Time to acknoweldge Munster rugby is facing a depressing reality

IF that merited win over Ulster at Ravenhill nine days ago represented a step forward in what was proving an already challenging season, Saturday’s depressing Champions Cup defeat at the hands of Stade Francais constitutes a series of giant leaps backward.

From my commentary perch high up in the magnificently revamped Stade Jean-Bouin, the pointed concrete columns of the neighbouring Parc de Princes, graveyard of so many Irish sides from the 1970s through to the early 90s, offered a stark reminder of what the bad days for Irish rugby once felt like.

The advent of the Heineken Cup, the emergence of our provincial sides as a European force, and the manner in which, through regular exposure to the top French clubs, they came to terms with what was required to win on foreign soil, helped in no small way towards the national side conquering those demons when it came to beating France, even in Paris.