubs could be left behind by the combined financial clout of the French giants, according to Mick Cleary in The Daily Telegraph.

"Don’t be fooled by Nigel Wray’s affable exterior. As any fan of Reggie Perrin knows, you don’t get to achieve what Wray has in business without having a cold-eyed grasp of bottom lines and a hard-nosed attitude as to what needs to be done.

"The Saracens chairman knows only too well that if his club do not get themselves sorted out with a new stadium or considerably better facilities than those on offer at Vicarage Road pretty damn soon, they will be also-rans.

"Wray was a guest of Clermont-Auvergne for Saturday’s Heineken Cup opening Pool Two game. It was a splendid occasion, from the moment the capacity crowd of 16,000 began jumping in unison to club anthems long before kick-off to the alarming, if absurd, sight of a 10-strong phalanx of security guards rushing out at the final whistle to pack in around Scottish referee Peter Allen as he left the field. Colour, noise, a whiff of menace – French rugby at its intoxicating best."

Tony Ward believes that Munster should turn to Paul Warwick to get their Heineken Cup camapign off and running in The Irish Independent.

"For Munster, it was in many ways mission accomplished at the Madejski. They did not play particularly well yet, in typically resilient fashion, eked out a bonus point that, in the end, they had every right to. London Irish coach Toby Booth has a bit to learn yet in his take on bonus point relevance.

"However, Tony McGahan does have cause for concern. When Paul O'Connell, Jerry Flannery, David Wallace, Lifeimi Mafi and Tomas O'Leary are fully fit and back in the mix, the two-time winners will be a different proposition but, for now, it's all hands to the pump in a qualifying path they know so well."

David Kelly believes that Leinster's marshalling of Sebastien Chabal was vital to their opening Heineken Cup success in The Irish Independent.

"Ronan O'Gara was once asked about the best practice when confronted with a totemic opponent. "Hammer the hammer," came the reply. Sebastien Chabal is such a talisman. Munster hammered him en route to their maiden Heineken Cup triumph. Ireland hammered him en route to their 2009 Grand Slam.

"And on Saturday, despite early encouragement for the Captain Caveman of modern rugby against Jamie Heaslip, Leinster repeatedly hammered him in a most impressive opening statement in their latest European foray.

"At an RDS which rocked to its ancient foundations despite the indecently early kick-off, Leinster traded blows with their aristocratic visitors for a half-hour before a scintillating four-minute scoring burst that transformed a cagey 3-3 into an authoritative 18-3."

Brian Moore believes that London Irish must find some added grit if they are to progress in Europe in The Daily Telegraph.

"For a start, both London Irish and Keane’s beloved Munster warmed up for a good 40 minutes on the pitch before kick-off.

"Keane had many anecdotes attributed to him. Most need no exaggeration, including one in which he was sitting in the changing room at Lansdowne Road lighting up, whereupon the trainer came in and told him to get on to the pitch for a warm-up. “Feck off,” was the reply, “I’m warm enough. I had the heater on in the car on the way”.

"It would have been delightful to see Keane grace a competition such as the Heineken Cup which, although the poorer cousin of football’s Champions League, is its superior in terms of the quality of pool games that precede its knockout stages."

Ronan O'Gara is welcome to the Madejski © Getty Images

Brendan Fanning looks at Munster's precious away bonus-point against London Irish in The Sunday Independent.

"On the flight to London yesterday morning the Aer Lingus hostess asked a man in a Munster jersey who was struggling to get his gear into the overhead locker if he had got over the shock of last weekend. Clearly she was a Leinster fan. Quick as a flash he looked at her and said: "Hold on a minute -- we could've flown Ryanair you know!"

"There and then you thought that Munster would have to be every bit as sharp if they were to survive at the Madejski Stadium where 20,188 turned up to see a tie the home club had been wishing for every time the names were being pulled out of the hat in this competition.

"Munster were a long way from sharp, but having trailed 6-20 early in the second half they did what they have done so often in the past and worked their way back into the game. The reward was a bonus point with literally the last play of the game, in which Ronan O'Gara threaded through a lovely ball for Sam Tuitupou to latch onto."

Bath prop David Flatman looks ahead to Sunday's meeting with Biarritz at the Rec, insisting that it's an early season must-win in The Independent on Sunday.

