Eddie Jones was the one Australian everyone wanted to hear from after Ireland dispensed with his England side so seamlessly at Twickenham last week, but it would have been interesting to mine the thoughts of his compatriot Michael Cheika, who was among the 82,062 souls looking on from the stands, writes Brendan O’Brien.

If money was all that mattered there wouldn’t be a top-class professional rugby player left in Ireland.

Devin Toner may reach for the sky but horizontal seems to be the default mode.

Two years ago Scott Fardy was at the pinnacle of rugby; one of 30 players starting the World Cup final in Twickenham.

Leinster 16 Toulon 20: The economy is on the up again and a sparkling Aviva Stadium was nine-tenths full, but this had the feel of distant greyer days when the country’s economy was in the toilet and Lansdowne Road was still very much a celebration of concrete.

Australia number eight David Pocock has invited “legend” David Attenborough to Saturday’s World Cup final against New Zealand at Twickenham.

Mike Prendergast knows France pretty well by now. 

New Munster signing Mark Chisholm will arrive in the province today to undergo a medical with supporters hoping this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Peter Stringer and Brad Thorn don’t share too many attributes as rugby players, but the Irish scrum-half may yet match the Kiwi by stretching his professional career beyond his 40th birthday.

While it had initially looked like Matt O’Connor would see out the final year of his contract with Leinster, yesterday’s news of his departure wasn’t all that surprising.

A pair of iconic southern hemisphere rugby personalities have tipped Ireland to make a huge impact in the upcoming World Cup.

The Top 14’s financial watchdog this week released a report showing France’s top 30 clubs have an accumulated debt of almost €34 million — yet nobody here batted an eyelid, writes Ronan O’Gara.

Leo Cullen believes Leinster’s surprise defeat of Munster in the classic 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final at Croke Park can serve as a template as the province contemplates the prospect of facing Toulon at the same stage in Marseille.

Former New Zealand lock Brad Thorn is retiring at the end of the season following a glittering 21-year career in which won the biggest prizes in rugby league and union.

Rhys Ruddock, pictured, has played down his chances of featuring for Ireland in the last two Six Nations rounds, despite his return from injury with Leinster last Friday night.

Mike Ross makes no bones about it: He feared his Ireland career was over.

Munster-Leinster, with the greatest of respect to Ulster and Connacht, remains the blue chip of Irish interprovincials, but it didn’t appear that way yesterday on the training paddocks in Limerick and Dublin.

Champions Cup: Leicester ended Toulon’s nine-match unbeaten run in Europe as Owen Williams kicked 20 points to see the Tigers home at Welford Road.

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea has backed Nick Easter to continue playing for some time after the veteran number eight inspired a 24-18 Champions Cup victory over Leinster.

Ireland prop Mike Ross is eyeing up a new two-year contract to take him into his late 30s and with the shortage of Test-ready tightheads in these parts there may not be a better time to ask for it.

Almost half a century has come and gone since Europe last belonged to Glasgow, when Jock Stein’s famously home-spun Celtic Bhoys beat Inter Milan in the 1967 final.

European Champions Cup Pool 3

Devin Toner accepts he will be one of those senior players expected to plug the leadership gap in Leinster’s pack created by Leo Cullen’s off-season move upstairs to coaches’ office.

Anthony Foley has challenged his Munster players to leapfrog their Leinster rivals into Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad by winning trophies for their province.

Leicester have signed New Zealand World Cup winner Brad Thorn.

Connacht chief executive Willie Ruane believes the arrival of All Black centurion Mils Muliaina to the province later this month will take the game in the west of Ireland to the next level.

Gordon D’Arcy has hailed Connacht’s capture of 33-year-old All Black legend Mils Muliaina.

Jamie Heaslip has left the door open on a possible move abroad and his horizons, far from being limited to France, stretch as far as Japan and the southern hemisphere.

RABO DIRECT PRO12:

They have another jersey for the wall now. Right up there alongside the Irish one, a Sam Warburton jersey from the World Cup quarter-final in 2011 and the prized geansaí of Kiwi legend, Richie McCaw.

Twelve years ago George Smith was gearing up for the Wallabies’ crunch third Test with Graham Henry’s Lions outfit in Sydney’s magnificent Olympic Stadium.

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS TOUR:

Ulster 18 Leinster 24

It may be an all-French affair when ASM Clermont Auvergne and Toulon clash at the Aviva Stadium this evening in the 18th Heineken Cup final, but there will be no escaping an Irish tinge to events in Dublin.

Brian O’Driscoll says “the head is good” but the Ireland centre will face a cognitive test today to determine if he can face Italy in Saturday’s final Six Nations clash.

Rob Kearney has revealed Jonathan Sexton was “upset” that a deal could not be done with the IRFU to keep him at Leinster next season and warned that the out-half’s move to France could pave a path that other Irish internationals will follow.

There’s been a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth since the Irish whitewash in Europe over the weekend but it is about time people start to realise that we have no divine right to be winning Heineken Cups with the regularity we’ve enjoyed in recent times.