French giants Stade Francais and Racing 92 will merge next season, forming an “absolute monster” Top 14 Paris super club.

The tourist brochures present Paris as the city of lights and the city of love but one can appreciate why it won’t feature any time soon on bucket lists for the current Munster squad. From both a personal and sporting standpoint, the French capital has yielded nothing but grief for that particular group over the last 12 months.

Munster head coach Anthony Foley believes the province has to stand up and fight its corner against inconsistent decision-making by referees.

CHAMPIONS CUP: YOUR TEAM-BY-TEAM WEEKEND GUIDE

DESPITE that crushing defeat to Saracens in London, Ulster remain Ireland’s solitary contender to make the last eight of this season’s Champions Cup. 

Munster may have lost home and away to English form side Leicester Tigers but Mike Sherry insists there is no major gulf in class between his team and Europe’s top dogs.

Ronan O’Gara analyses all the big issues at the Rugby World Cup.

If individual awards — Player of the Month, Man of the Match and the like — are an indication of the impact made by James Coughlan in his first season playing French rugby, then the boy has done well.

The difference in the perceived challenges facing Munster and Leinster over the weekend is reflected in the fact that Leinster find themselves roundly criticised despite their win over Harlequins, while Munster have received a very positive response for their achievement in rescuing a bonus point in defeat from a game that could have run away from them at one stage, writes Donal Lenihan.

Clermont Auvergne 26 Munster 19

Clermont 26 Munster 19

Michael Cheika thought twice before allowing his Wallabies wander down Killiney Hill and into Dalkey village on Tuesday evening.

A weekend that promised to be a financial bonanza for Irish rugby ended in disappointment at the Stade Felix Mayol yesterday with Leinster’s defeat by Toulon following on Ulster’s elimination by Saracens at Ravenhill on Saturday.

As a player you can switch off, but as a coach you get home late and then wonder what you can do to make the next day better, writes Julian Bennets.

Big statement alert: I don’t think in the history of rugby in this country have we had a better captain-coach combination guiding our fortunes into the next World Cup.

The drama and uncertainty surrounding the make up of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals extended through to the final game of round six in Clermont-Ferrand.

The game of cat and mouse in how best to prepare for their mouthwatering Heineken Cup semi-final began in earnest this weekend for Munster and Clermont.

Ulster boss Mark Anscombe praised the spirit of his team after they secured a scrappy 9-8 victory over Castres at Stade Pierre-Antoine in the Heineken Cup.

A tough day at the office for Munster’s youngsters, who fell heavily to French second division outfit Stade Rochelais at the Stade Marcel Deflandre in searing heat last night.

Paul O’Connell was many thousands of miles away when Ireland came within inches of beating New Zealand for the first time and seven days later when the All Blacks scored their biggest ever win over the Irish.

Controversial World Cup referee Alain Rolland has been spared any involvement in Wales’ RBS 6 Nations campaign.

UNTIL events in Dublin last Friday tempered my misty-eyed desire for 90 minutes of the Airtricity League, this was supposed to be a column about missing out on the joys of football in May.

MUNSTER’S Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final opponents, Brive, eased their Top 14 relegation worries with a 26-9 win over La Rochelle at Stade Amédée-Domenech on Saturday.

A RETURN to Leinster for Heineken Cup-winning hero Rocky Elsom has been dismissed in the province, despite reports to the contrary in his native Australia.

PAUL WARWICK’S departure from Munster at the end of the season was confirmed last night.

AFTER five years together, this isn’t how Leinster and Michael Cheika wanted their last European road trip to end but, as Brian O’Driscoll explained on Saturday night, it has been one hell of a journey.

HERE’S no need to delve into the DVD collection to sum up what makes Stephen Ferris the player he is. Proof of the Ulster man’s DNA surfaced in what should have been a routine training session in Durban last summer.

STADE FRANCAIS prop David Attoub is to appeal his 70-week ban for foul play.

DIRECTORS of rugby certainly have different ways of looking at things. For tonight’s Magners League encounter at Ravenhill, Ulster’s Brian McLaughlin has called up the majority of his big name players having rested them for last week’s visit to Leinster.

IT COULD hardly be the case that Perpignan have gone soft all of a sudden! The French champions are renowned as the hard men of their national championship and the team so tough to conquer at their own Stade Aime Giral that they have won 27 of their last 29 matches at the venue.

Harlequins 19 Stade Francais 17

Tottenham are set to make a new approach for Fred on Thursday, according to the Lyon striker’s agent.

Scotland fly-half Dan Parks is wary of Argentinian opposite number Juan Martin Hernandez ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final in Paris.

Argentina will go into their World Cup Pool D clash with Georgia in Lyon having risen to fourth in the latest International Rugby Board world rankings – their highest position.

IMAGINE for one moment that Ireland were drawn to open their Pool D campaign against France at Stade de France this evening.

GIRVAN DEMPSEY says Ireland’s uninspiring record in Paris won’t trouble the World Cup squad who face France in the Stade de France (September 21) and Argentina nine days later in the Parc des Princes.

Stade Francais 27 Sale 16

Neath-Swansea Ospreys 26 Clermont Auvergne 12