DECLAN Kidney yesterday demonstrated his conservatism by recalling a couple of thirty-somethings to his back division for this evening’s Heineken Cup clash with London Wasps at the splendid Ricoh Stadium in Coventry (5.30pm, Sky Sports 2).

THIS morning 30 young Irishmen will wake up in Bordeaux. Like so many millions of Irish people before them they will wake in a foreign place, their hearts full of hope, their ambitions fervently shared by everyone they left behind at home.

MUNSTER RUGBY may not have been born in the USA, but the official final run–in to their new season began in Chicago yesterday.