As they have both Clermont and Sale to come to Thomond Park, Munster are still marginally in pole position, writes Gerry Thornley

SO ONCE again Munster are in knock-out mode. It seems to be ever thus with the champions, who haven't had the luxury of being drawn with an Italian side, and the 10-point start that ensues, for five seasons. Sunday's defeat in Clermont probably now leaves them no room for manoeuvre, and if they are to retain the Heineken Cup and thereby reach that pinnacle for a third time in four years they will probably have to win six matches in a row.

Clermont will now travel to Thomond Park in altogether stronger shape than they did last season, and in do-or-die mode. Thus, one of the side effects of beating them, were Munster to do so, is that it would probably dilute Clermont's interest in their remaining Euro games when set against their Holy Grail of an elusive first "bouclier", not least when they travel to Edgeley Park in round six.

Watching Clermont hit their straps in the third quarter at the Stade Marcel Michelin made one realise again what a phenomenal achievement it was by the Sharks to make off with a five-point haul from the same venue in round one - one of only three defeats the French side have suffered in their last 44 home matches.

Munster missed a trick at home to Montauban in round one, whereas Sale may well repeat their bonus point over Montauban when travelling to France next weekend and, already on 10 points, can therefore be expected to accumulate 20 outside of what happens in Thomond Park in round five.

Munster's bonus point in Clermont last season helped make up for a second defeat in the pool, which they edged on 19 points, but the way results are panning out this time they are unlikely to repeat that feat. Furthermore, a second defeat would effectively rule out any chance of them progressing as one of the two best runner-ups. Almost certainly therefore, Munster will have to win their remaining three games in the competition to progress.

As they have both Clermont and Sale to come to Thomond Park, Munster are still marginally in pole position, but it is far from cut and dried. There have already been two away wins in the collisions between the three contenders in Pool One - Sale in Clermont and Munster in Sale. In another hour of need, Thomond Park needs to rekindle its All Blacks atmosphere next Saturday.

Historically, in the last five years of the bonus points system, one of the two best runners-up have come from pools containing an Italian side - though never both of them and in one year, actually, neither of them. In any event, it definitely increases a team's chances of taking that back door route to the last eight and looks liable to do so again this season. Save for the Italian sides, though, no teams are rolling over and having their bellies tickled.

Those goddamned ELVs and the ridiculous crackdown on players staying on their feet - very inconsistently applied by Wayne Barnes in Clermont on Sunday - have, if anything, helped sides who are obliged to play on the back foot for much of the 80 minutes.

The Dragons had already shown their effectiveness at this in limiting an otherwise free-scoring Bath to one try in round two. By contrast, with a more positively inclined Glasgow as visitors to the Rec and Alain Rolland as referee, their nine-try feast on Sunday at the same venue seemed like a different sport.

But, despite bountiful possession and territory on Saturday, Toulouse were hard-pressed to eventually obtain their fourth try and bonus point as, once again, the Dragons' superbly organised cover and scrambling defence enabled them to soak it all up.

So it was with Castres at the RDS on Saturday, where they put little pressure on the veritable stream of untroubled Leinster lineout ball by, instead, loading midfield. For sure Leinster made too many unforced errors - over 20 of them - while their handling skills were surprisingly off-key and a tad more desire for tries from earlier on might have yielded the bonus point that was there for the taking.

Still, they'd have bitten the hand off anyone offering them 14 points out of 15 at this juncture and though they have two away games to come - including a trek to Twickenham for a Wasps team now beginning to hit their straps - they are better placed than Munster.

Still, the return of the Heineken Cup was a blessed relief, and aside from Clermont-Munster and Bath-Glasgow crackers, there was further evidence of Ulster's rejuvenation under Matt Williams as well as the bonus point win in Rovigo which gives Connacht a sniff of qualification for the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

All in all, it was yet another landmark weekend for the competition, with Max Guazzini's extraordinary marketing and riotous pre-match pageantry ensuring the 76,569 crowd for the Stade Français-Harlequins game smashed all previous pool attendance records by almost 30,000. The match could almost have been a sideshow, and while far from a classic, Harlequins' 15-10 win and herculean defence in the last 10 minutes was probably the weekend's outstanding result.

It made for a particularly productive weekend for the half-dozen English teams, all of whom won, whereas it contrived to leave the seven French teams with just two wins by the perennial standard-bearers of Toulouse, along with Clermont, as against five defeats.

And Freddy Michalak is back, warts and all. Many in the coaching fraternity will no doubt maintain that Michalak is too mercurial a player for a team like Toulouse or indeed France to have in the play-making role. He certainly requires a goal-kicking scrumhalf like Jean-Baptiste Elissalde alongside him, as his return of three from seven showed. Yet two of the Toulouse tries came from his inventive, well-disguised little chips and a third from an ultra-delayed reverse pass to Florian Fritz, while the other owed much to his offload in the tackle. It's the variety of his game and his own running threat which keeps defenders guessing and his kindred spirits - Clement Poitrenaud, Yannick Jauzion et al - clearly enjoy playing outside him.

Heavens above, amid the ELV and not-going-to-ground straitjacket that has compelled so many teams to resort to percentage rugby, Michalak's return from his South African sojourn is a welcome source of light relief. The H Cup and the game will always be better for players like him.