There is still just enough room in rugby’s hard-nosed professional age for a spark of romance — and tomorrow’s Munster-Racing reunion is special for one member of the French side’s coaching team.

So that’s nearly Tuesday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Operating profits at the company which manages Munster Rugby's headquarters Thomond Park almost halved last year to €122,000.

Last Sunday’s journey down the yellow brick road to the U Arena may have produced some dazzling rugby as well as a Champions Cup defeat but there will be a lot to be said for a return to the great outdoors of Thomond Park when Munster welcome Castres tomorrow (1pm) and bid to reach the quarter-finals.

By New Year’s Eve, we had disconnected the television at the house in Paris, so I had to slip next door to a pub-restaurant I knew prided itself on multi-screen sports. Montpellier-Brive was on one channel and off in the corner, with a few quiet seats underneath it was coverage of Racing 92’s trip down to Oyonnax.

“At the very worst time in life, we saw the very best of others."

While Munster, who will have one eye on the big Saracens test the following week, are likely to be without six of their front-line players, Ulster’s director of rugby Les Kiss is more or less able to stack his side for Saturday’s must-win PRO12 clash at Thomond Park.

When it seemed referee Jerome Garces had formally concluded the week-long obsequies for Anthony Foley with a shrill final whistle on Saturday, Axel’s comrades took to Thomond’s famed turf for one last farewell to one of the greats of Munster and Irish rugby.

Holders Cork Constitution and last year’s beaten finalists Young Munster advanced to the Munster Senior Cup quarter-finals with little difficulty over the weekend but Garryowen and fancied Dolphin were both knocked out.

Munster Schools Junior Cup 

Promoter Frank Warren claims he is open to the possibility of a rematch between Andy Lee and Billy Joe Saunders taking place in Limerick next year after their world-title bout, originally fixed for Thomond Park next month, was last night postponed for an October date in Manchester.

Months before the commencement of battle, Munster head coach Anthony Foley has forewarned his troops that nothing will come easy in Pool 4 of the European Champions Cup.

Shannon have won the Munster Junior Cup for the 11th time after a deserved 33-19 win over holders Clonmel at Musgrave Park.

After a long hard slog of a season, Shannon and Clonmel have one more round to go, with the Munster Junior Cup at stake.

If enthusiasm and commitment prove determining factors in Friday’s Pro12 clash with Leinster at Thomond Park, Munster veteran second row Donncha O’Callaghan will have been a central figure.

Considering he had blown enough fuses in his time to put the lights out all over Limerick, Jamie Cudmore was always liable to leave Munster in a dark place.

The Thomond Park factor might not be enough to unsettle Clermont Auvergne on Saturday if Munster gift them 12 easy and early points the way they did against Ulster, Donncha O’Callaghan has warned.

Young Munster 30 Thomond 3

Trainer Christy Roche believes Groody Hill is coming back to form at the right time as he bids for a second victory in tomorrow’s Ladbrokes Troytown Chase at Navan.

Egyptian Warrior can continue Aidan O’Brien’s good run with his National Hunt horses by landing the Barna Recycling Rated Novice Hurdle at Galway this afternoon.

Aidan O’Brien saddled his seventeenth winner of the National Hunt campaign when Egyptian Warrior landed the opening novice hurdle at Clonmel yesterday.

Small fields and very moderate horses is the less than exciting fare on offer at Sligo this afternoon.

Indevan is fancied to turn the form book upside down and beat Bally Longford in the Benchmark Hospitality Novice Chase at Killarney tonight.

For Munster, the Heineken Cup was always a source of emotional extremes, heartbreak or ecstasy and rarely anything in between.

For many of the players honoured in Croke Park yesterday as ‘Stars of the 80s,’ an All-Ireland senior football medal simply eluded them, while for a few of them it was never more than a dream.

Cashel produced a late scoring burst to shock Young Munster on a dramatic opening weekend of the ODM Financial Munster Senior Cup.

The death has occurred of Sean McNamara, one of the most respected prop forwards in Munster rugby for more than a decade immediately after World War II and who then went on to coach Thomond during the most successful years of the Limerick club.

A review is under way into potentially serious crowd control problems after the Bruce Springsteen concert in Cork, which sparked fears of a Hillsborough-type crush incident.

Andrew Lynch completed a superb treble in Clonmel last night, winning the divisions of the Team Tipperary GAA Race Evening Maiden Hurdle on Bally Longford and Goodoldhonkytonk and following-up on Breffni Gael.

John O’Sullivan was standing guard beside the First Division trophy as the launch of the Airtricity League 2013 season drew to a close in the Aviva Stadium yesterday.

Midleton 13 DLSP 3

HE’LL never be one to bore you with talk of glory days like that guy in the bar in the Bruce song, but on those few occasions when Mick O’Driscoll reflects on the career he’s just left behind, The Miracle Game was probably his day of days alright.

1 Just how much is the Thomond factor worth these days?

You know the landscape is changing when Munster have to employ every marketing strategy in the book to fill Thomond Park for a Heineken Cup pool game.

Cork Constitution will bid to benefit from some more French unpredictability when they go toe to toe with Garryowen in the last eight of the Munster Senior Cup at Temple Hill today (2.30pm).

Cashel dethroned champions Bruff in the opening round of the Munster Senior Cup at Kilballyowen on Saturday.

Munster Rugby chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald last night promised a programme of “cutbacks and savings” as the Munster Branch unveiled a projected deficit of more than €1 million for the year ending June 30, 2012, at its Annual Delegate Meeting in Cork.

1 SELECTION

It’s five years and a handful of weeks since former Leicester Tigers coach Pat Howard sat on a battered old sofa in the club’s training grounds and described Thomond Park as “just a field” to a scrum of English and Irish journalists.

After the heavy rain washed out the majority of last weekend’s Junior Cup ties, only one game is rearranged for this weekend, as Kanturk host St Mary’s.

PARIS in the springtime, the high veldt in summer, Thomond Park on pretty much any Heineken Cup weekend you would care to choose: none are appealing venues or scenarios for a visiting rugby team.

YOU KNOW you’re in trouble when an interview starts with a list of questions that are off-limits.

EOIN REDDAN couldn’t have dared dream of days like tomorrow when he was growing up.

APART from those in flat racing’s insider circles the name Wayne Lordan doesn’t mean much to many people.

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea cut a proud figure after his side humbled Munster 20-12 at Thomond Park to book a place in the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup.

AS A rule, there are better ways to spend an evening than driving two hours on unfamiliar roads to spend 80 minutes freezing in a stadium as rain smashes horizontally into your face, before turning around and driving back across the country again.

The teams for this weekend's All-Ireland League fixtures have been announced.