If the last eight months have borne witness to some outstanding achievements for Irish rugby on the international front, the fact that those magnificent test victories over South Africa, New Zealand and Australia has fed into the revival of Munster and Leinster in Europe is equally satisfying.

“The quarter-final is set for the first weekend in April, with the semi-final three weeks later.” It’s been a while since I came across such bullish confidence from a bunch of Munster supporters, but that was the thrust of the conversation I overheard between a few diehards last Friday morning at Shannon Airport in advance of boarding the plane for Munster’s pool- defining trip to Glasgow.

The tourist brochures present Paris as the city of lights and the city of love but one can appreciate why it won’t feature any time soon on bucket lists for the current Munster squad. From both a personal and sporting standpoint, the French capital has yielded nothing but grief for that particular group over the last 12 months.

It’s imperative the Irish rugby snowball keeps on rolling in 2017 after such a productive end to 2016, writes Donal Lenihan.

History does have a habit of repeating itself, especially in European Cup rugby. Ten years ago Ronan O’Gara stood over a match-winning penalty kick bang on the halfway line to deliver a rare win at Welford Road against a quality Leicester outfit. He nailed it.