What has happened to Thomond Park? In his post-match interviews on RTÉ Ger Canning made much of the atmosphere in the old ground for Munster's game against Perpignan on Saturday but either he was just being nice or Ger hasn't been in Thomond for a while. For much of the preamble and during the game itself, it was eerily quiet. This was nothing like the customary bearpit for European games at Thomond.

Maybe it's because night matches somehow seem more atmospheric, but undoubtedly the decibel levels were higher at Donnybrook a week earlier or at Ravenhill the night before where, admittedly, they have easily the best PA system.

When the issue of the apparently subdued atmosphere was put to Anthony Foley afterwards he diplomatically maintained the crowd had got behind the team when they needed them.

However, just as pertinently, Thomond was nothing like Kingsholm, home to Gloucester, the previous Saturday afternoon either. Whereas the Shed was packed an hour before kick-off and roared a four-man player warm-up, Thomond was still hushed and more than half empty up to half an hour before kick-off on Saturday.

There was nothing like the same sense of anticipation you'd recall from previous Euro occasions at the Limerick venue. Perhaps the Munster Branch needs to liven up its act if the Thomond Park faithful are once again to do likewise. I know, I know, Thomond Park is more of a traditional, old-style ground and the faithful don't take to American-style razzmatazz. But Gloucester's pre-match pageant featured a relay/kicking competition between two five-man supporters' teams and a tug-of-war between two others, and it served to whip up the crowd.

The attendance was still a healthy 11,500 or so, scarcely 1,500 shy of capacity. Even so, Kingsholm was packed to its 11,000 capacity, and this after Munster had returned an estimated 1,000-plus tickets in taking up about 1,000 of their allocation. There's long since been a feeling among Munster supporters that their branch allocated too many tickets direct to travel agents. In any event apparently only four supporters accompanied the official team charter to Bristol Airport and back for the Gloucester game, leaving plenty of empty seats on board.

Most probably there are a myriad of factors at work in explaining why the Red Army has diminished to more of a battalion on the road, and uppermost among these are economic factors. The recession, coupled with the euro's value against sterling, makes packages of about €470 for an official, two-day trip to Gloucester a good deal less attractive than it used to be. It's true also French sides don't traditionally attract full houses to Thomond Park.

NO less than the Munster team, perhaps Munster supporters were a bit shell-shocked by the events of Kingsholm, and they were as fearful of a defeat as the team were in the build-up to the game. Or perhaps they've become more selective, and they're biding their time in anticipation of another run to the knockout stages. However, there's no doubt either that sections of the Munster supporters have become fairly aggrieved with the Munster Branch and, by extension, the travel agents, as well as the IRFU and the European Rugby Cup, over what they see as unfair treatment in recent times.

There is residual anger over the pricing of tickets for the early-season friendly against Romania at Thomond Park, when terrace tickets were trimmed from €22 but still fetched €18. By comparison, it was felt the IRFU put a bigger marketing and promotional effort into the ticketing for the Ireland-Georgia World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road three weeks later.

Message boards at rugby websites and emails to this office reflect a view that there exists a huge disparity of value between the deal Leinster/Ulster fans get and the one on offer to Munster fans under the guise of the "Supporters Club". Inflated package deals, poor ticketing arrangements, poor venue selection and the infamous Cardiff Airport fiasco have perhaps come home to roost. All in all, many of them feel they've been ripped off.

A personal feeling is that there's another factor at work, namely that by comparison to Gloucester, who are at the beginning of a new era, Munster fans are a bit sated. Yet had Saturday's game seen a return match with Gloucester, not only would Gloucester have taken up a bigger visiting allocation, but Thomond would have been packed to the rafters, as it surely will be for the January 18th meeting which concludes their pool programme.

Given what had gone before and the unnerving casualty list, the three Irish provinces in the Heineken Cup have pretty much performed as expected, and have extended last season's combined unbeaten home record to a cumulative 12 straight wins. Undoubtedly, the downer was the manner of Munster's defeat in Gloucester. But it's a long, long season, and you have to wonder if Gloucester, who pre-seasoned in South Africa, can maintain this form to next April and May.

The high was assuredly Leinster's scintillating performance over an awful Swansea - consigning the Welsh to their fifth straight defeat of the weekend. Coupled with Ulster's win over a pitiful Cardiff on Friday night, it revived memories of last season's 19-2 rout between Irish and Welsh teams in Celtic League match-ups.

Cue more navel contemplation in Welsh rugby, their fears heightened by the Mark Hughes-inspired rejuvenation of the national soccer team. But it wasn't just the 71,000 that witnessed the thrilling 2-1 win over Italy which will scare Welsh rugby. Just as pertinently, while 6,500 spectators were watching Cardiff play the French champions Biarritz last Saturday week, a couple of miles up the road Cardiff v Wycombe Wanderers in Division Two of the Nationwide League drew 13,500.

That's their problem, and however bad Swansea were, Leinster's all-embracing performance was a timely fillip not just for them, but for their provincial counterparts as well. Whereas the Welsh seem set on devouring one another, the Irish provinces tend to feed off each other.