Leinster beware: Any lingering doubt about the difficulty of the task facing Leinster when the Heineken European Cup resumes in December should be removed after the weekend's French championship action.
Agen confirmed their victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm was the reward for a good team playing well, a fact underlined by a 24-16 win at home to Toulouse. Pephito Elhorga and David Vainqueur scored tries, Jerome Miquel added three penalties and a conversion, while Francois Gelez also posted a penalty.
Toulouse responded with a try from Finau Maka and three penalties from Jean Baptiste Elissalde, Benoit Baby and Valentin Courrent.
Ulster coach Mark McCall will be hoping Toulouse's up-and-down form extends into the New Year but for his Leinster counterpart, Michael Cheika, there is the realisation Agen will arrive in Dublin next month full of confidence. They host the Irish province at home the following week.
Bourgoin, who are in Munster's pool, arrived home from their defeat at Thomond Park undeterred and enjoyed a bonus-point win over the bottom side, Bayonne.
Judging Jutge
It hasn't been a great week for Joël Jutge judging by the criticism he received for his handling of Edinburgh's victory over Leinster at Murrayfield last Sunday week and his performance at Twickenham in New Zealand's 41-20 victory over England.
The French official's eccentric decision-making - or more appositely lack of consistency in interpretation - in Scotland once again surfaced in London but it was the television match official Christophe Berdos who angered BBC's television pundits. His decision to disallow a try by England centre Jamie Noon prompted the former Wales international and BBC analyst Jonathan Davies to describe it as "disgusting" and "pathetic".
In fairness to Berdos it wasn't a cast-iron certainty, but it was 99-per-cent likely Noon had grounded the ball.
However, underlining the huge discrepancy in officials' interpretations, it's worth revisiting Leinster's game at Murrayfield. Jutge awarded a try to Edinburgh centre Rob Dewey after consulting with the television match official. None of the television replays could confirm the centre had definitely touched the ball down. The probability was he had but then probability didn't suffice for Noon at Twickenham. Referees and their decisions are becoming the unknown quantity in matches.
One wonders whether IRB refereeing guru Paddy O'Brien will be asking searching questions of those with whistles. It's one thing for the IRB to try to stamp out back-chat from players and indiscriminate shoeing, but match officials would do well to remember that while it's not always about being right, being consistent helps.
New Zealand boom
Perhaps even more worrying for the rest of the world than the All Blacks' facile victory over England at Twickenham is that New Zealand rugby in general appears in rude health judging by the increase in numbers playing the game.
More New Zealanders than ever are playing their national game, with 141,241 listed as playing rugby in 2006 compared to 137,961 in 2005, a rise of two percent. The increase includes children, teenagers and women.
Referee numbers have also increased while the number of registered volunteers continues to grow. The NZRU's community rugby manager Brent Anderson said the figures showed rugby remained an enjoyable and important activity at community level for thousands of New Zealanders.
"The introduction of the Community Rugby Plan in 2004 is one of the reasons behind the rise but our clubs and provincial unions must be credited for their support of community rugby initiatives," said Anderson.
Some 66,570 boys and girls under 13 hit New Zealand's rugby fields each weekend, a 23-per-cent jump since 2003. The number of teenage girls and women playing the game has also risen, to 10,815, an overall increase of 41 per cent since 2003.
Anderson pointed out: "The Black Ferns are the world's leading national women's team and we hope their proven success . . . will help encourage more women to take up the game."
Casey's comeback
Bob Casey's sabbatical on the sidelines because of injury came to an end this weekend when he came on as a replacement in London Irish's victory over bath at the Recreation Ground.
Mind you, his return was stalled somewhat by a yellow card for overly vigorous rucking when he crossed the whitewash.
Leo Cullen captained Leicester Tigers to a win over Worcester, a match that saw Johnny Murphy start on the wing, Gavin Hickie come on at hooker and Shane Jennings score a try.
Umaga on a roll
Former All Black captain Tana Umaga is certainly justifying a salary reputed to be around a300,000 with French second division club Toulon by scoring a try for the second week in succession. This weekend's try proved to be a match winner as Toulon were losing 16-15 to Dax at the time with 10 minutes left.