"Can you have a must-win game in October? Well, we have, and it's today. And the good news is that the team we have to beat are currently trailing French Top 14 leaders Toulouse by just four points.

"OK, so let's be frank. The club will not disappear if we come off second best but somehow this Heineken Cup clash at home to Biarritz feels like more than just a competition opener. Our start to the season has pitched and dived and, as is the way in sport at any level, it is the dives that stick so resolutely to the walls of the players' minds.

"This is an unfortunate phenomenon but one that can be tackled in just one way: by winning. Losing repeatedly does so much more than cost a team a few points in a table. It serves to perpetuate the plunge in morale, to exacerbate the sense of inadequacy and to feed the demons of defeat that lie hungry, waiting for a chance to feast on a man's fear."

Eddie Butler can't escape the spectre of rugby's referees, despite his best efforts, in The Observer.

"In my time away from these pages, dear readers, I have travelled high and low. I have been up Mount Kilimanjaro on the adventure of a lifetime and been washed by the monsoon waters of the lower Usk valley before the sporting milestone that was the Ryder Cup. And everywhere I have been it seems that the rugby referee has gone too. We talked about him at 20,000 feet over Africa, and discussed him even as Europe's golfers demanded that there be no other topic of conversation than their advance down a knife-edge towards victory. You think you've escaped, but there's the ref, by your side.

"His is not an easy lot. Just about the only line of common sense to survive the folly of the project known as the Experimental Law Variations after the 2007 World Cup came from the head of referees at the International Rugby Board, Paddy O'Brien, when he said that the whole aim was to reduce the subjectivity of the referee and thus make him less the centre of attention. It was a noble goal, but one missed by a country mile.

"On Friday night it was hardly the fault of John Lacey, a former wing with Shannon and Munster, and now a ref on the rise, that Northampton and Castres should allow nerves to undermine their deservedly lofty European ambitions. There was nothing any referee could do to cure a Bruce Reihana duck hook, apart from spare him the embarrassment, I suppose, by awarding his side no penalties."

Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson will grace the Heineken Cup stage this weekend © Getty Images

The world's finest kickers will be out in force on the Heineken Cup's first weekend. Who will dominate the competition? The Independent's Chris Hewett previews the action.

"The poor misguided souls who sit on the International Rugby Board have tried everything under the sun – everything, that is, except the blindingly obvious – to wrest the game away from the goal-kickers and place it in the hands of the try-scorers, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on "experimental law variations" that were laughed out of court and changing "refereeing interpretations" at the tackle area more often than an incurable germaphobe changes his underpants.

"And what can we expect on this opening weekend of the sport's most captivating tournament? A masterclass in the art of booting an oval-shaped ball between a pair of vertical sticks.

"It is still a kicker's game, whatever the governing body would have us think, and until the IRB gets really serious about creating space for runners by restoring the essential dynamic of the boots-on-bodies ruck and abolishing tactical substitutions that allow a player to be replaced at the first sign of breathlessness or the moment he finds himself being dominated by his opposite number, the big matches will continue to be decided by "les buteurs", as the French call them."

Who will lift the Heineken Cup this season? © Getty Images

As the Heineken Cup kicks off, Premiership sides face a tough test to upset the continental elite's growing dominance according to the Independent's Chris Hewett.

"In one sense, the performance of the English clubs in last season's Heineken Cup demonstrated a profound understanding of the meaning of Europe: they were as flat as the Netherlands, as anonymous as Luxembourg and as bankrupt as Greece. According to the men who run rugby at Premiership level, it was nothing more than a "blip" – a word no doubt heard in the boardroom of Lehmann Brothers when business first took a turn for the worse. It was no "blip", as the statistics demonstrate all too clearly.

"The English contingent participated in only five of the first seven Heineken Cup tournaments from 1995: those renowned visionaries at the Rugby Football Union prevented them playing in the first year; the clubs stopped themselves playing three years later. The return? Four titles, at a delivery rate of 80 per cent. The record since 2002 tells a very different story: two victories in eight attempts, both by Wasps. Over the same period, there have been three all-French finals.

"Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premier Rugby, excuses last term's damp-squibbery by pointing to the parlous state in which the English contenders found themselves at the start of the competition. He has a point, but not much of one."

Leinster and Munster must beat the best teams in Europe just to get out of their Heineken Cup pools, writes the Irish Times' Liam Toland.

