AND then there were eight.

NO OTHER rugby tournament worldwide can match the drama and excitement of round six of the Heineken Cup. After five intense rounds of competition – encompassing 60 games – only two teams, Biarritz and Toulouse, have officially qualified for the quarter-finals.

WHO would want to be a referee? Well quite a few actually. In fact over the last three years the numbers officiating in Ireland have increased by 25%, from 400 to 500.

FOR A brief period last Sunday, it felt like the good old days of the Celtic Tiger, happy faces everywhere, supporters laden with Christmas presents and the Munster team smashing a quality French outfit away from home.

WITH SO much negativity surrounding rugby at the moment, with the plethora of law changes that favour the team without the ball (and the kickfest that has ensued), how refreshing to see so much positive rugby produced by a whole host of teams in last weekend’s Heineken Cup.

IT was not the type of preparation any of the Irish sides would have wished for last weekend before resuming their respective European journeys, with all four provinces losing in the Magners League.

NINETEEN internationals in a calendar month involving 12 different countries provides a surfeit of information not only on the state of the game but also on the form lines of the main pretenders for honours with the 2011 World Cup now coming into sharp focus.

ONE can only speculate as to the response of the Fijian players when they drew the curtains in their hotel rooms every morning last week to be greeted by rain, rain and more rain.

WHEN big Rocky Elsom touched down last Sunday in the same corner of Croke Park where he had denied Munster’s Ian Dowling an early try in that epic Heineken Cup semi-final earlier this year, you feared the game was up for Ireland.

I have learned through harsh experience that every Australian side will fight to the death.