Three out of the four Heineken Cup quarter finals provided exceptional excitement with two bonafide classics taking place in Paris and Dublin. We pick over the bones of them, and ask how Leinster's depth is getting tested, how the rugby gods will punish Tadhg Beirne, how Ulster, Edinburgh and Racing will feel after their respective defeats.YNWA Dan Leavy!

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It's a post-mortem for a Six Nations that leaves everyone but Wales disappointed. Take the dog for an extra long walk because there's loads to get off our collective chests. More analytical that a Buenos Aires dinner party, we try to get inside the heads of everyone from Gatty to Joe to Genge and attempt to decipher how focus, fitness and form come together in the magic stew of victory. Congrats to Wales and hurrah for the U20s Grand Slam heroes!

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We rank Ireland both out of 1 to 10 and with the binary unsatisfactory/satisfactory distinction as we pick apart an impressive victory against France and ask if Cardiff represents a "free hit"? Have we really learned that much about ourselves other than we *still* suck at being favourites?

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As usual, the game is gone or going somewhere weird. Crisis in Wales, crisis in world rugby, crisis at World Rugby. There's not enough people close enough to each other on the planet to make the game viable in the way it wants to be while maintaining some semblance of the game's traditions: discuss. OK, we will. Welsh sociology, roads, the Belle Epoque, FIRA, it's all in here.

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Did injury force Ireland's hand in terms of selection, or did Joe just not channel his inner Gatty after a disappointing performance in Rome. Is clarity of purpose what Ireland are lacking? Also: oh shit here come unbeatable Wales.

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Questions raised and questions answered at Murrayfield; kick and clap at Twickenham as England launch bombs and land them all. What more do we know about Carbery and what more can we find out, and are England showing their World Cup plans already?

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Meeting the pitch of the ball, changing the pitch of the game, 1500 metre full backs, the paradox of Zebo's absence, being the best team in the world for six weeks, some Japanese big picture, and some face-smashing: these are just some of the things that we grasp onto in the aftermath of getting pumped at home by pumped-up English.

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We try to get inside the mind of Schmidt and Jones to pick their teams for them. Given they are now announced, it retrospectively seems like Joe is channelling his inner Gatland. And while the team largely picks itself, the bench very much does not. Also ou est les françaises? First the snowdrops, then St Bridget's Day, then the Six Nations!

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We focus on the little province that could, that keeps surprising us all and has ended up with a surprising contingent in the Irish squad: Ulster (badum tish.)Also we indulge in some Valdanology, investigating claims of Shit-on-a-Stick at Thomond Park, sexy sub outhalf talk for Leinster and the boring grind of Premierships DoFs.

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The festive interpros heralded the end of rugby as we know it with tedious blowhards and tinfoil-hat-wearing Twitter cranks calling for the abolition of the uncompetitive Pro 14, a situation which might finally allow the Welsh teams to thrive.... where exactly? THE GAME'S GONE.Good thing then that there's some rugby to look forward to.

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