IT’S 20 years since this column sat down to complete the Leaving Cert – for a second, excruciating time – but it is probably some sort of twisted pseudo-tribute to that daunting time in all our lives that scraps of the information we had to learn by rote occasionally jostle their way back to the forefront of the mind when least expected, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Ian Madigan endured a tormenting day with the boot for Leinster against Wasps last weekend but the man who knows his kicking abilities best has backed him to bounce back against Italy on Saturday week, says Brendan O’Brien.

Routes to Olympic qualification continue to multiply but that isn’t to say that getting there is any easier, writes Brendan O’Brien.

European Champions Cup Pool 2

GAA players? Why, they’ve never had it so good, writes Brendan O’Brien.

The fact remains that this is a club with a default setting of one step forward followed by two back, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Munster-Leinster, with the greatest of respect to Ulster and Connacht, remains the blue chip of Irish interprovincials, but it didn’t appear that way yesterday on the training paddocks in Limerick and Dublin.

All sport is, inherently, ludicrous.

A small ante room in the Westbury Hotel yesterday morning is the setting.

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2