"If you're going to win the Heineken Cup then you have to beat the best in Europe. This certainly makes sense but unfortunately both Munster and Leinster must beat the best in Europe to simply get out of their groups. Ulster, by contrast, have a great chance to build on an excellent start in the Magners League.

All three provinces have not hit the heights that will come with more rugby and continuity of selection. In the meantime, timing is all important and as Bayonne entertain (bash) Harlequins, fellow Amlin Challenge Cup Pool One side Connacht should be easing past Italians I Cavalieri Estra in Stadio Lungobisenzio.

Timing is certainly key for Ulster, with the best of starts, at home to Aironi Rugby, while fellow poolers Bath inflict some pain on Biarritz Olympique.

As always, the middle two fixtures is the making of the Heineken Cup season, not necessarily based on who you play but who you don’t.

In most cases the Irish provinces can control their own destinies but for Munster and Leinster such tough groups can be made all the easier if London Irish and Toulon and Saracens and Racing Métro 92 neutralise each other in the middle weeks."

Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips has been given a rocket about slow service from the base of the scrum by Ospreys director of rugby Scott Johnson. The Western Mail's Andy Howell reports.

"Johnson’s blast will be a real wake-up call to a player who, after his exploits with the Lions in South Africa last year, made it clear he sees himself as one of the best No 9s in the world.

"Now, as the Ospreys prepare to open their Heineken Cup campaign with a mouthwatering clash against Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon in the south of France tomorrow, Phillips, who has only just returned from a knee injury that disrupted his pre-season, has been left in no doubt he needs to raise his game several notches.

"Asked why the 2008 Grand Slam hero was pedestrian getting the ball away from the breakdown, the former Wales and Australia skills coach replied: “I wish I knew why, to be honest, mate."

The English sides must do better and Ospreys and Cardiff Blues could be the stiffest threat to a Clermont-Toulouse monopoly in this season's Heineken Cup according to the Guardian's Rob Kitson.

"Barely has one European side departed a sodden Wales than 24 teams from the same continent begin the long, mud-spattered haul towards Cardiff next May. As with the Ryder Cup, it pays not to assume a predictable journey. Logic suggests the 16th edition of the Heineken Cup will again be drenched in celebratory French champagne but, as in matchplay golf, the spirit of the Marquis de Sade is never far away.

"Exquisite torture is a fair way to describe a tournament which grows ever harder to win. In the case of Pools Two and Three, simply qualifying for the last eight will demand such reserves of willpower that survivors will feel they have withstood half a dozen hurricanes. Clermont Auvergne, Racing Métro, Leinster or Saracens? Munster, Ospreys, Toulon or London Irish? Even those clubs who finish third will be suffused with quiet pride."

It is easy to get seduced by the sheer exoticism of a club like Toulouse, according to the Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary.

"The Heineken Cup champions boast a Michelin-starred clubhouse restaurant, extravagant clothing boutiques, blue-chip sponsors and of course glamourpuss players such as Frédéric Michalak.

If you want a true insight as to why Toulouse will once again start this Heineken Cup campaign as one of the front-runners then look no further than the twitchy, fretful, stubbled-chinned, slightly down-at-heel head coach, Guy Novès.

He never rests, he never lets us rest," says Michalak, Toulouse's pin-up fly-half. "He is competitive in his very being, and that is why we are too. He is never satisfied. Believe me, never."

There are echoes of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in Novès's relationship with Toulouse. In fact, the umbilical cord cuts even deeper given that the wiry Novès was once a wing for Toulouse, one who won two French titles. But the passion, the urgency, the relentlessness, the bottled-up rage that Ferguson brings to the task is also the hallmark of Novès."

Dan Biggar aims to gun down his boyhood hero Jonny Wilkinson when the Ospreys open their bid for European glory with a glamorous tie in the Pool Three “group of death” at French big spenders Toulon on Saturday. The Western Mail's Andy Howell reports.

"Was Jonny a boyhood favourite?

“Yes. definitely,” beamed Biggar. “Back in 2003-02, he was probably the best player in the world. At that time, he was certainly someone I liked to model my game around. He was certainly someone I looked up to as a role model, so just to be able to step on the same pitch as him is almost a dream come true.”

