As Ulster adapt to being favourites for a Heineken Cup semi-final, champions Leinster face the sternest test in the defence of their title and an all-Irish final hangs in the balance.

With Brad Thorn recently arrived, Leo Cullen fully recovered from surgery and Devin Toner likely to be named as first reserve, it is unlikely Damian Browne will get to register his ninth Heineken Cup appearance this weekend.

WITH five of the eight quarter-finalists coming from Ireland and France it appears strange that the national sides of both are left disappointed with mid-table finishes in the northern hemisphere’s trophy international tournament.

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has made five changes and one positional switch for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash against Wales in Cardiff.

Jonathan Sexton and Donnacha Ryan have made a 12-man shortlist for the RBS Player of the Championship.

France 17 Ireland 17

Circumstances have changed but Ireland can find success in Paris this weekend.

This is the part in the movies where one actor surveys the scene and remarks that things are quiet, too quiet. So be it. Right now, quiet is good.

Ireland decided to front upagainst the Italians but had the visitors had a kicker, it could have ended disastrously.

Scotland 17 France 23

France scrum-half Morgan Parra believes accuracy at the breakdown area will be key in tomorrow’s RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland at Murrayfield.

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has not made any changes to his matchday squad for the RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland at Murrayfield on February 26.

Time is a healer, they say, but have Ireland had enough hours, minutes and seconds to put right the wrongs of last Sunday’s effort and produce a performance against France tonight in Paris?

Declan Kidney is undoubtedly Ireland’s most successful coach of the modern era.

1 The mental challenge

SCRUM

Les Kiss has demanded Ireland “breath some fire” against France as they seek to atone for their disappointing start to the RBS 6 Nations.

Ask the question as to what Ronan O’Gara and Mike Ross have in common and the instinctive answer would probably be not a lot, apart from the fact that they are both members of Declan Kidney’s Ireland squad.

EXPECT a few tweaks here and there but there will be no “knee-jerk reaction” by the Irish brains trust this week as they digest last Sunday’s defeat to Wales and prepare for this Saturday’s follow-up against the French in Paris.

So, the French have their tails up while the Irish find themselves navel-gazing after a third straight defeat against the Welsh.

Vive la France.

France 30 Italy 12

Clermont Auvergne 19 Ulster 15

PETER STRINGER’S Saracens are on the brink of a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, after England new boy Owen Farrell kept his nerve to kick them to a 20-16 victory over Biarritz in Pool 5.

Aironi 0 Clermont 82

New France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has included two uncapped players in his provisional 30-man squad for the RBS 6 Nations.

Clermont Auvergne 30 Leicester 12

CLERMONT AUVERGNE picked up their first win of this season’s Heineken Cup in some style as they put Aironi to the sword in a one-sided clash at Stade Marcel Michelin last night.

Clermont Auvergne 54 Aironi 3

IF the objective of Saturday’s game against France was to dampen Irish expectations on the eve of the World Cup then it had the desired effect. This performance was not on the agenda.

IT IS a measure of the Irish impact on the Heineken Cup that Leinster’s appearance in the decider in Cardiff on Saturday marks the seventh by an Irish side in the competition’s 16-year history.

FOR all the management teams, the Six Nations has now become a three-phase operation, with the key objective to be still in contention for honours when the final round of games are staged.

FRANCE coach Marc Lièvremont insists his Grand Slam champions can recover from their disastrous autumn series and win back-to-back Six Nations titles.

Biarritz prop Sylvain Marconnet has been recalled by France coach Marc Lievremont to his 30-man squad for the defence of their RBS 6 Nations crown.

Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Heaslip have been named in the Leinster team for Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Clermont at the Aviva Stadium, although Heaslip’s inclusion is pending a late fitness test following the warm-up.

JOE SCHMIDT wasn’t interested in talk of a ‘good defeat’ but this was surely the closest thing to it.

Clermont 20 Leinster 13

Brian O’Driscoll has failed to make the Leinster squad for Sunday’s Heineken Cup clash with ASM Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Marcel Michelin (kick-off 3pm).

THE contrasting fortunes of Tony McGahan and Joe Schmidt heading into the crucial back-to-back rounds of the Heineken Cup could not be highlighted more forcibly than by the selection dilemmas facing both men this week.

SARACENS crashed to a 25-10 defeat at the hands of French champions Clermont-Auvergne in their Heineken Cup opener in Leinster’s pool on Saturday.

Maybe the GAA can learn a thing or two from rugby –- like kicking off its premier competition with a bang. While the summer Championships often sleepwalk into summer, the Heineken Cup starts this weekend with heavyweight collisions. Alan Good looks ahead.

ARGENTINA bounced back from their home series defeat by Scotland in style with a record thrashing of Six Nations champions France in Buenos Aires.

NEW ZEALAND coach Graham Henry knows only too well the pressures that coaching Wales can bring and can probably empathise with the situation Warren Gatland finds himself in heading into Saturday’s final Test between the two countries.