In a market that is set to become even more competitive given increased revenues from their domestic and European broadcast deals, the English and French clubs are set to make life a lot more difficult for the Irish provinces.

Having already lost inspirational captain Peter O’Mahony for the business end of the season, Rob Penney will be mindful of making sure his key personnel are fresh and raring to go when Munster set out to upset the odds once again by toppling Heineken Cup champions Toulon in Marseille on Sunday week.

A fairytale finish to what has been an amazing season for Irish rugby was blown off course on a weekend from which Munster are the sole survivor on the European front.

After Munster’s heroics on Saturday, all eyes were firmly focused on the Stade Felix Mayol yesterday to see if Leinster could seal the dream semi-final for Dublin.

The Heineken Cup as we know it has just seven games to run. When it is consigned to history at the end of the season in favour of its successor, the proposed new European Champions Cup, we will look back with fond memories on the last 19 seasons of memorable European action and the joy the tournament brought for rugby supporters across the competing nations.

When news filtered into the press room 30 minutes before kick-off that Peter O’Mahony was a Munster absentee, the odds on a visitors’ success dropped a fathom.

While Irish rugby is entitled to bask in the afterglow of our Six Nations success, I suspect each of the respective unions are more than pleased with developments off the field over the course of the championship.

Just imagine for a second if Ireland had managed to close out that agonising end game against New Zealand last November.

Differing contests in so many ways yet equally compelling.

Three potential areas for Ireland to exploit