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.

WITH SO much negativity surrounding rugby at the moment, with the plethora of law changes that favour the team without the ball (and the kickfest that has ensued), how refreshing to see so much positive rugby produced by a whole host of teams in last weekend’s Heineken Cup.

Munster 24 Perpignan 23

Munster coach Tony McGahan hailed Ronan O’Gara’s display in his side’s gritty 24-23 Heineken Cup victory over Pool 1 opponents Perpignan at Thomond Park tonight as “an outstanding performance from an outstanding player”.

Munster 24 Perpignan 23

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.

IT was not the type of preparation any of the Irish sides would have wished for last weekend before resuming their respective European journeys, with all four provinces losing in the Magners League.

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.

Dan Carter kicked 16 points to steer Perpignan to Heineken Cup victory over Leicester at Stade Aime Giral.

Leicester 38 Perpignan 27

Newport Gwent Dragons 0 Perpignan 25

Perpignan 55 Treviso 13

New Zealand 61 France 10

New Zealand coach Graham Henry has made six changes to his starting line-up for the second Test against France in Wellington on Saturday.

IRELAND A coach Michael Bradley has warned England A they must be ruthless if they are to have any hope of toppling the New Zealand Maori in Saturday’s Churchill Cup final.

IT was hardly surprising that most of the kudos was heaped on Leinster after the weekend’s thrilling Heineken Cup action.

Munster 19 Perpignan 10

PERPIGNAN coach Philippe Boher is under no illusions of the difficulty facing his side in Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Munster.

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

Newport Gwent Dragons 11 Sale Sharks 38

Ireland A 15 France A 9

Newcastle Falcons recorded a magnificent 19-14 win over French visitors Perpignan thanks to a dominant first-half forward display.