Monday 14 December 2015 13:17, UK
That was more like it; round three of the Champions Cup was packed with excitement.
There were some tremendous games and some stunning individual performances; all in all enough to convince the watching Eddie Jones that European rugby still has plenty to offer.
Here are my highlights...
1 The moment of the weekend belongs to Bath and their fly half, George Ford. His touchline conversion to beat Wasps with the last kick of the game was pure class. Not only did he know that it was a four-point swing between Bath and Wasps in the battle for this pool but he was also aware who was sitting high in the stands.
The Bath maestro has not been conducting with his usual aplomb since the World Cup while his rival, Owen Farrell, is riding the wave of Saracens success. The pressure was on him, club and country pressure. He had not enjoyed his finest game.
His attacking excellence is currently little more than delicately weighted cross-field kicking and he missed an eminently kickable penalty less than fifteen minutes from full time. Maybe the nerveless strike will get him and Bath up and running.
"Why should a side have two or three `free' infringements before a warning, they all know the rules... to yellow card Bezy without due warning was good to see."
2 I don't know whether Joe Launchbury is a good captain or not (nobody does but it hasn't stopped the bandwagon from picking him up and carrying him in the direction of England captaincy), but I do know an amazing performance when I see one and that's what the Wasps second row delivered yesterday.
It was a hit and run guerrilla win for Bath which should not mask the marvellous all round quality of the lock's performance.
3 George Ford's kick was moment of the weekend, but there's no doubt who wins the prestigious Barnes `Performance of the Weekend' award. That goes to Exeter who not only beat Clermont but went for the jugular to the extent where they were not content merely with a famous win but opted to gamble, when the win was not assured, in search of bonus points.
At 17-14 most teams would have kicked a penalty instead of going for the corner to push the lead beyond the three points. Short term sense, yes, but pools in Europe need a balance of the immediate and longer term thinking. Exeter knew every match point counted.
They went for the corner, scored and were ten points clear, taking Clermont out of losing bonus point range. Mitch Lees' try with the last play to make it 5-0 to Exeter; that may just have been taking dreams into the wilder outposts of our imagination.
4 Player of the weekend is a tough call. To not select Thomas Waldrom means something special was required because the Tank was on top form. What a rugby brain he possesses. Yet the Chiefs No 8 is edged out by the giant Glasgow winger, hat-trick-scoring Taqele Naiyaravoro.
He squashed Scarlets who had the temerity to try and stop him. By the end a few Welsh backs were giving up on serious attempted tackles. One try he scored was fantastic, the one he had for being adjudged to have big-toed the touch line would have been a contender for European try of the season.
The PRO12 leaders were struggling with injuries but with the once-capped Australian in full thunderous flow, there was not much chance of them stopping a good Glasgow team on Saturday.
5 Ulster provided the only spark of joy for Ireland's trio of Champions Cup teams. Leinster are already out and Munster's home defeat - only their fifth European defeat at Thomond Park - has dented their chances of qualification, but Ulster were outstanding against Toulouse. From the first minute they moved the ball around to keep the heavyweight Toulouse eight on the shift.
The forwards played with intent and accuracy, the backs were imaginative and slick. Between them was Ruan Pienaar, another contender for player of the week. He was imperious.
6 Wayne Barnes was world class in Belfast. It is an overused phrase I try not to type or say often but the English referee was magisterial. After ten minutes he uttered the out-of-fashion phrase 'accidentally offside,' when an Ulster player instinctively played a ball with no time to think.
Had Barnes' good friend, Craig Joubert remembered those words when Scotland played Australia in the World Cup quarter-final then the controversy count in that tournament would have been a lot lower. And how about the way he does not issue warnings for repeated infringements near a team's try line?
Why should a side have two or three `free' infringements before a warning, they all know the rules... to yellow card Bezy without due warning was good to see, as was the yellow card for Nick Williams.
Everyone wants a safer game but when a player is carded for not attempting to grasp the tackled man with the `second arm' the referee is criticised. Williams led with a ferocious right shoulder and anything from the left side was cosmetic disguise.
7 On television and in print there is a tendency to glorify the 'hits' and the 'shots'. Neither word is to be found in the law book so let's start focusing on the non-grasp and take some of the simmering violence out of the game.
8 The complete apathy of Toulouse made Friday night a safe place to be an Ulster player. That is now two indifferent efforts from the once great club. Yet we media people talk about Toulouse and their elegant rugby as if Yannick Jauzion retired yesterday.
They are an old fading team for whom the magic has long been lost. Toulouse are just another of France's heavyweight ten teams.
9 Refereeing part two. Exeter was deprived of a try after five minutes because of wording. Instead of asking the question, 'Any reason why I cannot award the try?' John Lacey said, 'Try, yes or no?'
Simon McDowell would have said there was no reason not to award a try when all logic screams Thomas Waldrom scored - and Exeter, post-match, quietly confirmed he had scored - but the TMO could not see the grounding and therefore could not offer the affirmative.
Errors of this magnitude should not be caused by semantics. 'What do you reckon, Simon? I can't see the ball but there was no way Clermont could get near it, it has to be a try.' There.
10 And finally, away from Europe, we hear Paul Gustard has been offered the England defence post. Any time soon it will be confirmed that the three coaches under Stuart Lancaster have been removed from their posts. Jones needs his own men. Irrespective of the coaches' performance and quality this has to be the right decision.
The head coach has to have the freedom of his own men. Whether Steve Borthwick will be the lineout coach or something broader is going to be interesting. Does Jones think he can take the substantial step from specialist to forwards coach quite yet? That is the question of the week in English rugby circles.