But, typically, Biggar, 21 in 10 days time and with just six Wales caps to his name, quickly added: “Those things are nice but I won’t be thinking about that on Saturday. It’s a massive challenge but I’m not daunted by it. It’s one I’m very much looking forward to, just being on the same pitch as someone of the quality of Jonny Wilkinson. I will be looking to give as good as I get against Jonny but, obviously, it’s going to be a very tough task.”

Could the Blues taste European success again this year? © Getty Images

Writing in the Wales on Sunday, Barry John tips Cardiff Blues to lead the Welsh charge in Europe.

"If any Welsh side is going to make it out of their pool, I fancy the Blues to do so. Xavier Rush is playing well and Casey Laulala is a tremendous playmaker, while young Lloyd Williams looks a real talent at scrum-half.

"He’s very sharp and very quick when he sees a gap around broken play. The back-to-back games against Northampton in December will be make-or-break for the Blues.

"But if they get through that it could be knock-out games in Cardiff all the way, with the final being at the Millennium Stadium. If I were Dai Young, I would put that all down in the dressing room. I’d say, ‘Boys, don’t worry about your passports. There’s no need, we are staying at home!”

Writing in The Guardian, Paul Rees previews the start of this season's Heineken Cup.

"Steve Borthwick's absence from the British leg of the Heineken Cup launch in Cardiff last week was fittingly symbolic: the English went missing in Europe last season, failing to provide a semi-finalist for only the second time in the 13 years they had taken part in the tournament.

England do not have a team in the top three of the European rankings and only two, Leicester and Wasps, are in the leading 10. The Premiership clubs are envious of the spending power of their French rivals, as well as the regions in Wales and the provinces in Ireland, while Italy's two teams in the Magners League, Treviso and Aironi, have playing budgets of €8m (£6.9m).

Leicester's opening game this Saturday is in Treviso. "A few years ago you would have expected to win there comfortably, but they are no longer the poor relations," Richard Cockerill, the Tigers' director of rugby, says. "They have already beaten Scarlets and Leinster at home in the league and you have to treat them with a huge amount of respect. When you first looked at the pool you thought it was better than others, but it will come down to form."

Salary caps and relegation are exercising the mind of London Irish star Nick Kennedy © Getty Images

London Irish lock Nick Kennedy assesses the challenges facing his club at European level in his Telegraph blog.

"In France the authorities decided to curb their teams’ previously infinite salary budgets for the new 2010/11 season and duly restricted teams to a paltry £7.1million limit. Yes, that’s right, £3million more than their Anglo Saxon opponents. At London Irish we have a squad of 34 players and a quick look at the website of our pool opponents Toulon, shows no fewer than 47 first team players.

"Having nearly twice as money to pay in salaries and therefore larger squad sizes means that French teams can perform more consistently in both domestic and European competitions. They are able to field one side for their Top 14 games and then a whole new, well-rested one for the Heineken Cup games. This is a luxury that English teams definitely do not have. Irish sides tend to prioritise the Heineken Cup much more than their domestic league as in Ireland the Heineken Cup is considered the Holy Grail. It is very rare that the top players will play week in week out in the Magners League and then start a Heineken Cup game.

"English clubs can rarely afford to rest players for Premiership games; the schedule is so tough and the standard so competitive that no team is safe from dropping down to the Championship as recent relegations have shown. If a team in the Magners League has a bad season there is always next year, that isn’t the case in England. The Heineken cup is a challenge we thoroughly look forward to, but not until next week."

Paul Rees offers his take on Steve Borthwick's absence from the Heineken Cup launch in The Guardian.

"Millwall supporters in the 1970s used to chant: "No one likes us, we don't care." They probably still do but in rugby union it is Saracens, the club itself rather than fans, who take a delight in being different.

"Never afraid to target the eye of authority, Saracens hijacked the launch of the Heineken Cup this week by telling their captain, Steve Borthwick, to sample the delights of the Munich beer festival rather than answer a summons from the organisers to perch himself on a high chair in a lounge in the Millennium Stadium. Lunch rather than launch.

"All the other five English clubs in the tournament supplied the required head coach and captain. Sarries were represented by their director of rugby, Brendan Venter, who made no apologies for Borthwick's absence. He wanted all his players to relax and bond after their victory over Northampton before matches against Leicester and Clermont Auvergne."

Glasgow Warriors head coach Sean Lineen is not looking any further than the opening match against the Dragons after the Heineken Cup fixture schedule for 2010/11 was announced. The Scotsman's Gary Heatly writes.

