Heineken Cup

The final weekend of Heineken Cup action certainly didn’t disappoint if you were Irish. If you were the new England coach though…

English rugby is in a bit of a mess

Now we don’t expect you to be feeling too sorry for new England coach Stuart Lancaster this morning but the interim boss has a bigger job on his hands than he might have expected.

Munster’s demolition of Northampton at the weekend was hugely impressive on its own but add in Ulster’s destruction of Leicester the week before and Connacht’s heroic disposal of Harlequins on Friday night and you have three of the flag bearers of the English game downed by Irish might.

But defeat to the high-flying Irish provinces won’t be the only issue on Lancaster’s mind today as he tries to prepare to retain England’s Six Nations title.

His probable captain, Northampton’s Tom Wood, will miss the first two games with a toe injury and his likely back-up skipper, Harlequins’ Chris Robshaw, had a bit of a ‘mare in Galway.

Add in Chris Ashton's uncertain status and lack of club action, plus injuries to other big names like Toby Flood, Manu Tuilagi and Danny Care (for various reasons) and you would almost, almost, start to feel sorry for Lancaster this morning.

Only Saracens made it into Europe’s last eight from the Aviva Premiership and they face the prospect of big-spending Clermont visiting them in early April. By then we will know how Lancaster and England got on but the signs from this distance are not good.

Congrats to Michael Bradley

His tenure at Connacht brought a lot of undue criticism, partly because of a spiky relationship with the press pack. In his seven years at the helm out west he was judged to have underachieved but perhaps Eric Elwood is now only reaping the rewards for the foundations laid by the former Irish scrum-half.

Bradley arrival in the Scottish capital has seen Edinburgh progress to the last eight for the first time in eight years, only the second time a Scottish team has ever done so. His team defeated London Irish in dramatic fashion (more bad news for England) and in the process put himself front and centre to step in if Declan Kidney has to miss next year’s Six Nations for the Lions.

Some overude kudos is finally heading Bradley's way.

Best weekend ever for Irish rugby?

Connacht’s majestic first Heineken Cup win eased the pressure on Ulster but Brian McLaughlin’s men were very unlucky not to beat Clermont this weekend. But for a few wayward kicks by Ruan Pienaar, and a disgraceful bit of cheating by Nathan Hines for the only home try, they would have done so.

Their clash with top seeds Munster at Thomond is going to be massive, with the full flowering of Simon Zebo the real bonus point for the Red Army this weekend. Leinster did the business too and if the reports emerging regarding Cian Healy are true and he is not badly injured, it was as perfect a rugby weekend for Irish fans as you could wish for.

Can this momentum be carried into the Six Nations? If it is, we might be unstoppable. And the all-Irish Heineken Cup final is still on the cards. Happy days.