Courtesy of that decisive win for Montpellier over Toulon on Saturday, qualification for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals via the one remaining best runners-up slot turned into the straight Leinster-Munster shoot-out Irish fans feared in advance of the weekend.

1 Just how much is the Thomond factor worth these days?

WITH just four teams qualified at this stage and all the second-placed sides still mathematically fighting for the knockout stages, the Heineken Cup has delivered once again.

At least we know with certainty there will be some Irish presence in the quarter-finals of this season’s Heineken Cup.

Three things to look out for in this weekend’s Heineken Cup action

I managed to take in two games last Saturday, one as an interested spectator, the other in a professional capacity.

I had to think long and hard about selecting my sportsperson of the year and while Rory McIlroy and Katie Taylor would be top of the list for most people, it was the latter’s gold medal performance at the Olympics that inspired my choice.

1 Restructuring the Heineken Cup

THERE is a famous picture hanging in the headquarters of the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.

There’s been a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth since the Irish whitewash in Europe over the weekend but it is about time people start to realise that we have no divine right to be winning Heineken Cups with the regularity we’ve enjoyed in recent times.