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

Disappointing yes, but not the end of the world.

It’s funny the things you remember.

Quite a week then. I must admit I didn’t see Rob Penney’s departure from Munster coming down the track nor, for that matter, that Ireland would beat Wales by a margin of 23 points.