Guinness PRO14 chiefs last night decided to suspend the 2019-20 season indefinitely, with the cross-border league going as far as to cancel its grand final, which had been set to take place in Cardiff on June 20.

There will be a time, hopefully in the not too distant future when rugby’s administrators will look back on the decision to shut down their sport due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic as the easy part, writes Simon Lewis.

The European Champions Cup quarter-finals have been postponed, with Leinster and Ulster among the clubs to be hit by rugby's latest cancellation.

In previous seasons, players and coaches have spoken of how little relevance a club match can have on a Test clash, but the former England coach is not thinking that way this year.

Should Saracens lose the points for their win over Racing, Munster would be deemed to finish second in Pool 4, however it would be Glasgow Warriors who would be next in line to take their quarter-final place as the next-best runners-up.

Saracens will be visiting clubs such as Ealing Trailfinders, Ampthill, and Hartpury RFC in the Green King IPA Championship next season, writes Donal Lenihan.

Munster team doctor Jamie Kearns has been hit with a €2,000 fine after he faced a misconduct complaint for verbally abusing Saracens player Jamie George in a Heineken Champions Cup match on December 14.

Dr Kearns faces a charge of bringing the game and the competition into disrepute for alleged comments towards Jamie George during the course of this match.

Meanwhile, the extent of the groin injury which forced team captain Peter O’Mahony to withdraw before the match has not been established.

He will miss Munster's return game against Saracens and two PRO14 games, against Connacht and Leinster.

Brendan O’Brien Connacht coach Andy Friend has sounded a highly encouraging note on Bundee Aki’s contract situation.

Ulster will be without Will Addison for their back-to-back Heineken Champions Cup games with Harlequins.

Munster have moved to ease their fly-half problems by adding academy number 10 Ben Healy to their Heineken Champions Cup squad.

Saracens could face another punishment after failing to send any representatives to the Heineken Champions Cup launch.

It’s not often that you’d find yourself sympathising with sports bodies.

Simon Lewis Munster Rugby has pledged to further investigate an incident at the end of their Champions Cup semi-final at the Ricoh Arena when a supporter appeared to confront Saracens player Billy Vunipola on the field.

In a statement, European Professional Club Rugby said: “EPCR does not condone the entry of a spectator to the field of play.

Former Ireland team manager Michael Kearney has been appointed to the board of European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR).

Four stunning quarter-finals, three of which were decided by a single score, made for a sensational weekend of Champions Cup rugby.

Brian O'Driscoll has appealed to World Rugby to address the "blight on the game" of slide tackles.

For the second week in a row, the quality of rugby on offer across the Heineken Champions Cup pool fixtures has been overshadowed by decisions made by referees and their interpretation of tackling laws, writes Donal Lenihan

The challenge for Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster is to keep players firmly focused on the task at hand in the face of the inevitable plaudits that will accompany last weekend’s incredible performance, says Donal Lenihan.

Five years on from the acrimonious restructuring of the European Champions Cup, the tournament’s new organisers, European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) have finally stumbled across what appears to be the best balance between the old Heineken Cup, as driven by the Dublin based European Rugby Cup (ERC), and the new entity.

The 67,000-seater Stade Velodrome will also host the Challenge Cup decider on the same weekend.

He criticised the morals of the "Mormon Welsh and Irish" and defended the use of a homophobic slur.

Brendan O'Brien recaps the action as Leinster defeated Racing 92 by 15-12 in Bilbao.

Donal Lenihan examines the decisive factors today at the San Mamés Stadium

Officials from England and France sold visions of a bright new order, when they took a wrecking ball to the Heineken Cup, writes Brendan O’Brien

The IRFU is set to pocket a very welcome seven-figure sum as a result of Munster’s and Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final successes over the weekend with the eventual figure possibly stretching as high as €2m.

The last free-to-air European Cup game broadcast in Ireland was Munster’s 2006 final victory over Biarritz.

Connacht will hope that a home win over a 15th different French club at the Sportsground today will not only confirm a home quarter-final in the Challenge Cup but might also be enough to ensure a potential semi-final would also be back in Galway.

The European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) officials, including board chairman and former England international Simon Halliday, congregated in the tunnel outside the palatial dressing rooms at the U Arena and had every reason to be pleased with themselves.

“These are people who sell morality when they do not have it.”

France centre Mathieu Bastareaud has apologised after being cited for appearing to direct homophobic abuse at a Benetton player during Toulon’s 36-0 European Champions Cup win.