Rugby's golden age Was union better in the old days? Try watching it and you will soon find out

Another week, another set of ideas for how rugby union can be improved.

- Michael Aylwin

Another year, another panoply of breathtaking matches, any one of which, if they had taken place in the distant amateur era, would be hailed by those "who were there" as legendary.

Last week Warren Gatland became the latest to offer his thoughts on how the game might move on. But in this age of social media incontinence we are never far from a thoughtless rant about how awful the game has become.

Last year, meanwhile, a glance through just the match reports this correspondent has written reveals yet more extraordinary displays of skill and drama.

From Newcastle's 40-point victory over the champions Leicester on the first weekend, through France v Scotland in the Six Nations, Leinster's win over Toulouse, Wales v Fiji at the World Cup and one weekend in Paris that has already passed into legend and it happened less than three months ago.

The quarter-finals of this year's World Cup between New Zealand and Ireland on the Saturday and France v South Africa the next day were as good as any in the history of the event. The rugby was hailed by some, particularly the first half of the Sunday game, as the greatest ever played. A personal view is that, yes, they were astonishing, but also no more than the latest examples of a sport that seems to deliver weekend after weekend (viz the last couple of rounds of European rugby).