An absorbing Heineken Cup final that lived up to its billing in every way. The Leinster players must have woken up yesterday wondering what hit them.

When you are idle in a hotel room in Johannesburg, the pre-match statistics booklet for the Heineken Cup final offers welcome respite from the boredom. Where’s the oul paddies out here when you need one for a chat? Which is why a mass of statistics has become my coffee buddy for part of the week.

There has been a surge in stories lately about who’s going to end up where in 2020 and not all of it has been about your columnist.

Three weeks ago, on these pages, I wondered aloud why Munster weren’t in the frame for Joey Carbery.

Callum Black would love nothing more than to leave Ulster in the same shape he found them back in 2012. And he aims to help move things in that direction tomorrow evening in a vital Guinness PRO14 game at the Kingspan Stadium against a revitalised Ospreys side.

While witnessing new rugby heroes lift and warm the hearts of the nation this chilly spring, we couldn’t but think of past ones and how this was their achievement too, writes  Kieran Shannon.

Tomás O’Leary will line out for Erin’s Own in tomorrow’s Cork JAFC final at Páirc Uí Rinn. The European Cup champion with Munster and Grand Slam winner with Ireland only returned to football a few weeks ago, having retired from rugby in July.

Tommy Bowe says he does not want to end his Ulster career without adding to the Celtic League trophy he won 11 years ago.

World Cup winner Ruan Pienaar will get to say his farewells in front of a full house at the Kingspan Stadium this evening when Ulster take on top dogs Leinster in a Guinness PRO12 dead rubber derby.

Pre-match press conferences rarely elicit much in the way of insight or emotion, but Isa Nacewa needed just one syllable to communicate both at the RDS yesterday.

Somebody told me once never to pass remarks on an alligator’s teeth until you’ve crossed the river bank. 

If Jerry Flannery believed his close association with Paul O’Connell was at an end when the great second-row ended his Munster career prior to last year’s World Cup, he was badly mistaken.

From the moment Ireland’s Call thundered out inside the Millennium Stadium it was obvious something special was in the air. Never had a chorus of anything but Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau reverberated under the roof of Cardiff’s iconic venue to such deafening levels.

Ronan O’Gara suggests it is not so much the no 10 who is pivotal to Rugby World Cup success, but the goal-kicker. 

The significance of Paul O’Connell’s final game for Munster this evening is lost on no-one who has shared his remarkable career in red.

Stunned Munster supporters watching their side forfeit a 13 point lead and eventually lose 24-16 to the hosts departed the Galway Sportsground on Thursday night wondering how Connacht were able to draft in such influential players as All Black legend Mils Muliaina and another Kiwi, Bundee Aki, while their own side have to settle for virtual unknowns from the Southern Hemisphere.

Never let it be said that the French don’t do hyperbole. Above the match analysis and the regulation quotes, the rugby newspaper Midi-Olympique has chosen to headline Clermont’s trip to Thomond Park: "Aux Portes de l’Enfer", At the Gates of Hell.

The staging of concerts by Rihanna and Robbie Williams at the Aviva Stadium last year contributed to the firm operating the stadium recording an operating profit of €4.55m.

Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Stobart Air, has announced a 35% increase in passenger numbers for the month of May 2014 compared to the same month last year.

On Saturday, Leinster not only bring the curtain down on the domestic rugby season but also on the longest goodbye the game in this country has ever seen when Brian O’Driscoll lines out as a professional rugby player for the last time.

Jonny Wilkinson will play his final game on British shores this weekend lauded as a "once-in-a-generation" talent.

Munster’s chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald admits life in the rugby fast lane is about to become more difficult for Munster.

By Peter O’ Dwyer

Watching Des Bishop travelling and breaking China the other week, it struck us just how far a certain sport has travelled as well.

Jonny Wilkinson has announced that he will retire at the end of the season.

This is genuinely funny, even if you're not a rugby fan.

Ulster will be boosted by the return of some established players when they face Leinster in the second of the RaboDirect Pro12 semi-finals at the RDS on Saturday.

Saracens 46 Clermont Auvergne 6

The mood in the Munster camp this week reminds Paul O’Connell of preparing for a Test against the All Blacks.

JJ Hanrahan is likely to be restricted to water carrier duties in Marseille this weekend. And, if that is the case, should anything happen to Ian Keatley the battle for a place in the Heineken Cup final could hinge on how good Conor Murray can act as back-up goal-kicker.

Ulster hooker Rory Best is wary that emotion may take over during this evening’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Saracens in front of a record 18,000 crowd at the newly-refurbished Ravenhill.

Donncha O’Callaghan has warned his team-mates not to underestimate the motivation driving Toulouse in this weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.

Simon Zebo has said this weekend’s meeting of Leinster and Munster will be like playing in a “Heineken Cup Final”.

Mike Ross has urged his Ireland team-mates to make the most of a rare opportunity to gain international success by beating France in their Six Nations decider in Paris on Saturday.

All week now, the Ireland coaches and players have been running around their team base in Kildare with the metaphorical fire extinguishers, dousing any talk of Triple Crowns or, heaven forbid, a Grand Slam.

Garth Brooks’ grip on Ireland’s disposable income led the FAI to abandon plans for a second home summer friendly.

With Ireland reeling from Paul O’Connell’s absence in yesterday's opening 6 Nations contest, Ulster lock Dan Tuohy was steeling himself for battle after receiving news that stunned him out of his morning porridge.

Four Irish players have been included on the longlist for the ERC European Player of the Year award for 2014.

While the meetings to try to save the Heineken Cup will continue in Dublin this afternoon, it will probably go unnoticed that 18 years ago, on January 7, 1996, the first final was staged at the National Ground, Cardiff Arms Park.

Given the trauma of the past week and the likelihood the Heineken Cup will not feature the best clubs the European game has to offer going forward, there is a premium on winning the tournament this season.

You like your Friday glass half-full or half-empty? Joe Schmidt will have learned a lot over the past month working with players he didn’t have as coach to Leinster.

Let’s be blunt: do you deserve to win when you fail to score in the entire second half and manage only three points in the last 60 minutes?

It was the end of the road for another celebrity in 'Strictly Come Dancing' last night.

The opening weekend of the Heineken Cup has been overshadowed by the off-field threat to the competition’s existence. Despite the threats, accusations and stand-offs, ERC chief executive Derek McGrath still holds out hope that the competition can be saved.