Delivering an early knockout blow is a fine art and Irish clubs suffered the consquences in the Heineken Cup It is impossible to prove, one way or the other, whether players are influenced by such hype. They would never say so and to be fair they may not consciously be so, but Ulster and, to an extent, Leinster were jolted by the ferocity of the early exchanges and never quite recovered. It is very difficult to change the tenor of a game and simple effort does not always reverse momentum. In the end you got the feeling that Northampton and Clermont Auvergne simply wanted it more. Northampton's response to a caning in front of the Franklin's Gardens faithful was all coach Jim Mallinder could have asked for. His side have a tendency not to close out games but a very physical perform-ance from their back row was the basis of their narrow 10-9 victory. Even so, Ulster remain atop that group and in the right frame of mind and a dose of reality will go a long way with the right draw in the knockout stages. The tale of two of France's aspirants was also based squarely on their metal preparedness. Clermont showed sustained belligerence in Dublin of the type too seldom seen in French sides away from home. Their engine room of Nathan Hines and Jamie Cudmore tore into a Leinster pack reduced to plaintiff appeals from Leo Cullen to the referee to yellow card players or, on one occasion, a blindside cheap-shot from Sean O'Brien on Sitiveni Sivivatu. Brian O'Driscoll meanwhile had to sit in the Sky studio and analyse, very well as it happens, his team's demise. In truth they missed his leadership but more importantly his work defensively as a quasi flanker in and around the breakdown. Of all the things that Irish sides, provincially and nationally, have done recently, their work at the breakdown is what has stood out. The ability to hold the ball up for turnovers and meet charges on the gain-line and counter-ruck was largely absent over the weekend in all their teams. In fact swimming was just one of the weird, wacky catchphrases stolen by referees from coaches, like 'not chasing your feet," 'not taking the hit" and 'walking round the corner." If this gobbledegook is meant to show referees move with the times, it doesn't; it's the equivalent of dad dancing at your daughter's under-12s disco. However, you can always rely on the consistently capable Nigel Owens for the best lines. "Now then, I've got quite a good memory and I've had to penalise you twice recently - oh, er, not you No 6, my apologies" - gwych (brilliant).