The Guardian's Rob Kitson reflects on yet another good weekend for the Celtic league in the Heineken Cup.
"Munster, Leinster and Ulster, Ireland's three leading sides, have played 15 Heineken Cup pool games between them this season and lost just once in total. All three sit top of their groups. England, in contrast, look likely to end up with just one qualifier – Saracens – from a starting list of seven. Which nation would you back to fare better in the forthcoming Six Nations championship?
Rugby union, clearly, is not quite that simple. It should also be pointed out that France, World Cup finalists and perhaps the strongest Six Nations team on paper, could be represented in the quarter-finals by just two clubs, Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne. The remaining quartet of Castres, Racing Métro, Montpellier and Biarritz have won just five of their 20 games to date. A sense of underachievement is not just confined to English club rugby."
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