"Many Warriors' supporters may have an eye on the glamour double header against reigning champions Toulouse in December, but Lineen is urging his side to focus on the Firhill match against the Welsh side on Friday, 8 October.

"He said: "We can't really look beyond the first game. The Dragons know our strengths and weaknesses and they'll be confident about coming up here and getting a result. There is a healthy respect there. We both try and play rugby and I think this is the first time we've had them at home first up. They are a good side and they certainly had a good season last season."

If the Ospreys are going to finally lift the Holy Grail of European rugby this season, they are going to have to do it the hard way, according to the Western Mail's Simon Roberts.

"Welsh rugby’s new flag bearers in Europe, Heineken Cup quarter-finalists in the last three years, will start their ‘Pool of Death’ campaign by taking on the most talked about team in European rugby.

"Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon, who have been dubbed ‘the Harlem Globetrotters of European rugby,’ will host the Magners League champions in the glamour tie of the opening round of the Heineken Cup. The clash will bring together two of the genuine ‘rock star’ teams of European rugby, packed with world-class talent and some of the biggest names in the game.

"...Scott Johnson, the Ospreys Director of Coaching, already believes only one team will qualify from Pool 3, but he is undaunted by the prospect of an away trip to France.

“It’s a tough group and I think it’s a similar story to last year, whoever goes through from that group will be in a pretty good place,” said Johnson."

In his weekly column in the Irish Times, Gerry Thornley looks at the qualifiers for next season's Heineken Cup and concludes that it could easily prove the most competitive in the tournament's history.

"Ronan O'Gara would have had mixed feelings as he travelled to Paris on Friday for the evening banquet which celebrated the dream team of the Heineken Cup’s last 15 years, and his own award as the competition’s outstanding player thus far.

"He’d have posed for the photos, shaken hands, accepted the applause and congratulations and mused that he should have been practising his kicking at the Stade de France that day.

"Nothing about the Biarritz performance, for all its remarkable grittiness, would have dispelled the feeling in the minds of O’Gara and his fellow Munstermen that they really should have been there. Leinster could at least console themselves they had only conceded their crown to the eventual four-time winners on their own Toulouse turf, and wonder what might have been had Jonathan Sexton been fit, not to mention Luke Fitzgerald and Seán O’Brien."

Speaking in The Independent, Magnus Lund reveals that Biarritz, in spite of Saturday's heartbreaking Heineken Cup final defeat by Toulouse, are not about to give up on their dream of winning the biggest prize in European club rugby.

"The Heineken Cup is now the stuff of obsession for Biarritz, just as it became the be-all and end-all for Munster after two falls at the final hurdle. 'We have to dust ourselves down and go again,' said Magnus Lund, the flanker so completely forgotten by England that he can barely remember the last time they showed an interest in him.

'We still want this, and we want it badly. We're a small team as far as our supporter base is concerned, but we're a big team in heart and spirit. We have unfinished business here.'

"Lund was exhausted as he chewed the fat an hour or so after close of play, and well he might have been. In the thick of it from the very start and still setting about anyone in Toulouse colours at the last knockings, the former Sale back-rower's tackle count was in the stratosphere, just as it had been when he last played for his country, against the Springboks in the thin air of Pretoria almost three years ago.

"He had no reward then, either: England lost by 50 points in a game they knew they could not win. Saturday's defeat was not of the same magnitude, but as there was no inferiority complex about Biarritz and they came within a single score of glory, the frustration was doubly intense."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Peter Bills argues that while Toulouse underwhelmed in Saturday's Heineken Cup final success over Biarritz, the victors' match day 22 underlined a serious gulf in playing resources between France and Ireland's elite teams.

"In many respects, Saturday's Heineken Cup final reminded us that the northern hemisphere continues to lag behind its southern counterpart for attacking intent, entertainment and running rugby. The primary philosophy in this part of the world remains defence, forcing mistakes by opponents and kicking or dropping goals to triumph on the scoreboard.

"Toulouse tried to play some rugby, make something of it and live up to the occasion. But frankly, the final was often a boring, inferior product in which even the winners struggled to rise to the occasion. No wonder Toulouse coach Guy Noves wore the look afterwards of a distinctly unimpressed business manager who had just endured a pretty ordinary day at the office.

