By Gavin Mortimer  HERE’S A stat that will heap more misery on the heads of four clubs in the Top 14. In the nine years since the Top 16 shrank…

After nigh on two-years of an increasingly rancorous power-struggle between the clubs, Unions and broadcasters, the new make-up of European rugby has been agreed. With the Heads of Agreement now…

Oyonnax

Four teams are all battling to avoid the drop from the French top flight as the season reaches its climax – here's the lowdown…

Jared Payne Jerome Garces

The Saints Gutsy Garces The moment Jared Payne sent an airborne Alex Goode crashing to the turf during the fourth minute of Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final clash between Ulster and…

Frederic Michalak

No one club has dominated the Top 14 this season, with the three French teams in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals all showing themselves fallible. Then again, they’ve also played some…

Paul O'Connell

Rugby World columnist Stephen Jones looks ahead to this weekend's four Heineken Cup quarter-finals – and makes his predictions…

Napolioni Nalaga

The great and the good of French rugby gathered last Thursday in a Bordeaux hotel for their General Assembly. What Midi Olympique described as “the Cardinals of the Oval”, had…

Andrew Trimble

Mike Brown’s remarkable consistency continued in Rome, but the Scarlets' bomb-diffuser supreme was brilliant against Scotland and demonstrated that Wales have more than one rapier full-back. In the right place…