A quick review of the first week's games. Only saw five of the games over the weekend so apologies in advance for the lack of in-depth analysis on some matches. If anyone was at them or saw them, feel free to add your own tuppence worth!

Pool 1

Perpignan 23 Dragons 19 - from Lee Grant
No, this was not the standard or the excitement of the Wasps v Munster match, nor the power, nor the skill, but it was bloody good all the same.

•  This was a game that didn’t grab me at the beginning to be honest.  The visitors had to contend with a strong head wind at first, but Perpignan weren’t capitalising on their advantage.  The Dragons scored the first try against the run of play, the wind, the crowd, and just about everything else - and then the game started, for me. 

It was one of those matches that grew on you; not of a sudden, but in the fullness of time – or at least until 80 minutes elapsed.

•  The Dragons had enough chances to win but weren’t good enough when it mattered.  To be fair to them they were against a strong wind in the first half but it lessened in the second.

•  There were too many mistakes from both sides also to think they were of the same standard of the more professional heavyweights: the real contenders for the Heineken Cup.  If they don’t improve, they’ll be also-rans.

•  I thought that Colin Charvis had a cracking match for the Dragons.  He seemed to be everywhere.  It was only when I realised that the commentators weren’t stuffing up and I had confused the haircuts of Charvis and Parks that I realised my mistake.  However both Dragons played well.  Likewise, I thought another bloke was playing well until I realised it was the name of the home team sponsor on his back, not the player's name.

•  No. 8 Henry Tuilagi had a terrific game for Perpignan and when he had one of his trademark breaks and didn’t pass to supports, he had some value for the Dragons also.  The commentators were calling him the Catalan Chabal, which may have surprised a few people in Tonga, but the description was apt.

•  Apart from the usual suspects, the new player who took my eye was the Perpignan hooker Guilhem Guirado (Bill Williams?), who was in the Frenck U/21 team last year.  This fellow has “Les Bleus” written all over him and he only needs time to be in the national team.

•  Geez - Alan Lewis can be a bloody fine ref and he had a top match.

•  Even though the visiting Dragons scored 3 tries to 2, they made too many mistakes with the ball in the tackle to receive too much sympathy from this neutral.

•  This was not the best game of rugby on the weekend but I enjoyed it - it beat watching the cricket.

London Irish 42 Treviso 9

Standings: London Irish 5, Perpignan 4, Dragons 1, Treviso 0
Dragons will be kicking themselves, a little more self-belief and they could well have beaten Perpignan. The French side looked well below their form of previous seasons and Dragons had the chances to take four points rather than just one. It should give them some strength for the next games though. London Irish took a while to click through the gears but were eventually comfortable winners at home to Treviso, bagging seven tries and a bonus point.

Pool 2

Ulster 14 Gloucester 32
Ospreys 22 Bourgoin 15

Standings:  Gloucester 5, Ospreys 4, Bourgoin 1, Ulster 0.
Gloucester collected the quickest ever four-try bonus point in HEC history taking just 22 minutes. They were 29-0 up after half an hour and will be delighted to come away with five points from a tricky venue. They ran from everywhere in the first half and Ulster couldn't cope with the onslaught. Ulster are bottom of the Celtic League and it's easy to see why on this performance. Didn't see or hear much about the Ospreys performance and from what I did read they'll need to step it up a notch or two to get anything from next week's visit to Gloucester.

Pool 3

Stade Francais 37 Harlequins 17
Cardiff 34 Bristol 18

Standings:  Stade Francais 5, Cardiff 5, Bristol 0, Harlequins 0
Two home wins and two four-try bonus points, although by all accounts the home sides were forced to work very hard for them. Already both English sides will need home wins next weekend if they've any chance to progress.

