HERE’S a news flash from France on attitudes to the Heineken Cup — it doesn’t move the discussion dial here. And it is seldom lunchtime chat either for the players with clubs who kick off the road to Cardiff this weekend.

IN the days before last year’s Heineken Cup quarter-final for Munster against Harlequins, I was asked about retirement by the press. I said at the time if anyone was enjoying their career as much as I was, why would they want to walk away from it?

The complexities of Cork men remain the same, it’s just the venues that change.

I kind of lost my appetite for the Lions on Wednesday morning, which is strange. There’s sentiment and romance.

SOMETIMES it takes a shortage to appreciate water. Or a power blackout to get the fundamental importance of electricity.

It’s close now.

Joe Schmidt may be only maintaining a watching brief on the North American tour, but no-one should mistake that for not being busy. It seems like he’s going to scan the globe for a forwards coach, while the other vacant position in a reconfigured Irish backroom team would be a skills/kicking coach.

WHEN does a tour really become a tour? The first match? The first bust-up? The first grind-it-out victory?

NEED to know how the Lions mess with your head? On the morning of Warren Gatland’s tour squad announcement I was watching Sky Sports News thinking ‘my name could get called out here’.

It’s the eve of an all-Irish Rabo Direct pro 12 final, again underlining just how strong the provincial game remains in this country.