France rugby’s version of Manchester City have huge ambitions for the future, have dropped the good-time image and they also play in sky blue. Robert Kitson reports

FEW Heineken Cup weekends, if any, are so pregnant with scripts and subplots as this.

CONNACHT coach Eric Elwood has backed his side to revive their Amlin Challenge Cup hopes against French outfit Bayonne at the Galway Sportsground tonight.

FINANCIAL irregularities continue to cause unrest in the French Top 14, with Bourgoin set to follow Montauban into the lower divisions due to a failure to balance their books.

Toulon centre Felipe Contepomi has returned to the Argentina squad for the Pumas’ Tests against Scotland and France.

NORTHAMPTON coach Jim Mallinder would relish the opportunity to return for another game with Munster at Thomond Park, should the Heineken Cup quarter-final draw throw the two sides together.

MUNSTER Rugby chiefs are ‘extremely disappointed’ at the scheduling of their crucial Heineken Cup Pool One game against Northampton Saints at Thomond Park for Friday, January 22 (8pm).

THOMOND PARK officials are confident that there will be no repeat of last year’s traffic chaos when Munster open their Heineken Cup campaign against Perpignan at the Limerick venue on Friday night.

A STUDY of the clubs providing Fijian players for this evening’s Guinness Series international against Ireland is an interesting indicator of the challenge Declan Kidney’s side can expect.

MAKING eight changes from his last selection and handing out international caps wouldn’t normally be Declan Kidney’s way but few will argue with the side he has chosen for Saturday’s clash with Fiji at the RDS.

MUNSTER’S error-ridden performances against Leinster and Northampton over the last couple of weeks and Benetton Treviso’s sensational victory over French champions Perpignan mean there should be little danger of complacency in the home camp ahead of this afternoon’s Heineken Cup clash at Thomond Park.

ALAN Quinlan doesn’t hesitate when asked about Munster and Treviso today. The big flanker puts the crucial Heineken Cup clash in sharp focus.

Connacht made it two wins from two matches at the start of their Amlin Challenge Cup campaign by coming from behind to beat Montpellier 22-19 tonight.

NORTHAMPTON staged the kind of second-half comeback at Wasps yesterday that their Heineken Cup opponents Munster could have done with in the RDS, but still came up short, losing 20-15.

Connacht will face Spanish invitation team Olympus Rugby XV Madrid, Worcester Warriors and Montpellier in Pool 2 of the 2009/10 European Challenge Cup.

Munster captain Paul O’Connell has compared taking on Leinster in the Heineken Cup to competing against his own brother when he was growing up in Limerick.

MUNSTER supporters needn’t worry. As the province trained at the University of Limerick yesterday afternoon for Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against the Ospreys, Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell and Doug Howlett were missing, but the trio were subsequently included in the 26-man squad.

ENGLISHMAN Wayne Barnes will referee a Heineken Cup match involving Munster for the fourth time when the defending champions take on Welsh side Ospreys at Thomond Park on Easter Sunday next, April 12.

TONY BUCKLEY re-launches his representative career in Munster’s Magners League clash with Edinburgh at Musgrave Park tonight (7.30pm). Buckley hasn’t played for the province since the defeat by Connacht at the Sportsground at the end of December, illness ruling him out of the games against Ulster, Ospreys, Sale and Montauban.

FRENCH ace Julien Malzieu says France must “be creative” against Ireland today in Croke Park.

IT MAY have taken almost 24 hours longer than originally intended but Munster negotiated a safe passage to a home quarter final of this season’s Heineken Cup by virtue of their comprehensive 26-point victory at the Stade De Sapiac.

Munster will play the Ospreys in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

Paul O’Connell was delighted to guarantee a home Heineken Cup quarter-final after Munster’s victory over Montauban.

Montauban 13 Munster 39

The Heineken Cup pool stages reach a climatic end this afternoon, with Leinster and Munster's double header.

MUNSTER fans in the Stade de Sapiac this afternoon and those watching on television will need to take a second look when the Munster guy with the number one on his back trots out this afternoon for the Heineken Cup clash with Montauban.

FOR those in Thomond Park on yet another special night in Munster’s spell-binding association with the Heineken Cup, it was one of several special moments in a night of plenty, and not for the first time, David Wallace was at the heart of it.

It comes as no surprise to see coach Tony McGahan go with the same side that wrecked Sale Sharks last week for their final pool match of the Heineken Cup against Montauban at Stade de Sapiac tomorrow.

JERRY FLANNERY would like no better way to repay Munster’s famed rugby fans than by securing a home quarter-final in the Heineken Cup.

CLERMONT AUVERGNE saw their faint Heineken Cup hopes extinguished despite a comprehensive bonus point victory against Montauban in the all-French Pool One clash at Stade Marcel Michelin last night.

Clermont Auvergne 43 Montauban 10

PAIN, accepts Jerry Flannery, goes hand in hand with ambition, but the Munster hooker doesn’t want a repeat of the hurt inflicted on the province by both Connacht and Ulster in recent weeks.

MICHAEL BRADLEY was last night enjoying the euphoria of his side’s deserved 12-6 Magners League win over Heineken Cup champions Munster.

THOMOND PARK officials last night expressed disappointment with the ERC decision to schedule their crucial Heineken Cup clash with Sale Sharks on Friday, January 16.

MUNSTER have asked European rugby chiefs not to fix their Round Five Heineken Cup Pool One clash against Sale Sharks on a Friday night.

MONTAUBAN captain Marc Renaud has thrown down the gauntlet to Heineken Cup champions Munster ahead of their final round game at Stade de Sapiac next month.

THE relief etched on the face of Munster coach Tony McGahan and the downbeat body language of his Clermont Auvergne counterpart Vern Cotter told their own stories after Saturday’s Heineken Cup thriller at Thomond Park.

Montauban 16 Sale Sharks 12

THIS year’s Heineken Cup took off in spectacular fashion last weekend with some outstanding contests, surprise results and cracking atmosphere.

Ireland lock Donncha O'Callaghan is ready for another "hugely demanding" Heineken Cup assignment in France tomorrow when holders Munster tackle Clermont Auvergne.

PHILIPPE SAINT-ANDRE is hoping his Sale Sharks players will be on cloud nine after their Heineken Cup double-header against Montauban, which kicks-off at Edgeley Park tonight.

JIM WILLIAMS believes Heineken Cup champions Munster can secure back-to-back titles.

THIS time last year Shaun Payne was a key member of the Munster team battling through the qualifying rounds of the Heineken Cup.

Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has made five changes to his starting XV for Saturday‘s Test against Ireland at Croke Park.