Leinster have three nominees for the European Player of the Year award.

Toulon coach Fabien Galthie is hopeful that French captain Guilhem Guirado will be fit for Saturday’s Champions Cup showdown against Munster at Thomond Park.

Tadgh Beirne is one of four Irish players nominated for the European Player of the Year award.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Halloween. A long and spooky evening is in store for Australia, it seems.

Check out our guide to the best of today's TV.

Today's TV is a must for sports fans.

Check out our guide to the best of today's TV.

Check out our tips on what to catch on TV tonight.

The estimable voices of BBC and RTÉ are on the outside looking in this time, with TV3 and ITV exclusive television rights holders. What type of armchair experience awaits us then? Brendan O’Brien finds out

Look in isolation at Leinster’s Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final with Bath at the Aviva Stadium today, and it is tempting to ponder what, if anything, has changed in this tweaked version of Europe’s premier club competition.

Ireland’s hopes of securing hosting rights for the 2023 Rugby World Cup were given a boost yesterday when the chief executive of World Rugby (formerly the IRB) indicated that the tournament is likely to end up in, or near, Dublin’s time zone.

Stuart Lancaster has done a remarkable job reviving English fortunes but can he outfox wily Joe Schmidt? 

Heading into this evening’s much-discussed Guinness Pro12 encounter with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, Munster find themselves in the unusual position of having already lost two of their three home games to date.

He’s had what Munster veterans like to call the odd ‘brain fart’, but Conor Murray has gone from a wet-behind-the-ears wannabe to Lions scrum-half in no time.

Jeremy Guscott: Questioned mental resolve of Irish players

Stuart Barnes (Former Lion and Sky Sports analyst)

It is too easy to be cynical about The Lions. But if I have learned anything in life, it is that; if an easy option presents itself, your search for options is over.

The make-up of Warren Gatland’s Lions playing squad may still be exercising opinions 10 days after its announcement but Stuart Barnes believes the Kiwi biggest error is the omission of Joe Schmidt from his backroom team for the tour to Australia.

An hour before kick off, Sky’s Stuart Barnes pulled me aside in Thomond Park, seeking a quick insight on Tommy O’Donnell.

Ronan O’Gara will miss Munster’s Heineken Cup game with Edinburgh on Sunday (Thomond Park, 12.45pm).

The thing about Brian is ...

It will be no comfort to Declan Kidney as he prepares for a three-Test series in New Zealand but Sky Sports analyst Stuart Barnes believes the Ireland head coach has the hardest job in international rugby.

The only way is down for incoming Ulster head coach Mark Anscombe following the success enjoyed under predecessor Brian McLaughlin, says former Ulster and Ireland wing Tyrone Howe.

WAS Alain Rolland passed over for his second successive World Cup final because he sent off Welsh captain Sam Warburton in Saturday’s semi-final?

FORMER Ireland out-half David Humphreys raised concerns regarding Ireland’s capacity to field a competitive team at the 2016 Olympic Games when he launched the Heineken Kinsale Sevens last night.

HE’S worked with Jonny Wilkinson and Luke Donald, and if you want to know why you can’t kick frees in Gaelic football, he can tell you. Michael Moynihan spoke to Dave Alred.

FEW Heineken Cup weekends, if any, are so pregnant with scripts and subplots as this.

TONY McGahan has branded as unjust Sky Sports’ analysis of Munster’s operations at attacking breakdown play.

JONATHAN SEXTON’S ongoing fitness worries could have serious implications for Leinster’s Heineken Cup hopes, according to Sky TV pundit Stuart Barnes.

SKY SPORTS pundit Stuart Barnes yesterday questioned Ireland’s philosophy of country above province as the 2011 World Cup looms.

DID you happen to see the Heineken Cup final (albeit on Sky)? There was a defining moment in the second half.

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

THE BRIEF from the top at ERC was straightforward: “your mission, should you choose to accept, is to select the best European side of the last 15 years comprised of players who played in either the Heineken or Challenge Cup competitions”.

A PANEL of experts, including the Irish Examiner’s Donal Lenihan, have finalised their awards shortlists for a scheme that celebrates 15 years of European club rugby.

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.

MIKE ROSS has been around long enough to know tonight’s opening Heineken Cup clash at the RDS (8pm) between Leinster and London Irish won’t be easy. But he does have the jump on some of his colleagues.

TOP rugby analyst Stuart Barnes has warned of the folly of writing off Munster’s chances of success in the Heineken Cup, despite the province’s 30-0 defeat by Leinster on Saturday.

SOUTH AFRICA forward Schalk Burger has reacted to his eight-week suspension byinsisting: “I am not a rugby thug.”

RESPECTED rugby pundit, Stuart Barnes, expects the Lions Test team to be based around the Munster model, describing the European Cup holders as a team of winners.

JACK KYLE, the name synonymous with Ireland’s “golden generation” of the late 1940s and early 50s, believes the current generation can finally taste Grand Slam success on Saturday.

NOT so long ago the prospect that Ireland would have twice as many teams in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals as France was unthinkable.