THE waiting is over.

THE external bruises from his date with the Cardiff Blues were there for all to see, steri-strips acting as a poor camouflage for yet another cut and bloodied right eye.

RONAN O’GARA was yesterday left “completely overwhelmed” after being named as the best player in the 15-year history of the Heineken Cup.

THERE probably isn’t enough ink to do justice to an afternoon with Stuart Barnes. The former England international and Lion rolls out the stories and anecdotes — the late Keith Floyd figures in a few — in a steady stream.

IN 2005, Clive Woodward made a statement prior to picking his Lions squad for New Zealand that you had to be playing international rugby to be considered for Lions selection. This ruled out a lot of players, including Trevor Brennan who was playing some of his best rugby with one of the best teams in Europe, Toulouse. It was a big mistake.

FORMER France captain Fabien Pelous says he has no regrets about calling time on his illustrious career yesterday, even though his body is still telling him to play on for another few years. The Toulouse lock, who made a record 118 appearances for his country, announced he would be hanging his boots up at the end of the season.

It should have been the perfect day. Croke Park, brimful with expectation, had opened its doors to rugby for the first time but, on a historic day of outward celebration for Irish sport, all was silenced by a piece of late Gallic magic.

Toulouse 26 Newport Gwent Dragons 7

WHY Guy Noves waited until after Saturday’s game to stress his annoyance at the ERC’s decision to appoint Nigel Owens as match referee is bizarre.

FAR from a classic, but the game was laced with some magnificent rugby and, in the end, few Toulouse supporters could argue that their side deserved to depart from the Millennium Stadium with a fourth Heineken Cup.

Declan Kidney hailed Munster's "special" victory today after they brought down the curtain on his reign with a 16-13 Millennium Stadium victory over Toulouse.

Munster 16 Toulouse 13

Maleili Kunavore and Thierry Dusautoir got the nod over Florian Fritz and Yannick Nyanga, repsectively, in the most contentious selection issues for Toulouse ahead of the Heineken Cup final against Munster on Saturday.

The power of Munster against the speed of the French Ferrari is how former France international and Toulouse legend Thomas Castaignède has billed Saturday’s Heineken Cup Final.

Guy Noves has announced a 25-player squad from which the team to face Munster on Saturday at the Millennium Stadium will be selected on Friday.

HE HAS been a constant in Munster’s rollercoaster love affair with the Heineken Cup but now David Wallace wants to ‘balance the books’ when they compete in their fourth final at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

FABIEN PELOUS could become the first player to captain a team to a hat-trick of Heineken Cup final triumphs — but so far his most cherished memory of Europe’s premier club rugby tournament is when Toulouse had the trophy snatched from their grasp by London Wasps in the 2004 Twickenham thriller.

London Irish 15 Toulouse 21

London Irish 10 Toulouse 15

TOULOUSE coach Guy Noves admits his patched-up team have a mountain to climb in today’s Heineken Cup semi-final against London Irish (3pm).

Injury-hit Toulouse will have to draw on all their experience to overcome London Irish in the Heineken Cup semi-final at Twickenham on Saturday.

Alan Gaffney hopes his Saracens side can give the Ospreys food for thought in tomorrow’s Heineken Cup quarter-final showdown at Vicarage Road.

He may not have been everybody’s choice to lead the France national team into a new era, particularly given the calibre of candidates running against him, but none could provide the continuity offered in the appointment of Lievremont.

Three home wins is the least beleaguered Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan requires from the Six Nations.

MUNSTER assistant coach Jim Williams was last night linked with a bid to return to Australia as assistant coach to new Wallaby coach Robbie Deans.

MARC LIEVREMONT didn’t take long to usher in a new dawn in French rugby yesterday by naming six uncapped players in a much-changed squad for the Six Nations Championship opener against Scotland.

New France coach Marc Lievremont has made sweeping changes in his first squad selection ahead of the RBS 6 Nations Championship clash against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 3.

TOULOUSE captain Fabien Pelous has bad news for Leinster — his side won’t roll over to Edinburgh in this weekend’s Heineken Cup clash. That, of course, means Leinster can do their best against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road and it still won’t make any difference to their hopes of qualification for the quarter-finals.

France flanker Serge Betsen has confirmed he will retire from rugby at the end of the season.

Lionel Nallet admitted it came as a “massive surprise” to be appointed the new captain of France.

ONE of Munster rugby’s unsung heroes has called time on a remarkable professional career.

Fabien Pelous hopes Leicester will feel the heat when they take on Toulouse in a crucial Heineken Cup clash tomorrow.

France’s Fabien Pelous, the second most capped player in rugby history, has retired from internationals.

PAUL STEINMETZ won’t be sending Christmas cards to those responsible for landing the Irish provinces in Heineken Cup pools of death.

FRANCE captain Raphael Ibanez insists the stakes remain high going into his side’s World Cup bronze-medal match against Argentina today.

France coach Bernard Laporte has rung the changes for Friday night’s World Cup bronze medal match against Argentina in Paris.

France head coach Bernard Laporte defended his tactics in the aftermath of the heartbreaking World Cup semi-final defeat to England.

England 14 France 9

ANTON OLIVER was left devastated by the “mugging” that shattered New Zealand’s 1999 World Cup but insists the grieving process ended long ago.

FRANCE may grumble at the inconvenience of playing their World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff, but for Fabien Pelous it is a blessing to face New Zealand overseas.

France have retained Lionel Beauxis at fly-half for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in Cardiff.

FRANCE have a full-strength squad to select from for their last World Cup Pool D game, against Georgia, on Sunday in Marseille.

YOU were forewarned by Bernard Laporte himself. Last week, quizzed on his selection of Sebastian Chabal at lock, the French coach simply said Chabal could offer his team certain things that Jerome Thion and Fabien Pelous couldn’t. Certainly neither Thion nor Pelous could have scored Chabal’s rampaging second try last Sunday night against Namibia, but then there’s hardly a second-row in the world who could.