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Good win by Leinster away to Ospreys. Munster have a lot of work to do, having lost to Edinburgh. But the performance of the day has to go to Scarlets for their win against Harlequins. Very entertaining game, both teams played some great rugby. But Harlequins defence will need a lot of...

Ulster did well to come out with the win. Bowe was rusty and his handling did blow a few chances for Ulster. Still in the first half Leicester were dominant in the scrum and were more physical than Ulster, but Ulster managed to go in leading. In the 2nd half Ulster reversed the situation at...

It's great to see such enthusiasm for this years HEC on here, even if it's mostly from us NH guys. Looking at the pools on paper I'd expect the 8 qualifiers to be: Toulouse, Saracens, Clermont, Leicester, Munster, Leinster, Toulon, Ulster In reality there are always a few surprises and...

1st round of games starts this weekend and I'm hoping for a cracking weekend of HEC rugby to remind fans and players exactly what will be lost if this is the last year of the competition.

Ruan Pienaar has signed a new 3 year contract with Ulster, so will not be moving to Toulon as speculated.

Richardt Strauss' season is over, he's been diagnosed with a heart condition and needs an operation. Best of luck to him for his surgery and recovery.

What an excellent test match, great advert for the game.

A stint at somewhere like Biarritz would be really good for him.They're one French team that I really admire for their rugby culture. They're Basques so not the typical French attitude. His ego wouldn't be tolerated in what is a very close squad and a club that is embedded in it's community...

Great stance from the FFR, if the RFU weren't so scared of upsetting the teams they'd do something similar with Championship teams and this whole thing would be over by now. Expect them to keep their mouth shut and let the other unions clear up their mess for them. They'll keep their uneasy...

No matter how the card system was changed there would still be inconsistencies and arguments about which card someone should ave gotten. The only difference is that people would be more frustrated as they would feel that X player who got an orange card should have only be a penalty and Y...

Sam Warburton's agent is saying that Cardiff are unable to make a new contract offer to him (his contract runs out at end of season) due to uncertainties over next years budget, caused by the mess with HEC etc. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24322797

I saw Jeremy Guscott came out in favour of the clubs stance. He seems to think it will be all fine and hunky dorey and the clubs deserve to be able to maximise their profit. If it does go ahead I bet he's complaining about the situation regarding the English national team in a few years time.

Leigh Halfpenny is being linked with a move to Toulon to replace Wilkinson who is expected to retire at the end of the season.

2 very good wins but Henderson could be a big miss. He's the closest thing to Stephen Ferris to emerge from the new generation of players. While we have a huge dept of back row talent coming through, Henderson looks to be something very special. Nice to see Bowe and Madigan among the tries and...

I'm sure in that scenario Leinster wouldn't mind thumping the 8th place finishers in the AP or Top14. They would probably prefer the AP team though since they are by far the weakest of the 3 leagues in recent years. It might not make much sense making the Pro12 champions play-off to qualify...

The solution I'd like to see, for next season, is the following: - Pro12 stick with the HEC & ACC - French Union strong arm their teams to come back to the table, Top 14 teams in the HEC & ACC - English Prem teams refuse to take part. For one season only teams from the Championship take their...

That's true Boyo, but in this case he would seem to be the lesser of 2 evils.

Sad news for Aus Rugby. Jake was doing an excellent job at the Brumbies but now there will always be the feeling of a project half complete. New coach will take the Brums in their own direction for better or worse. Will be interesting to see where Jake goes. One thing that can't be denied is...

Now we have Bruce Craig (deputy chairman of Premiership Rugby) telling the Pro12 teams they'll go bankrupt if they don't approve the new Rugby Champions Cup. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24224152 Funny how he doesn't mention that the English clubs have most to lose financially as...

I think it speaks to the fact that there is a sizable global market for rugby content that isn't analysis or pre/post game interviews where very little of substance is said. Some people just love rugby and love to hear people talk about it.