Mind the gap What lies ahead for bruised Premiership clubs after their lost weekend in Europe?

And then there was one. Good luck to English club rugby's sole survivor Northampton, who still have a winnable home Champions Cup quarter-final against Castres this Saturday, but otherwise the flag of St George hangs limply at half-mast.

- Robert Kitson

To suggest the Premiership's contenders had an underwhelming weekend is like saying global share prices have taken a slight dip. If you're squeamish about needle-sharp disappointment, look away now. Between them Saracens, Harlequins, Leicester and Sale conceded 215 points in their last-16 ties. While Sarries and Sale had their first-half moments in Toulon and Toulouse respectively, would you care to guess the aggregate second-half score over those four defeats? The uncomfortable answer was, ahem, 144-21.

In the knockout stages of Europe, the scoreboard rarely lies. Yes, it can be mightily tough to win on the road - which further elevates Munster's one-point win in La Rochelle - but the gap between the Premiership's aspirations and the actualité was starkly reflected in Leinster's 62-0 thumping of Harlequins in Dublin.

For those in search of fig leaves none of South Africa's leading sides - for slightly different reasons - progressed, either. Nor were any of the English quartet expected to advance. Saracens, who lost 72-42 in Toulon, rested their senior internationals while Leicester were also short of some key men in Glasgow. The Sharks arguably confounded many expectations by leading Toulouse 15-10 at half-time, then buried beneath a heap of second-half rouge-et-noir points.