In his 10 talking points this week, Sky Sports' Stuart Barnes says the appointment of Dylan Hartley as captain represents a 'major symbolic shift' in English rugby...
1. Eddie Jones must know his 15 for the Scotland game. He has been persistent in stating that the decision-making process goes like this: first narrow the squad from 33 to 23, then narrow the 23-man match day squad to 15 and then, and only then, is the captain decided, having been one of the first names on that 15-name sheet.
Dylan Hartley's name is hardly the first on form with Saracens' Jamie George playing as well as any English-qualified player, but there are other reasons to appoint a captain despite Jones's recent explanation.
Hartley represents a major symbolic shift away from the previous regime. The bad boys were encouraged to be good, now the bad boys are encouraged to ruffle a few feathers; just a matter of degree.
It is as if the Australian has said, 'Judge my players on the field and forget about all the connection stuff between the team and the public'.
He's right. Look where England's decency off the field got them. It's time to judge a player by the quality of his performance.
Hartley is in solid form without being anywhere near as good as the Saracen man-to-man. But with the small matter of an inexperienced scrum coach missing, the Saint knows how. This department is of considerable importance and his experience at the lineout will also count for plenty as the winds whip and the bagpipes play in little under a fortnight.
George will come off the bench. His time will come. The choice of captaincy is short term. No grand statement has been made as much as we in the media will portray it as something of greater significance than Jones will claim. Maybe this should be thought No 10!
2. Away from what is to be to what was; what a weekend of rugby. Scratch that; what a final 80 minutes in Champions Cup Pool 2 where Exeter - against all odds - played their way into the quarter-finals without a solitary win on the road.
Rob Baxter seemed not to know what was going on when news of Clermont's capitulation at home leaked through, and the fans sure as hell didn't as TV pictures showed them staring at their mobiles as if they were some kind of oracle.
I was flicking my screen from one match to the next every few seconds in the final 10 minutes. There has never been a finale to the pool stages quite like it.
3. Exeter deliver the so called 'fairy-tale' yet again but it is Saracens who completed a perfect six wins from six at pool stage. Well, not quite perfect... Owen Farrell's drop over the try line will go down as one of the most amusing moments in European history.
Given the firm grip the English team had on the pool and the match it was something that merited a smile. Jamie George promised that Farrell would not hear the last of it for some time. Saracens are having quite a ball.
4. Chris Ashton is probably the only Saracen who thinks life is bad. Since last week's column we know he received a 10-week ban for locating his hand in the face of an Ulster opponent. There was no gouge and little to no intent.
Ten weeks? This is a travesty. We await an appeal but in rugby an appeal comes with the guarantee of an increased time span for having the temerity to question the verdict. That is a funny kind of justice; there's nothing funny about a 10-week ban for Ashton.
5. Sadly the word 'stupidity' has to enter the equation and with great sorrow but no great surprise it is aimed straight into the heart of the Auvergne and Clermont. They have done it again.
Against Leinster many years ago Brock James bottled out of a drop goal to keep them in the tournament.
On Sunday, they lacked the knowledge to understand that a single bonus point would have won them the pool. It's no good saying there has never been an ending to match Pool 2's.
Fans that have a job from Monday to Friday might not need to know every possibility but one of the leading professional rugby clubs in the world must handle the permutations under pressure in a way Morgan Parra and his men could not.
Oh well, better to mess up sooner than later and this Clermont team were heading for heartbreak once again. I reckon Wasps would rather have faced Clermont than Exeter in the quarter-finals.
6. It was an awful weekend for the PRO12 too. For the first time ever they have no representatives in the last eight. It is the first time since 1998 that Ireland has failed to be represented in the last eight.
A World Cup hangover has hurt Irish hopes but the growing financial power of the English clubs, allied with an outstanding approach to the game on the field by the Premiership sides, represents a worry for the future of the Celtic game.
7. Let's talk Courtney Lawes shall we? Savagely short-armed by Maselino Paulino of the Scarlets, the Samoan was sent to the bin for 10 minutes. It was borderline red. When he re-emerged the England lock was waiting with a leading shoulder of his own.
Eddie Jones will have enjoyed the little splash of vigilante. The Saint has been low-key all season. It was good to see some edge on Saturday night. It was also good to see a young English back who, to quote Alex King, 'gets it'. Harry Mallinder runs straight, passes true and kicks like a mule. He has a future.
8. Racing 92 v Toulon, Dan Carter versus Ma'a Nonu... the champions look as if they are waiting to be toppled. Will the European rugby guillotine fall in the French capital?
English fans will love the quintet of qualifiers and rightly so but the game of the round takes place in Paris. They'll be up early in New Zealand to watch this one.
9. Occasionally one moment can transform a player's career. With Jonathan Joseph stuck in the doldrums with his struggling Bath team-mates I wonder whether Elliot Daly's sensational burst of speed for his memorable try against Leinster will surge him past the Bath man and into the England team for the Calcutta Cup match.
10. One also has to wonder whether Jones has given Ford the word that he is still the man at 10 despite his continued hesitancy.
Manu Tuilagi scored a fine try against Stade Francais but looked rusty in defence. The other inside centre options lack experience.
Ford and Farrell is still likely but Bath's pivot must be testing the patience and long-term selection policies of the England coach. If Ford is not in a slump he's getting pretty close to it.