"But there was another issue that emerged from this final that should cause furrowed brows in other European countries like Ireland. Beyond dispute, the power in European rugby has swung decisively to France and you only had to look at the squad Toulouse compiled for this final to see that point vividly emphasised."

France's international success is filtering down to their already strong club game © Getty Images

"Deeper still are the pockets of those funding them. Toulouse's official budget for the 2009-10 season is €17m (£14.8m). The world's most talented back, Juan Martín Hernández of Argentina, has just signed for Racing Métro 92, where Sébastien Chabal and Francois Steyn have already been lured. The Top 14 is the place to be for financial and rugby fulfilment. Toulon barely blinked when they recruited Jonny Wilkinson, partly because of the tax breaks available for étrangers when they first arrive in the country. From the start of next season clubs will, admittedly, be limited to a salary budget of €8m, but that is still double the Premiership salary cap. "Rugby is now the trendiest sport in the country," confirms Dan Luger, the former England winger now living in Monaco. The unprecedented number of tickets sold for Sunday's Amlin Challenge Cup final between Toulon and Cardiff Blues in Marseille will bear him out.

"But how has this happened? Only last year France had one representative in the last eight and trailed in third in the Six Nations. This time they won a grand slam at a canter and their Heineken Cup teams, albeit with some imported muscle, have been rampant. Leaving aside a below-par Brive, the rest lost once in 18 games on French soil this season, not including the all domestic quarter-final between Toulouse and Stade Français. Munster's big pool win in Perpignan was the exception. Shaun Edwards, coach of Wales and Wasps, argues that a post-Lions season is always tougher for the four home unions. Others, though, sense a long-term wind of change blowing across the Channel. "I don't know if it will right itself," said Jim Mallinder, Northampton's director of rugby, last month. "The gap is certainly there and it's quite evident. It has become increasingly difficult [to compete]."

Writing in The Telegraph, Will Greenwood salutes Toulouse's quiet man, the only question is, can you tell who it is yet?

"How many players from the Toulouse team can you name? Put the paper down, try to work them out, then carry on reading. I bet some names came more easily than others. The back three of Vincent Clerc, Clément Poitrenaud and Cédric Heymans would have rolled off your tongue. Yannick Jauzion would be mentioned in the first breath. Byron Kelleher and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde would have got called early on. In the forwards, Thierry Dusautoir, France's Grand Slam-winning captain, would be hard to forget. William Servat, perhaps the best hooker in the world right now, is a name most of us would recognise even if we couldn't place his face.

"But I would be willing to bet considerable sums of hard-earned cash that the blindside flanker for Toulouse never entered your mind. Even if I told you his name, you would probably have no idea who the hell he was and what he looked like. Which is a shame, because when Toulouse played in three consecutive finals from 2003 to 2005, and won two of them, he was there. When they lost to Munster in 2008 he was there as well. And when they face Biarritz, he will be there.

"His name is Jean Bouilhou and he is a Toulousain legend who is unknown by 99 per cent of rugby supporters. A one-club man, he has been at Toulouse since 1999. He is the rock which allows the Toulouse superstars to earn their plaudits and their sponsorship deals."

Hugh Farrelly is fulsome in his admiration for Biarritz No8 Imanol Haridordoquy who will again play through the pain barrier this afternoon, in The Irish Independent.

"Big talk requires big actions to back it up and Harinordoquy has not disappointed for, while acknowledging the athleticism, pace, skilful hands and physicality of one of the world's finest No 8s, if there is one quality that defines him, it is bravery. It was a privilege to witness his performance with a broken nose and broken ribs in the semi-final win over Munster. The man had no right to be playing, was wearing a ridiculous face mask necessary to protect the nose that had been operated on the previous week and required treatment on four occasions for the damage sustained to his ribs.

"Yet, Harinordoquy would not leave the pitch until Dimitri Yachvili kicked Biarritz ahead for the first time and the No 8 departed to an incredible ovation from the Biarritz faithful. The only comparable display that springs to mind is Ireland flanker Philip Matthews playing for almost 60 minutes with a dislocated shoulder in the torrid 15-15 draw with France in 1985. The Ulsterman realised the only available substitute was prop Mick Fitzpatrick and played with one arm until he could go on no longer.

"Harinordoquy is made of the same stuff. The ribs are still cracked but he scoffed at the notion that they might rule him out of today's final. Toulouse go in as overwhelming 2/7 favourites but the fact Harinordoquy is 7/1 favourite to scoop the man of the match award tells its own tale."

