HEINEKEN EUROPEAN CUP: Results last weekend in the final group matches in the Heineken European Cup were, to say the very least, extremely disappointing for the three Irish provinces. Some events on and off the field were equally disturbing.

For Leinster and Munster particularly it was frustrating to lose the final group matches after going into them with 100 per cent records. At least both will be playing in the quarter-finals away from home with extremely tough but by no means insurmountable assignments. Ulster's chance of making it through to the quarter-finals was out of their hands despite their big win over Treviso. The damage had been done in the loss to Wasps.

The European Cup is a truly splendid competition and has been extremely good for Irish rugby. But there is a basic structural flaw in relation to the method by which teams qualify for home draws at the quarter-final stages.

It is right that Italian clubs are included, after all Italy is a participating country in the Six Nations Championship. But it is also right that those teams drawn in the same groups as the Italian representatives have a distinct advantage especially when tries scored are so important in deciding the quarter-final line-up.

This season the two Italian representatives managed to win one match between them. Treviso beat Wasps in Treviso. But they conceded 239 points, managed to score only 102 and they scored just two tries in six matches. Calvisano fared even worse - they lost six out of six, scored 58 points and conceded 279.

Llanelli, who scored such a great win over Leicester at Stradey Park last Saturday, benefited from being in the same group as Calvisano. Last season the Italian representatives, Roma and L'Aquila, didn't win a match. Stade Francais were in L'Aquila's group, Gloucester were in the same group as Roma and both Stade and Gloucester qualified for home quarter-final matches. The previous season Padova failed to win a match and Toulouse topped their group, qualified for a home quarter-final and scored 24 tries.

I have long contended that the European Cup should comprise four groups of six teams and not six groups of four, with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals. That would mean doing away with quarter-finals, but it would give every team four extra group matches.

With the Celtic League now in place it would impose additional strain on the provinces' players. But however successful the Celtic League has been from an Irish perspective, the European Cup is far more important and of a higher standard. But there could be a problem with England and France who might not be well disposed to enlarging the groups. The decision announced during the week to play all the knockout stages after the Six Nations Championship next season will doubtless be welcomed by the national coaches.

If European Rugby Cup (ERC) wish to persist with the current group structure perhaps the answer lies in getting the Italians to field composite teams to strengthen their representatives in the competition. The current position is unfair and unbalanced. But the Italians may resist such a proposal.

What is particularly unfortunate from the Irish perspective is that their percentage of success this season is better than that of any other country. But that does not alter the fact that both provinces will be away from home in the quarter-finals - Munster to Stade Francais and Leinster to Leicester.

Munster and Stade Francais are old adversaries. We all remember last season when Munster lost by a point in the semi-final because of the incompetence of touch judge Steve Lander. The previous year Munster beat Stade in Thomond Park by 27-10. Stade, of course, played in Ulster's group this season - they won in France and lost in Ravenhill. Leinster beat Leicester home and away two years ago in the cup.

One must have particular sympathy for Leinster in relation to the problems they encountered over the match against Newcastle last week. Some of the comments of Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew are very hard to equate with reality. His claim that it was in Leinster's interest to have the match postponed is beyond all reason and logic.

Meanwhile results apart, the last few weeks have not been very elevating for the image of the game. The happenings in the match between Gloucester and Newcastle have seen two players suspended, a player spitting at an opponent and a charge of racial abuse hanging over a Gloucester player. Then we had Austin Healey, "kicking-tripping" an opponent playing for Leicester against Sale. His club rush in to impose a two-week ban and a fine on him prior to the hearing of the English union.

Shrewd ploy by Leicester. Healey is given three weeks by the English union but that includes the two weeks handed out by Leicester. Bearing in mind that Healy was suspended for 56 days three years ago for kicking an opponent, surely a three-week ban is well outside the spirit of the International Board suggestion that, if a player is found guilty of a second such offence within five years, the sentence should reflect that.

Then we have the chairman of the disciplinary committee saying that, as Healey's suspension was imposed three years ago, it should not be a factor in relation to this offence. "What happened three years ago was an entirely different offence." Well you could have fooled many. Then comes this little gem: "We also take into account that the match was highly competitive." Then Healey stated in a newspaper article last Sunday that he "was hard done by and tried by television". Do legislators no less than players not have a responsibility to protect the image of the game?

And now we have a Castres player Ismaela Lassissi being cited by Munster for allegedly biting Peter Clohessy, a reprehensible act. This is the first time the Munster side has been involved in a citing incident in the competition. Castres' retaliation is to cite Munster for alleged "racist and discriminatory comments". Strange that not a word about those alleged comments was heard over the weekend and only after Munster cited Lassissi and after the incident was highlighted on French television over the weekend.