There are many ways of measuring Connacht's extraordinary progress this season. Playing poorly and winning against Nice last Saturday to move atop Pool D of the European Conference was the latest. Another is the time it takes Warren Gatland to pick the team. "About 20 seconds," he says.

That, roughly speaking, was all the former All Black required to give his imprimatur to the starting XV which accounted for Nice last Saturday and for when they entertain Begles next Saturday at the Sportsground.

Munster, without a benign dictator in the form of a full-time director of rugby, take rather longer than 20 seconds to select - given their joint coaches and more involved management structure. Nevertheless, they too were able to announce an unchanged side for the first time this season for next Saturday's imposing trip to Bourgoin.

Even that, however, is partly dependent upon out-half Killian Keane recovering from the bruised chest/ribs, which forced his half-time departure in last weekend's defeat to Cardiff. Rhys Ellison will play, despite sustaining a broken nose against Cardiff. Nor are Munster too concerned about the minor injuries afflicting Alan Quinlan and Shane Leahy.

Whereas Munster have been, or felt, obliged to play 29 players in seven competitive games this season, Connacht have limited themselves to 19. Gatland admits that "we've been very lucky with injuries".

Nonetheless, had some results gone differently, he also reveals that "a couple of players might have been dropped, and yet one of those players that falls into that category, Willie Ruane, had his best game of the season last Saturday. His positioning was very good and technically he had his best game for us as well."

Staying loyal has served the greater good, and Connacht go into Saturday's game seeking their fourth competitive win in a row at home and their fourth Conference win in five outings.

They have equalled the number of European Cup wins by the other Irish provinces combined. Indeed, were it not for John Pearson's controversial injury time penalty try which cost Connacht victory away to Nice, the one-time cinderella province would now be within a point of qualifying for the quarter-finals as group winners.

That could still happen come Sunday, thereby making their final group game away to Northampton academic, were they to beat Begles and Northampton lose away to Nice. In fact, Gatland believes that "Nice will beat Northampton at home this Saturday," a view substantiated by Northampton's dismal away record over the last two seasons.

However, as he also concedes, beating Begles away last Saturday week does not mean beating them at home will be easier. Au contraire. "I thought Begles would beat Northampton. They're not a bad side Begles. Very tough, very physical, and a good defensive side too. If things happen elsewhere to our advantage, so be it. I'm not really worried what happens between Nice and Northampton. This is a big match against Begles. It will be tough."

Despite the rival attractions of the oyster festival and the televised Ryder Cup, "a couple of thousand" witnessed the win over Nice and the Connacht branch expects an even bigger crowd next Saturday.

"We're flying high at the moment. It's great for the players, and it's great for Galway and the whole area. There's a real buzz at the moment, and there's talk of 3,000 or more on Saturday."

The prognosis for the other Irish representatives in the European Cup is not so encouraging - at least not in the tangible terms of qualification. Leinster, Munster and Ulster have procured one win each out of four games, and each has been left to rue the one win that got away (against Milan, Cardiff and Glasgow) which would now have placed them as contenders in their respective groups.

In the case of Munster and Ulster, they would now be second in their groups. Thus, while it's been an encouraging enough campaign for the Irish, it's just been fractionally short of something more meaningful. They have, basically, held their own, although it's interesting to note that both the Scots (also three wins out of 12 games) and the Italians (two wins out of eight) have effectively caught up with the Irish compared to their inferior records last season.

Country by country, the pecking order has remained pretty much unchanged in the European Cup. The one striking contrast to last season though, is the improvement of the English clubs (15 wins out of 16), largely at the expense of the French (nine wins, one draw and six defeats) and the Welsh (seven wins, one draw and eight defeats).

This has been primarily because of their ability to win on French and Welsh soil. Over the previous two seasons, French and Welsh clubs suffered only one defeat each to foreign sides on home turf, whereas this season their apparent impregnability has been shredded by four and five home defeats respectively.

As it is, looking across the five pools, it seems that six points might still be the threshold for the play-off place which goes to the best third-placed side, barring an unlikely sequence of results such as Pontypridd beating Scottish Borders at home and, more improbably, Bath away.

Even that target, of two wins from their remaining two group games, is a tall order. Leinster, who have deferred selection until tomorrow, owe Milan one when entertaining them at Donnybrook on Saturday.

Ulster will have their work cut out against reigning English champions and runaway leaders of Pool B, Wasps, at Ravenhill on Friday evening. Still, the 56-3 margin of their defeat at Loftus Road in the first meeting will, according to Davey Haslett, be a stimulant for his team "to put that one to rest".

Ulster have delayed selecting their side until this evening, pending fitness checks on Robin Morrow (whose rib injury forced him to retire during the win over Swansea) as well as Stanley McDowell and Sheldon Coulter, both of whom missed the Swansea game.