Perpignan 34 Treviso 6

Perpignan 34 Treviso 6

Perpignan 14 Munster 37

IT COULD hardly be the case that Perpignan have gone soft all of a sudden! The French champions are renowned as the hard men of their national championship and the team so tough to conquer at their own Stade Aime Giral that they have won 27 of their last 29 matches at the venue.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has made the shock decision to jettison Jean de Villiers for the Heineken Cup tie at home to Perpignan on Friday evening.

PERPIGNAN captain Nicolas Mas has insisted that his team must bounce back from last weekend’s catastrophic loss against Benetton Treviso with a big performance against Northampton Saints at Stade Aime Giral tonight.

MUNSTER supporters disappointed with their side’s loss to Northampton can take solace in the shock result from the first weekend of Heineken Cup games, when Perpignan lost 9-8 to Benetton Treviso.

THE IRB will meet French authorities in an attempt to firm up laws that are allowing Marius Tincu to play in the Top 14 even though the Perpignan hooker is serving an 18-week worldwide suspension.

Perpignan 17 Ospreys 15

Perpignan are threatening to pull out of the Heineken Cup if their appeal against hooker Marius Tincu’s 18-week suspension for eye-gouging falls on deaf ears.

Ospreys 15 Perpignan 9

New Zealand coach Graham Henry claimed his side will need to improve before the World Cup quarter-finals despite their impressive form in the pool stages.

New Zealand 85 Romania 8

Romania 14 Portugal 10

ITALY got their Rugby World Cup campaign back on track last night with a laboured victory over Pool C rivals Romania in Marseille.

Italy 24 Romania 18

Cardiff Blues and Jonah Lomu are facing Heineken Cup misery after Perpignan clinched a priceless victory at the Arms Park.

IT will be icy cold, a 60-kilometre northerly wind that will sweep down the pitch from the Havelock Square end and there could even be a few snow showers.

IRISH coach Eddie O’Sullivan, quite understandably, fears the strength of the Romanian pack at Lansdowne Road tomorrow but he might also be well advised to keep a watchful eye on a couple of highly promising young backs who played key roles in last week’s late, late 22-20 victory over Canada in Bucharest.

Ireland's Pool A opponents Romania have lost Marius Tincu to injury. The hooker has undergone surgery on his injured left knee and will be out for the duration of the World Cup.

THE International Rugby Board has spiced up Ireland’s World Cup clash with hosts Australia by controversially placing the Wallabies below Ireland in the latest world rankings.

The Romanian team to play Ireland in the permanent tsb International at Thomond Park, Limerick, on Saturday, September 7 (k.o. 1.30 pm) is as follows: