Brock and Butch settle

Planet Rugby; What's in a name? Well, in the case of the two B Jameses playing in European rugby competitions this season, it refers to ASM Clermont's Brock James and World Cup winning Springbok Butch James, now domiciled at Bath.

Brock, is a 26-year-old Australian who joined the French club from Western Force and made a huge impact in yesterday's Heineken European Cup victory over Llanelli at Stade Marcel Michelin, scoring a try, four conversions and a penalty.

Butch James, made his European bow in the Challenge Cup, in Bath's 28-6 win over Auch in France on Saturday night. The South African set up a try for Andrew Beattie and appears to have settled quickly into his new team.

Analysis time

Missing out on live European Cup fare is undoubtedly a huge disappointment for RTÉ television, who must now content themselves with a late-night rugby show at the weekend offering highlights of Ulster, Munster and Leinster matches.

These are accompanied by a studio discussion and this column tuned in on Saturday night to see how the format would appeal. The major bugbear is that the show's anchor, Tom McGurk, resembles a frustrated analyst. Instead of trying to solicit the views of George Hook, Conor O'Shea and Brent Pope, he offered mainly his own thoughts thinly disguised as questions.

It was hugely frustrating as it diluted the impact of the three panellists, all of whom have strong views. McGurk didn't chair the discussion with enough control or direction, rendering the proceedings akin to four people trying to order a drink at closing time; all clamouring together.

The wrong calls

There were a couple of officiating calls that came to light over the weekend, notably involving the Irish provinces.

Watching the footage provided by RTÉ, it appeared one penalty by the Leinster outhalf Felipe Contepomi that was signalled wide had travelled between the uprights.

At the time reaction of the crowd and a number of Leinster players suggested they too believed it had gone over.

The other incident involved the coming together of Brian Carney and Fraser Waters, the latter grabbing the Munster man and preventing him from potentially chasing down a loose ball over the Wasps line and claiming a try.

Referee Malcolm Changleng penalised the Wasps centre for the offence but failed to produce a yellow card, which it merited, irrespective of whether the Munster player would have scored. A professional foul is exactly that and the laws are quite clear on the matter.

In more than one game over the weekend referees took to repeatedly warning players rather than simply imposing the sanction the offence merited.

Backing for Gatland

Wasps and England wing Josh Lewsey and Llanelli and Ireland flanker Simon Easterby have both backed new the Wales coach Warren Gatland to do a good job at the Principality.

They have worked under the New Zealander, Lewsey at Wasps and Easterby when Gatland was Ireland coach.

Lewsey enthused: "The players will have a fantastic time working under Warren, and no doubt their success will speak for itself. I think this is one of the best appointments for a Northern Hemisphere team - and I am sure that in the very near future we will see a resurgence of the sleeping giant that is Welsh rugby."

Easterby added: "I am not surprised Wales have gone for him. I only worked with him for a short period, but his track record speaks for itself in terms of winning trophies.

"I got my first cap under Warren. He gained a lot of respect from the players - he was very diligent in his preparation and got his job done. He was the start of Ireland's resurgence in terms of results and the team we have had for the past six or seven years."

Rugby speak

We won't be getting ahead of ourselves - this is a very tough group. It is just about winning and scrapping for everything you can. We've got a big challenge next weekend in front of a full house in a hostile environment.

- Wasps number eight and captain Lawrence Dallaglio after his side's narrow win over Munster and in reference to their next match, a trip to face Llanelli in Stradey Park.

We will have to work hard this week - the players will need to be patient with me, and I will be patient with them.

- Leicester Tigers' Argentinian coach, Marcelo Loffreda.