The RDS has played host to Grand finals, a European Challenge Cup decider and all manner of memorable Leinster wins in the last half-dozen seasons. It’s even been the backdrop for an unlikely home defeat at the hands of Benetton Rugby. What it hasn’t done lately is open its doors to Munster.

When Leinster saw off Leicester Tigers in Edinburgh to claim a first Heineken Cup, back in 2009, most of the players had little enough to distract them aside from the celebrations on their return to Dublin.

In La Liga’s latest example of club chiefs writing cheques their teams can’t cash, Barcelona announced last Monday that its socios would vote in the new year on whether to spend 300m “remodelling” their current stadium or at least 600m on a new ground elsewhere in the city.

Friday night’s last ever Basque derby to be held at Athletic Bilbao’s Estadio San Mames should have been a celebration of La Catedral’s 100-year history, but instead turned into yet another low point in one of the club’s worst seasons.

Athletic Bilbao 3 Sporting Lisbon 1 (Athletic Bilbao win 4-3 on aggregate)