Tries from Daniel Riordan, Gavin Williams and a brace from Adrian Flavin earned Michael Bradley's side the FIve points on offer in Galway, and they'll need a repeat performance down in the south of France next week if they're to have any hope of progressing to the Challenge Cup quarter-FInals. "It won't be easy down there, " said the Connacht coach after the game. "But we know what we have to do next week."

A FINE IS THE ONLY WAY THEY'LL LEARN It's nice to see the ERC finally acting to rid the Heineken Cup of dummy team sheets. During the week, Toulouse and Calvisano were fined /5,000 each for not publishing "accurate teams" before matches. In the case of Calvisano, it's difficult to imagine why they'd bother publishing a dummy team in the first place, seeing that nobody knows most of their players anyway, but the Toulouse fine is bang on the money. The side that took the field against Ulster at Ravehill showed six changes and two positional switches from the 15 that had been named the previous afternoon. We've been informed that Toulouse are appealing the fine but let's hope that the shock of handing over a few quid will stop them playing silly buggers in future. Could be a useful tool for the GAA, too. Ger Loughnane might have to watch himself in future.

GET READY FOR A RUGBY FIESTA There could be something of a Spanish revolution about to start in the world of rugby. FC Barcelona already play in Division de Honor, the top flight of Spanish rugby, but their deadly football rivals, Real Madrid, now appear ready to put their considerable financial weight behind CRC Madrid Noroeste.

Club president Ramon Calderon is currently negotiating a takeover of Madrid's biggest rugby team and if all goes according to plan, they'll be renamed Real Madrid at the end of the season. The potential for the growth of both Barcelona and Madrid is huge, and if both sides get proper backing, it might not be too long before we see the sides compete in the European Challenge Cup.

GREAT MOMENTS IN IRISH RUGBY Number 12 Ireland poach their first player On 11 February 1905, Cork hosted its FIrst international FIxture at the Mardyke with the visit of England to the famous ground but there was a more signiFIcant story on the day.

Basil Maclear was an English soldier stationed in Fermoy at the time, but his visits home to play rugby were quite frequent and he came under the radar of the English selectors. In January 1905, Maclear was playing in a club match for Old Bedfordians in front of an English selector and you'd imagine that the 11 tries and two goals he managed over the course of the game would make him a shoo-in for the Irish game. Not so. The selector stated that Maclear was "not good enough" and that the opposition weren't enough of a test of his true ability.

On hearing this news, Ireland drafted Maclear into their starting line-up for the game against England and the centre enjoyed an outstanding match in what proved to be a rare Irish victory.

THE LAW LIBRARY Canada scrum-half Morgan Williams fed the ball into the scrum against Wales with just his right hand . . . God only knows why . . . but play was immediately stopped by referee Tony Spreadbury. If the scrum had been set properly and there were no other problems visible to the naked eye, any idea what his problem was? Well, according to law 20.6 (b) "the scrumhalf must hold the ball with both hands" when feeding a scrum and Spreadbury had no option but to award a free-kick to the opposition. Williams, meanwhile, was suitably embarrassed.

WHAT WON'T HAPPEN IN RUGBY THIS WEEK While supping his first pint in O'Neill's in Cardiff this weekend, Munster fan Sean O'Brien is stopped in his tracks as the manager, area manager and managing director of the plastic Paddy pub chain step out from behind the counter to award him 100 shares in the company. "I'm shocked, " said a breathless O'Brien, having signed all the necessary paper work. "I always joked to the lads that they should give me shares in this place seeing as I've been here so many times with Munster over the years, but I never thought it would actually happen."

RUGBY POSER.. Who captained Cardiff when they became the first and only team so far to beat Munster in a Heineken Cup match at home?

MOUTHING OFF. . .

I wouldn't have a clue Piri Weepu (right) gives his frank assessment of what New Zealand stadium should be redeveloped for the 2011 World Cup final. We get the feeling he doesn't really care either I am not a fan of Jake White and he knows that. He has no time for other people. He gives preferential treatment to certain players and as a result the best teams do not get selected Mike Stofile, the deputy president of the SARFU, gives his views on Jake White. Good to see the backing that he received from the Union a couple of weeks back is pretty unanimous then