You can prepare for Thomond Park all you like but still no visiting team appears to truly understand what they're getting themselves into. Take Sale a few weeks back. Kingsley Jones' side had their organisation down to a tee and had even booked the pool at the University of Limerick for a recovery session on the Sunday morning after their game against Munster. They paid for the booking up front, too, but lo and behold, the Manchester side never arrived for their recovery dip and who can blame them.

Maybe future teams visiting Limerick would be better off booking two dozen psychiatrist couches for the following morning. A better idea we think.

FINDING A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Ok, we're putting the cart before the horse a little here but already talk has turned to where the Heineken Cup semi-"nals will take place on the weekend of April 21-23. If the bookies are to be believed and a Toulouse versus Munster semi-"nal comes about, there's a little problem for the ERC.

Their rule-book states that the game will take place in the country of the side drawn "rst, Toulouse in this case, but at a neutral venue. Paris is believed to be out of the question, with the ERC believed to be looking at Bordeaux, Montpellier and Toulouse (the Municipal Stadium) as potential venues. The latter choice is believed to be favoured but that could prove dif"cult to swallow for Munster, who would want to force the Toulouse players to sleep in a different bed the night before at the very least. Let's hope the ERC continue their recent record of good decisions with this one.

WHELAN WINS TICKETS FOR WALES MATCH

Congratulations to Cathal Whelan of Mallow, Co Cork, who won last week's O2 competition to win two tickets for the Ireland versus Wales Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road. Cathal correctly answered that Ireland scored two tries in last year's encounter at the Millennium Stadium.