ON RUGBY:Once again, Toulouse, having faced down the much hyped Harlequins, are saving French faces in the Heineken Cup, with only Clermont also in contention, writes GERRY THORNLEY

THERE’S HARDLY been a headier brew in the opening two rounds of the Heineken Cup but yet again the cream is rising to the top. Thankfully, along with the European grandees of Toulouse, that includes Leinster and Munster.

These three, who have won the competition seven times in the last nine years and in each of the last four years, sit atop three of the pools already with away wins under their belts from the first of the back-to-back matches and thus with every chance of taking a stranglehold on their respective groups by this time next week.

Each, in their own way, made statements of intent over the weekend. With their totems, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara, playing as well as ever in bridging the transition between generations, for Munster to have three wins from three with a plus eight points difference is testimony to their revitalised hunger and self-belief.

Though they closed out the game in vintage style, they turned the game around with their willingness to run from pretty much anywhere – witness Niall Ronan’s classy try. Of all the accolades heaped upon centurion O’Gara, one of the less heralded aspects of his game is his clever counter-attacking from fullback.

Munster have to complete the double yet, but are half-way there and Tony McGahan has also been vindicated, thus far, in his decision to only offer a one-year extension to Tony Buckley while breaking the bank for BJ Botha.

In sharp contrast to the costly scrum damage of the defeat away to the Ospreys on this coming weekend 12 months ago, Botha effectively earned Munster’s decisive 62nd-minute penalty as well as the 75th-minute penalty outside their own 22 from which they closed out the game.

Leinster have more in their armoury but have been something of a curate’s egg this season. Their best work in Bath was arguably without the ball. As well as the backrow, Jonathan Sexton, Gordon D’Arcy and Isa Nacewa were superb, although some of their back-line alignment and passing was surprisingly poor.

At times sloppy and static, nonetheless they opened up Bath four times and but for their well-chronicled profligacy, they would have put Bath to the sword. Thus they have plenty of scope for improvement in doing just that in the Aviva this Saturday.

The officiating was, overall, pretty good, and clearly the ERC referees’ chief Donal Courtney issued an edict to clamp down on forward passes. That said, it didn’t help that Jerome Garces (vastly inferior to Romain Poite in Parc y Scarlets, it has to be said) allowed a free-for-all at the breakdown in Bath.

Toulouse faced down a much-hyped and unbeaten Harlequins, belying notions of French travel sickness. It helps when your set-piece is superior and you are bossing the breakdown, but more than anyone Toulouse appear to retain a footballing intelligence on the ball from one to XV which enables them to react and play what they see better than anyone.

Furthermore, they are the old dogs for the long road and under Guy Noves are still only flexing their pecs in December, with their best rugby still a long way off. “Stade” have already worked their magic on Luke McAlister, who seemed to take his mano-a-mano with Nick Evans very personally indeed, while scrumhalf Luke Burgess will only assimilate himself more effectively as the season progresses.

Favourites, and tipped here, from the outset, little has happened in the opening three rounds to alter that view.

Once again, Toulouse are saving French faces, with only Clermont also remaining in contention. For all the Top 14 largesse, collectively they boast a paltry 41 per cent winning ratio thus far. By contrast, Ireland’s is 87.5 per cent, the Welsh have a 75 per cent after their first defeats (ironically, having fed off their international team’s World Cup campaign, they were probably hindered by the one-off Test with Australia) and the Scots are running at 66 per cent.

In a week notable for England’s faltering links with the rest of Europe, collectively their six representatives from the Premiership boast a mere 42 per cent winning ratio, and only Saracens top their group at the half-way point in the pool stages.

For all the hype and fuss over Conor O’Shea’s rejuvenated Harlequins, à la Gloucester and Sale in the past, one is mindful trophies are not handed out before Santa comes down the chimney. The suspicion also lurked that Quins had almost started the season too well, and having won so many narrow games in their 14 from 14 starts prior to last Friday’s defeat, this made sustaining the run only more difficult.

Saracens have possibly the more potent and physical mix, as well as the squad strength and resources, but in the heel of the hunt, it would still be no surprise if Leicester’s pedigree ultimately shines through as the best of the English. Clermont showed glimpses of the easy-on-the-eye depth and width they possessed in abundance when Joe Schmidt worked there with Vern Cotter, and Brock James’ grubber from which Wesley Fofana scored his second try was delicious.

But they were only glimpses and, having lost by three tries to two, it would be no surprise if Leicester still emerged the better from the head-to-heads with a two-try win next weekend. Ulster had been hoping for a Leicester win in the Auvergne as part of a double, so as to dampen Clermont’s interest, but failing a Clermont double now, a 4-4 split in match points between these two is probably Ulster’s next best outcome.

Connacht’s failure to win their most winnable match, at home to Gloucester, leaves them struggling for points, notably in the return match at Kingsholm next weekend. With their shallow, injury-hit squad, they put in a monumental effort at the Sportsground last Saturday just to stay in touch.

They had no right to, really, when you consider how much their scrum and lineout struggled. As harmful though, was the 12-4 penalty count of Scottish referee Neil Paterson, who appeared to only have eyes for one team. The penalty against Frank Murphy for supposedly coming in from the side approaching half-time looked ridiculous, given he could hardly have entered the ruck any straighter, and this led directly to the decisive Gloucester try.

Connacht, it would appear, have become the Italians of the European game.