Life on a sporting sofa about to get a lot more complicated

For a certain type of Irish sports fan,European Champions Cup rugby weekends like the one just gone will always be a reminder of when life got that bit more awkward, writes Tommy Martin.

In the prelapsarian Heineken Cup days, this fan knew where he or she stood. They had treated themselves to a Sky Sports subscription mainly to watch the Irish provinces in Europe, maybe the odd Premier League match and a bit of golf on a Sunday night.

God was in his heaven, the Sky dish was on the wall and Stuart Barnes was refusing to pronounce the ‘H’ in Thomond Park.