Jonny Wilkinson has capped a triumphant Heineken Cup campaign with Toulon by being named European player of the year.

Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16

Leinster and Ireland forward Jamie Heaslip has been nominated for the 2013 European Player of the Year award.

Brian O’Driscoll last night dropped a major hint that Joe Schmidt’s appointment as Ireland coach could persuade him to continue his playing career, claiming the IRFU could not have “picked anyone who could encourage me more to hang on for another year”.

Clermont Auvergne 16 Munster 10

Clermont 16 Munster 10

Munster's Heineken Cup adventure has taken them to the south of France today for a semi-final shoot-out with Clermont Auvergne today.

One of these chefs will be eating humble pie this evening, while the other will dine like a lord.

Munster are a team who have often faced — and overcome — huge hurdles in the Heineken Cup. Tomorrow, in the south of France, they face another of those seemingly impossible challenges.

French scrum-half Morgan Parra says that Clermont Auvergne have been working overtime in the video analysis room in a bid to ensure they don’t get caught by Munster in Saturday’s Heineken Cup semi-final.

French scrum-half Morgan Parra says that Clermont Auvergne have been working overtime in the video analysis room in a bid to ensure they don’t get caught by Munster in Saturday’s Heineken Cup semi-final.

We’ve been spoilt over the years with the frequency of Munster and Leinster being paired with Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne in either the pool or knockout stages of the Heineken Cup. At its best, French club rugby is irresistible and in those two outstanding sides, we have been exposed to the very best it has to offer.

Clermont Auvergne 46 Exeter 3

Munster winger Simon Zebo put pen to paper on a three-year contract yesterday and was told he has at least a decade of top-flight rugby ahead of him with the province.

Sean O’Brien faces an anxious wait to see if he has avoided the citing commissioner’s glare for an off-the-ball tackle on Clermont’s Sitiveni Sivivatu during Saturday’s game.

Leinster 21 Clermont Auvergne 28

Yesterday’s Leinster press conference was up and running for nearly 10 minutes before Joe Schmidt felt obliged to remind everyone that the province had a Heineken Cup game against Clermont Auvergne to play at the weekend.

On a weekend when defeat for all four Irish sides in Europe was not beyond the bounds of possibility, a return of three from four with a losing bonus point procured from the only defeat was exceptional considering the quality of opposition faced.

FOR the third season in-a-row, the best two sides in the Heineken Cup meet outside the decider itself.

Clermont Auvergne 15 Leinster 12

French approach

Heady days for Leinster. Less than 24 hours after their Heineken Cup semi-final heroics in France the European champions announced that 18 players had inked new deals with the province.

EPIC. Truly epic.

Michael Cheika had no doubt about the extent of the task facing his Leinster team this time two years ago when the Irish province prepared for their first, and so far only, Heineken Cup semi-final on French soil.

Bridesmaid. It’s a word that seems to provoke equal amounts of fear and loathing from members of the opposite sex, much to the incomprehension of men everywhere.

Saracens 3 Clermont Auvergne 22

Saracens rugby director Mark McCall is hoping his side can push on from the quarter-finals and become one of Europe’s elite clubs.

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.

IRISH provinces will be chasing a financial jackpot this weekend as they look to secure a Heineken Cup quarter-final home draw, with local economies benefiting by up to €10.5 million, according to figures released by the tournament organisers.

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

Leicester 23 Clermont Auvergne 19

AT last, the waiting is over. The Rugby World Cup squads have been announced and the players can get down to the business of fine-tuning their games for the challenges ahead.

NEW ZEALAND coach Graham Henry has announced his 30-man squad for the Rugby World Cup with no place for quintet Sitiveni Sivivatu, Wyatt Crockett, Liam Messam, Jarrad Hoeata and Hosea Gear.

THE DULL pain of rejection experienced by a number of quality Irish players on Monday was replicated throughout the rugby world yesterday when the cut-off point for announcing the respective World Cup squads arrived.

New Zealand coach Graham Henry has announced his 30-man squad for the Rugby World Cup with no place for quintet Sitiveni Sivivatu, Wyatt Crockett, Liam Messam, Jarrad Hoeata and Hosea Gear.

New Zealand 30 Australia 14

New Zealand 60 Fiji 14

Israel Dagg’s World Cup is in jeopardy after the New Zealand and Crusaders star outside back had surgery on his injured thigh.

NEW ZEALAND’S iconic midfielder Ma’a Nonu has been linked with a move to Munster after World Cup 2011.

IMPRESSIVE as the New Zealand starting 15 for today’s Test against Ireland undoubtedly is, the true barometer of the All Blacks’ current strength will lie on the Aviva Stadium benches as well as on armchairs dotted around the North and South Islands.

New Zealand wing Sitiveni Sivivatu has been ruled out of the All Blacks’ tour of Britain and Ireland after suffering a knee injury.

Former rugby league star Sonny Bill Williams has been named in New Zealand’s 30-man squad for their end-of-season tour of the northern hemisphere but there is no place for Aaron Cruden, Robbie Fruean or Colin Slade.

John Afoa, Corey Flynn, Liam Messam and Ma'a Nonu have been recalled to the New Zealand squad for the Tri-Nations series with Australia and South Africa.