IT MUST have been a rather chastened English contingent that arrived for their first get together under Stuart Lancaster at West Park rugby club in Leeds on Monday morning in preparation for the Six Nations championship after a calamitous weekend for their clubs in the Heineken Cup.

AFTER the drama of Friday night when Gloucester and Connacht turned form and expectations on its head by beating Toulouse and Harlequins in Pool 6, you sensed it was going to be one of those dramatic Heineken Cup weekends.

For Shannon, his job was to make life as uncomfortable as possible for me in the lineout by attacking my back, while Ginger McLoughlin was invariably placed in front of me to form a two-pronged assault.

AS weekends go, this one must have been especially tough for Connacht.

PAUL O’CONNELL’S decision to commit to Munster until the end of the 2013/14 season is about the only bit of good news to come the province’s way over the last few weeks.

THE last thing the IRFU court is controversy.

WE may be immersed in the Christmas break but for the players and management of the provincial sides, it represents one of the busiest periods of the year.

LEINSTER’S drawing power grows bigger and bigger, as evidenced by a crowd of 46,365 who braved the elements on a freezing Saturday night in Dublin.

CHRISTMAS arrived a week early for the Irish provinces in Europe with Leinster, Munster and Ulster all topping their respective pools, while Connacht were within four minutes of recording a first Heineken Cup victory.

HAD Leinster somehow contrived to lose this one then they need blame nobody but themselves.