Writing in the Sunday Times, Stephen Jones believes that Biarritz will be up against it when they tackle Toulouse in the Heineken Cup Final next weekend.

"When people in rugby discuss elite coaching, they always refer to the concept of shelf life. The game moves on so rapidly, and changes in its elements, that it is deemed almost impossible to hold the coaching reigns of a top team for longer than five years, and very few coaches do. It is also true that the video analysts of every opposing team work you out anyway, so to pop up full of surprises is almost impossible.

"So for Guy Noves to have held the coaching post at Toulouse for 17 years is almost beyond extraordinary. He was a shoo-in as ERC Coach of the 15 years of the Heineken Cup. On Saturday, Toulouse play Biarritz in the final at the Stade de France, aiming to become the first team to win the trophy four times. They are already the only team to win it three times. Noves, very much the driven touchline prowler and not the stand-seat analyst, has become as big an institution as the event itself.

"He does sometimes get things wrong. His is a harsh environment, because if Toulouse do not win at least one from the Heineken Cup and the French Top 14 every season, then it is deemed a disaster. Toulouse lost to Perpignan in the semi-final of the Top 14 on Friday so for them, Europe is the only game in town."

Bath prop David Flatman revels in the return of the scrum as an attacking weapon in the wake of the Heineken Cup semi-finals in The Independent.

"As French rugby sails full steam ahead towards the promised land, leaving the game in the British Isles paddling around in the shallows with its trousers rolled up to the knees, it is time to identify the things separating them from us.

"Their clubs have more money, for a start, along with greater pulling power: domestic championship attendances are now within 6,000 of the average gate in the top flight of professional football. They play for the most part in superbly appointed municipal stadiums, they have comprehensive television coverage and – very important, this – they all have a scrum.

"Yes, we're back in the age of the dear old set-piece: the 16-man game within a game where an inch gained here and there allows a team to win by miles. Last week, both Toulouse and Biarritz prevailed in their respective Heineken Cup semi-finals because they tore up the opposing scrum."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Peter Bills finds fault with the way that Biarritz booked their place in this season's Heineken Cup Final.

"Time was, when losing a game of rugby was a minor inconvenience when set against a raucous night of drinking and partying. Sometimes, defeated teams joined their conquerors for a night of celebration, content that the spectacle was so exalted they had participated in a wondrous piece of entertainment.

"Right, now let's put that aside, and talk of Munster's defeat to Biarritz last weekend. No wonder the dining area where the Munster players ate after the game resembled more a funeral parlour. To misquote that renowned Irish outside centre Oscar Wilde, to lose a Heineken Cup semi-final may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose it to a team playing no rugby just looks careless."

Toulouse's Byron Kelleher and David Skrela celebrate their Heineken Cup semi-final victory over Leinster © Getty Images

Writing in his column in the Daily Telegraph, Brian Moore hails the rugby lesson handed down by Toulouse and Biarritz in the Heineken Cup semi-finals.

"There are those who like to classify games as darkness versus light, ambition versus force, and they would see the progress of the two French teams into the Heineken Cup final this weekend as a triumph of evil over good. They are wrong.

"The successes of Toulouse and Biarritz against Leinster and Munster respectively were based squarely on their efforts up front, but that was far from the whole story. In any event the question must also be put: so what? If teams are able to apply huge physical force and no little skill in the forward exchanges, why should this be deemed inferior to the skills shown by players whose athletic bent is fleetness of foot?

"In truth, the distinct impression from the two semi-finals was that the French teams could have played pretty much as they liked and would still have won. There was no discernible lack of effort from either of the Irish provincial sides, though Munster have not played as poorly as they did on Sunday for some time, but they were bested in the set pieces after being competitive early on."

Away semi-finals on French soil proved a couple of bridges too far for Ireland’s European standard-bearers according to the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley.

"In truth, Munster fell away more disappointingly than Leinster had done 24 hours beforehand in what was a comparatively poorer quality encounter in San Sebastian. In a reprise of the first semi-final, being obliterated in the scrums was one thing, but having their normally prolific lineout dissected was simply too much to cope with.

"Despite looking dangerous whenever they ran at Biarritz and taking the lead through a Keith Earls’ try, such were their starvation rations that they were increasingly forced to do