Run the rule over the best imports to have featured for the provinces down the years and it makes for a diverse cast of characters.

“Wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?”

It is the exhaustive work required to secure those points, with tries even harder to come by, that leave Ireland exposed, says Donal Lenihan.

Three key areas Ireland need to address to keep series alive, writes Donal Lenihan

When you put in the type of performance David Pocock delivered against Ireland last weekend, it becomes a little difficult to comprehend the Australian back-rower believed taking his one-year sabbatical from the game was something of a career risk.

Connacht backs’ coach Nigel Carolan says Australian international Kyle Godwin is the first of a number of big signings for the province.

Ulster are making no official comment on speculation in New Zealand and Australia that their newly appointed head man Jono Gibbes is being hunted by Wallaby coach Michael Cheika.

Time and again, Leo Cullen has teed up a Champions League tie as a meeting of opposites.

Simon Lewis on the key gamebreakers in the four Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Brendan O’Brien picks out the major turning points from Ireland’s battling win.

Australia coach Michael Cheika has rested most of his top names for tomorrow’s clash with France as the test is the only one on the tour that is not part of the Wallabies’ grand slam bid.

Be warned, it's not for the faint-hearted.

Anthony Foley believes Munster have done some good business by landing Irish tighthead John Andress and re-signing former academy lock Darren O’Shea for next season.

Jonny Wilkinson may not have known what he was unleashing when he mused aloud near the end of last year that Matt Giteau was such an “exceptional” player, that he didn’t quite know how Australian rugby could have ever let one of the most gifted playmakers in Wallaby annals disappear to work his wonders in Europe.

They paid €20m to be ringside in Cardiff yesterday for the collision of Europe’s only two unbeaten contenders and the rewriting of one family’s tragic World Cup story.

Previous World Cups, in soccer and in rugby, have demonstrated the dangers of bigging up teams during the pool stages, but Michael Cheika and the Wallabies have certainly earned the praise.

Rugby gaming

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has declared there can be no excuses for his side in this morning’s Rugby Championship decider against Australia and warns they’re in for a tough game if they don’t improve.

New Munster signing Mark Chisholm will arrive in the province today to undergo a medical with supporters hoping this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Ireland’s favourite Australian was in Cork this weekend and Ray Meagher is as much a darn good bloke as Alf himself.

Australian centre Rob Horne has rejected a lucrative contract offer from Munster and will remain with the New South Wales Waraths.

Despite all the upheaval, history has shown the Aussies are a resilient bunch.

On another day, Jake Schatz would have been a great story.

I met Michael Cheika for the first time in 2005.

TOULON 29 LEINSTER 14

There were a few remarkable things about the Western Force’s 31-29 Super Rugby victory over the Highlanders on Saturday, most notably wing Nick Cummins’ hilarious post-match interview.

Differing contests in so many ways yet equally compelling.

Well, at least Ireland’s new management team has a very clear picture of the enormity of the task facing them in their new roles.

At the time, Quade Cooper’s omission from the Wallabies squad that faced the British and Irish Lions was painted as a disaster for the series.

Leinster coach Matt O’Connor is confident Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’Brien will not follow in Jonathan Sexton’s footsteps and swap their home province for the Top 14.

The British and Irish Lions juggernaut rolled out of town yesterday, to be put back in cold storage for four more years.

With Warburton out, if Deans chooses to recall George Smith to the fray, we could see a sizeable shift in that battle at the breakdown.

Momentum is built on moments, and perhaps the telling one in Australia’s victory in Melbourne came early in the second half when Brian O’Driscoll managed to achieve what the Wallabies had largely failed to do.

It was difficult not to have a degree of sympathy for the Australians on Saturday night.