An ERC official and an Irishman sat side by side on an aeroplane en route to a European Cup game last weekend. The latter, still bemused by the performance of an Italian official the week before, raised the matter of unproven referees being appointed to big games with the ERC official. He in turn explained that the Cup was sort of a breeding ground for international referees, a chance to see if they could cut it.

"I'm glad the aviation authorities don't apply the same principle," retorted the Irishman.

Indeed. There are high stakes with such a trial and error approach toward referees. They may be tried and failed, but their failures can mean an end to seasons for players and coaches alike, maybe even careers. In the case of Gary Halpin and Kevin Putt, Saturday night's defeat in Biarritz most probably constituted their last games for Leinster, as well as an end to the province's season.

As Derek McGrath, the ERC chief executive, is at pains to point out, the tournament organisers are striving to make the competition as developmental as possible, with a view to referees as well as players. In that light, the Italians have to be given a fair crack of the whip.

This should not, even when coupled with previous observations that the imperfections of the runners-up qualifying rules gives an unfair advantage to those drawn in pools with Italian opposition, be interpreted as inherently nationalist. Not from this Italophile.

That their two participants have suffered 12 defeats out of 12 is disappointing but perhaps misleading, given L'Aquila qualified ahead of the superior Treviso. As Roma's performance in outscoring Gloucester by four tries to two demonstrated, they're not that far away, and the quicker they close the gap the better European rugby will be.

Yet with referees being assessed by the home unions - due to the cost in employing neutral assessors - what chance of the officials being accurately assessed? You wouldn't blame the French federation for recommending Giovanni Morandin be the man in charge at Thomond Park next Sunday.

Graham Henry is on record as saying that one of the reasons home wins outnumber away wins by over two to one is because so many referees are "homers". He might have a point, for in some of the fiercely partisan Euro venues they come under intense pressure.

For sure, Leinster's defeat cut deeper than an inadequate referee. Their performance perhaps begged the question as to whether there were mental scars from the preivous week's failure to close out the game against Edinburgh Reivers, in that Leinster went from an extreme kicking game to an extreme running game. It was as much technical perhaps, as they simply don't have the kicking armoury to put the ball in behind the opposition back three. It's quite a handicap.

In the heel of the hunt, they were undoubtedly hit hard by injuries, primarily Emmet Farrell's, though what is the secret of Munster's comparatively injury free run? At least Munster's qualification for the last eight, and the absence of any Scottish or Italian teams, means that Ireland are assured of a third entry next season. So Leinster are in debt to the Munstermen once more. Plus ca change. In fact, with the same four countries represented in the knock-out stages as was the case last season, and a cap of one additional place per country on meritocracy, this means that there will be the exact same mix next season: six English, six French, five Welsh, three Irish, two Scottish and two Italian.

THE quarter-final line-up again throws up the distinct possibility of four countries again being represented in the semi-finals for the second year in a row. Never has the Cup been more competitive, as the winning percentages from the pool stages of the four countries represented in the quarter-finals testifies: England 58 per cent, Ireland 56 per cent, France 56 per cent and Wales 55 per cent.

The tournament goes from strength to strength in so many ways. The 13,300 tickets on sale for the Thomond Park quarter-final will be sold out in a couple of hours, as will the 10,800 tickets for the Gloucester-Cardiff quarter-final and the 16,000 for the Leicester-Swansea quarter-final.

ERC can take a bow for having illuminated the professional era with an undoubted success. And the clubs who adopt a holier than thou streak might reflect on their own bungling with regard to player registrations. How come other professional sports rarely make the same cock-ups?

Furthemore, some of these supposedly professional organisations apparently didn't understand the rules. Bath persisted in taking three-pointers at home to Munster with the match more or less won, without realising that the aggregate of tries scored in the two games ensured Munster were always going to be ranked above them in the event of the sides finishing level at the top of pool four.

Similarly, by opting to take an equalising penalty away to Leinster, Edinburgh Reviers effectively evicted themselves from the tournament. Is finishing second in pool one ahead of Leinster any consolation now?

But the competitions are not without their flaws, be they refereeing, fixture scheduling or the imbalances of the qualifying rules, all of which ERC should be mindful of. Yet you detect a streak of arrogance in their pronouncements, such as brazenly orchestrating fixtures at short notice regardless of the ripple effects on the Six Nations Championship, and the rather vainglorious decision to have next season's European Cup final on June 1st, for heaven's sake, when many a club are already back in pre-season training, on the premise that it ensures the Cup will be the seasonal coup de grace. A tad grandiose, no?

gthornley@irish-times.com