It’s the job of the Ireland U20s coach to push and prod the players of tomorrow further down the development line but Noel McNamara found himself talking about one from the past yesterday.

Niyi Adeolokun scored a first-half hat-trick as Challenge Cup Pool Five leaders Connacht ended the group campaign with a win over Oyonnax.

It’s a fixture which Connacht have only won four times in 29 meetings but coach Kieran Keane is hoping that Tiernan O’Halloran’s decision to remain at the Sportsground will be the start of a great festive period.

Paul O’Connell will be back in a green tracksuit today as he begins the next step on his journey into coaching.

Connacht hooker Tom McCartney says he is ready to leave his injury woes behind and play his part in a busy Christmas period for the westerners.

The understandably grumpy figure cut by Leicester captain Tom Youngs at Thomond Park on Saturday night was neatly representative of the English mood in general after a terrible weekend of Champions Cup results for Premiership clubs.

Former Irish scrum-half Peter Stringer said he feels as fit now as he did 10 or 15 years ago and is determined to keep on playing as long as he has the opportunity.

If you drive up from Spain the first three towns you hit in France along the A9 are three big rugby strongholds … Perpignan, Narbonne and Beziers.

First, there is no defection. Regis Sonnes, recently appointed Rugby Director with Bandon RFC and a highly-rated coach with Bandon Grammar School, is going nowhere.

The more Toulouse have to spend, the more they fail. A club that doesn’t know what it takes to deal with a shortfall, keep falling short, writes Peter Jackson.

The Ireland Women’s Sevens squad to play in the second round of European Olympic qualifiers in Brive this weekend will share a pool with England, Scotland and Germany.

Ronan O’Gara has no plans to follow Johnny Sexton home at the end of the season.

I hardly noticed. Six months in Paris came and went on New Year’s Day.

Jonathan Sexton has got an early taste of the idiosyncrasies of Racing Metro president Jacky Lorenzetti with the Paris club moving their first home match of the season 500km away to the seaside — because most of their supporters will be on holiday.

Steer 20 stone men around the pitch in a foreign language, battle with other internationals for your position and deal with the president’s whims... those are the challenges facing Jonny Sexton in Racing Metro, according to Montauban out-half Peter Durcan.

Four Rabo PRO12 fixtures, three Irish internationals and seven weeks stand between Leinster and the first of their back-to-back European heavyweight contests against Clermont Auvergne but it is a fixture already dominating thoughts and headlines.

A sensational sprint finish saw Mark Cavendish claim the 22nd Tour de France stage success of his career in Brive-la-Gaillarde today.

Munster hooker Denis Fogarty has inked a deal with French second division club Aurillac coached by former Ulster, Ireland and Lions second row Jeremy Davidson.

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.

Shane Geraghty will rejoin London Irish this summer after signing a two-year deal with the club he left in 2009.

2004: Northampton The Account

FIRST this and first that, Conor Murray must be tired of it already.

A GAME of firsts, this one.

IT WOULD have taken every last man in Declan Kidney’s squad a good week or two to flush the disappointment of New Zealand from their systems but it took Eoin Reddan a bit longer than the rest.

TO borrow from the brewery giant’s oft-quoted advertising slogan, if the Heineken Cup refreshes places that others can’t reach, then the French could do with a couple of brews at the moment.

RONAN O’GARA does not get that many opportunities these days to display his skills at Musgrave Park, but he treated the crowd of almost 7,000 last night to a superb display of kicking in appalling conditions.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has praised Felix Jones for his recent performances in the red jersey following a two-year injury nightmare that has seen the former Leinster player start just 12 games for the Reds.

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan handed the captain’s armband to seasoned international back-rower Denis Leamy, but named an experimental side to face Llanelli Scarlets in tonight’s Magners League clash in Wales.

FOR some time now, the fortunes of the Irish rugby team can be directly aligned to the wellbeing of Munster and Leinster.

HAVING watched Toulouse make heavy weather of beating Biarritz and Northampton struggle to dispose of Ulster, Leinster could be forgiven for believing they are on course for a second Heineken Cup in three years.

MUNSTER’S favourite prop stepped into the history books in the only way he knew how — quietly.

IRELAND’S incredible record of achievement in the Heineken Cup is set to continue with Leinster being offered a tantalising opportunity to reverse last years painful semi-final defeat at the hands of mighty Toulouse.

Brive 37 Munster 42

A HARD week.

Jamie Noon has disappeared from Martin Johnson’s radar since moving to France, but he sees today’s Amlin Challenge Cup clash with Munster as his chance to lay down a marker. Alan Good talked to Brive’s Mr Dependable

HARLEQUINS will provide the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final opposition for Munster should they prevail in Brive today, after the English side won a London derby with Wasps 32-22 at The Stoop last night.

BRIVE’S Irish lock Damien Browne has admitted he’ll be glad to see the back of “the most difficult year of my professional career” after he lifted the lid on the turmoil endured off the field by Munster’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final opponents.