Pool 4

Viadana 11 Biarritz 19
Saracens 33 Glasgow 31

Standings:  Saracens 5, Biarritz 4, Glasgow 1, Viadana 0
By all accounts a sloppy start by Biarritz as they only managed one try away to perennial whipping boys Viadana, scored by Ashwin Willemse just before half time. They may regret not getting the bonus point by the end of the group. Saracens raced into an early lead and wrapped up the four-try bonus point early in the second half but Glasgow fought back valiantly to almost snatch a win. They picked up a point for their troubles.

Pool 5

Wasps 24 Munster 23 - from Lee Grant
•  That was a cracking game of rugby and a superb advertisement for the HC.  Even all we SH fans who denigrate the northern game, conveniently forgetting some of the dire games we see in the S14 now and then, would have enjoyed that.  It had power rugby, good set pieces (except when uncontested scrums had to be invoked), and some wonderful tries.

•  It’s always a pleasure to hear Stuart Barnes’ comments on a rugby match and the game was so good I forgot to be annoyed by Miles Harrison.

•  I like the look of the young Wasps flyhalf Danny Capriani.  He’s a different kind of player from Gloucester’s Ryan Lamb, who also impressed me on the weekend, and looks more like a SH no. 10.  Whatever, with these two flyhalves getting experience at the HC level and no doubt being pencilled in on the national clipboards, the Pom flyhalf futures look bright.

•  What a crowd pleaser Paul Sackey is.  The Wasps’ winger is like a faster version of the old Brit league player, Billy Boston, who knew what pleasing a crowd was all about.  The Munster midfield of Mafi and Tipoki are going to please their home crowd also, but not if Mafi comes out of the line too often so opponents can score tries as happened in the game.  Tippy has played better in the last two Munster games than I saw from him in the S14.

•  There were superb games from the two no 6s.  Quinlan (Munster) is familiar to me and I can’t remember his playing better, but I can’t remember much about Haskell (Wasps).  Actually, he was in the back line so often that I thought he was a back, though he popped up everywhere.  I didn’t know Wasps’ lock George Skivington at all, but he had a storming match and scored a cracking try after a deft step.  He was better than second-row partner Simon Shaw, who was mostly on the wing. 

•  I thought the young ref missed a few things, such as head high tackles.  The yellow card to prop Marcus Horan for coming in from the side, and the resultant penalty for 3 points to take the lead (?) was a bit harsh.  The ball looked out and the players were on the ground; so the ruck was over on two counts – and he came from behind last feet.   

•  I’m a bit disappointed that my adopted team, Munster, went down, but it was such a great game one couldn’t begrudge the Wasps their win. 

Clermont Auvergne 48 Llanelli 21

Standings:  Clermont Auvergne 5, Wasps 4, Munster 1, Llanelli 0.
In the pool of death away wins are going to be scarce so it could well come down to bonus points so in that respect Munster can be happy with collecting a losing bonus point against the champions. In reality though they'll be disappointed to have let slip a ten point lead in the second half in a game they could well have won. The Cork branch of the silverfern seemed particularly annoyed with the refereeing and while Changleng was truly awful, I personally felt that Wasps were on the end of his worst decisions. Despite the ref's best efforts it was a fantastic game. Likewise the game in France today which was a feast of running rugby. Both sides ran from almost everywhere and Clermont profited from Llanelli's mistakes, but they also created some great scores on their own. Llanelli almost grabbed a bonus point at the end.

Pool 6

Leinster 22 Leicester 9
Edinburgh 15 Toulouse 19

Standings:  Leinster 4, Toulouse 4, Edinburgh 1, Leicester 0
Leicester probably had more of the ball in the first match but they ran into brick walls all the time. They only went in 6-6 at half time having played with a strong wind. Leinster played the wind much better in the second half using it to force Leicester to run back from deep. A try off first phase from Shane Horgan in the 55th minute was the real difference between the sides. Toulouse were unimpressive in their win away to Edinburgh who fought valiantly. The Scots will rue the number of kickable penalties they missed to create a real upset. Still all to play for in this group.