Sitting in my car with a muffin, it's easy to be seduced by both Leinster and Toulouse, but smarts and stone-cold pragmatism may swing Saturday's Champions Cup final Ireland's way.

Confidence in sport is a fascinating topic for a column. When everything is tough; making a decision is hard, passing the ball is hard. You can’t find the auto switch. You can see it, you know where it is from before, but you are frozen, you can’t reach out and flick it...

Playing at Croke Park is quite the experience. In its pure magnificence, it blows Lansdowne Road away, and feels like six times the size. 

When Leinster can move in and sign one of Munster’s biggest assets, it is - not to put too fine a point on it - the biggest kick in the b*llocks I can remember for a province since the game went professional in Ireland

Some coaches believe they are more important than they really are, but once you see that chemistry, that magic developing before your eyes, you might be as well to stand back a bit.

Bayonne were feeding on the European champions coming to town and they will kick the shit out of you if you’re not ready. And we were not ready for the fight

The public conversation about this being the greatest Irish team is one thing, but the debate about being the best team in the world, and by a significant distance, mind, is ill-informed.

Where the respective countries are at is reflected in the bizarre situation where a World Cup semi-finalist is hosting a side knocked out in the quarter-final and it’s the latter who are unbackable favourites.

Whatever about the state of the game, surely we can’t forget why we fell in love with rugby?

Two and a half weekends into a five-game schedule in the Six Nations, it’s timely to take stock of some issues and trends, observations and concerns. For no reason better than I don’t want to start with referees, let’s look at Ireland first…and last.