UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES this week would be when we were to fully shelve whatever drama had unfolded in the Six Nations and don provincial garb again when the Heineken Champions Cup reached the knock-out stage.
In the absence of normality, take a walk down memory lane of European Cup quarter-finals past and see if we can avoid stumbling along the way.
On their way to the 1999 title, who did Ulster defeat (a team they also met in the pool stage) in the quarter-final?
Leicester Tigers
Stade Francais
Toulouse
Colomiers
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Munster took the hard road to their second Heineken Cup final, going away in 2002 to beat which French side in the last eight?
Biarritz
Stade Francais
Toulouse
Colomiers
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Name the heavily-medalled Irishman who scored two tries when Leinster crashed out at the quarter-final stage in 2007?
Eoin Reddan
Geordan Murphy
Leo Cullen
Jeremy Staunton
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Leinster scored four tries in their famous 2006 win away to Toulouse. Which of these men did not score in the rout?
Brian O'Driscoll
Eric Miller
Cameron Jowitt
Denis Hickie
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Later that day, where did Munster take the field to set up an inter-provincial semi-final showdown?
Thomond Park
Stade Aime Giral
Lansdowne Road
Croke Park
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Can you name the player who cracked a fake blood capsule in his mouth during Leinster's 2009 win away to Harlequins?
Mike Brown
Nick Evans
Nick Easter
Tom Williams
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Ulster returned to the last eight in 2011, but lost in frustrating fashion to Northampton. Late on, who did Dylan Hartley complain he had been bitten by?
Simon Danielli
Adam D'Arcy
Johann Muller
Pedrie Wannenburg
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Name the veteran fullback in place as Ulster claimed a shock win away to Munster in 2012?
Jared Payne
Percy Montgomery
Stefan Terblanche
Adam D'Arcy
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In 2015, Leinster squeaked beyond Bath thanks to six penalties from which goal-kicker?
Jonathan Sexton
Jimmy Gopperth
Isa Nacewa
Ian Madigan
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Andrew Conway's brilliant counter tipped the balance against Toulon in 2018 for Munster. Whose try had given the French side the lead eight minutes earlier?
Josua Tuisova
Semi Radradra
Chris Ashton
Ma'a Nonu
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You scored out of !
Cruising to the semi-finals
Picked up exactly where you left off in the pool and powered your way through this hurdle. The trophy is in sight now.
You scored out of !
Job done
You didn't quite click as well as you'd like after coming back to the province off Six Nations duty, but you dogged it out and you're in the final four.
You scored out of !
Shaded
You put up a brave effort, but the fates / questions conspired against you there.
You scored out of !
Sure didn't you do well to get this far?
Tell the truth, you were lucky to get eighth seed and make the knock-out stage and weren't really expecting to go away from home and win this one
We could certainly be doing with a Ferris or two in the green jersey nowadays. One of the best ever to wear the jersey. Pity career ended prematurely. I do enjoy him on the punditry. Very honest.
@Ray Ridge: So powerful, quality player indeed, thought he started his punditry on the bitter side, taken some time for the competitor in him to fade a little, he’s decent enough now tho in fairness.
He would have made any world 15 in his prime, absolutely quality player. Such a shame his career ended so early
When on form and injury free he was up there with Kaino as the best no.6 in the world.
Is Impactful code for always injured?
@Spailpeen Farrell: stupid comment. He was a class player
@Spailpeen Farrell: Always injured? Yes injury blighted the last year or so for him, but always injured, that’s a laugh. The reckless way he put himself about was possibly what didn’t help him have a long career but he never went missing in games and without needing to talk about what irishness meant to him he did his bit and more for the game here. Top class 6.
What a brilliant player – such a shame he had to retire so early. Always thought he could have managed himself a little better in terms of injuries, but guess that was just the competitor in him / always wanted to be back out in the thick of it.
I train at the same gym as him nowadays and hes STILL a beast!
Jaysis Ireland really had a glorious chance in 2011 to win the World Cup. Full panel of players to chose from……..Welsh defence was unreal that day though
Not sure we played New Zealand in Croker in 2010, think it was Aviva Stadium.