When your day job involves clambering up cranes and lots of heavy lifting, lining out against the "old enemy" in a World Cup semi-final is unlikely to shatter your nerves.

Full-back Niamh Briggs has applauded the Irish support in France and at home, and hopes Ireland’s Rugby World Cup adventure continues to gain momentum.

Earning a home tie in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals is a massive advantage — just one in four of all the last-eight matches have been won by the away team.

Ireland’s Geordan Murphy misses tomorrow’s trip to the Aviva, but plenty of his Leicester colleagues have a difficult experience at the new stadium to call on. Simon Lewis reports

TO borrow a phrase from one of Heineken’s rivals, last weekend’s opening round of the European Cup was probably the best we have seen for some time. Intense action, high-quality performances, buckets of tries, contentious refereeing interpretation and games that went to the wire. An outstanding medley of issues to launch the 15th year of the Heineken Cup.

Stade Francais 24 Ulster 19

IN their record tenth successive Heineken Cup quarter-final appearance, Munster stormed the historical fortress of English rugby at Kingsholm to register a third victory away from home at this stage of the competition — another cup record.

Stade Francais 30 Ulster 10