WITH Declan Kidney set to announce his squad for the autumn internationals on Wednesday, Irish rugby received a timely shot in the arm with two vintage performances from Munster and Leinster that rocked English premiership giants Sale and Wasps over the weekend.

SPEAKING to friends during the week about the appeal of the Heineken Cup, one of our party offered the opinion that the tournament had become a bit predictable and could do with a few surprises in the early rounds.

AN ALL TOO familiar pattern re-emerged last weekend with northern hemisphere hopefuls Ireland, Scotland and Wales losing the opening test of their summer tour.

THERE IS sufficient evidence to suggest that the international game as we know it in the southern hemisphere is under serious threat.

WHILE you tuck into breakfast this morning, a tired but contented group of Munster players prepared to board another plane for one last campaign in what has been an exhausting season.

ONE of the fundamentals for success in any sport is respect for your opponent. Defeating Saracens by 30-3 only two weeks earlier, Ryan Jones’s Ospreys side overlooked that basic requirement in last Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.