DEAR oh dear, the poor old Milltown Institute of Theosophy and Philology really came a cropper in last week's heat of Challenging Times. Faced with the rampaging might of UL, its team found itself in a US Grenada situation from which it was unlikely to emerge unscathed.

When UL went 125-10 up shortly after the start, the writing was on the wall. When UL went 235-20 up two thirds of the way through, the writing assumed stadium sized proportions and started glowing ominously. The university team coasted for the remainder of the heat, amassing only 50 points before the end to bring the final score to 285-20.

UL was represented by Michael Quilligan, Stephen Childs, Raymond Lannon and sub James Griffin. Milltown, which has yet to regain the form which took it to the quarter finals in 1992, was represented by Hugh O'Neill, Julian McElhatton, Adrian Wilson and sub John Sweeney, game souls one and all.

This week, Carlow RTC faces Waterford RTC. Challenging Times is shown on RTE 1 each Tuesday evening at 8.30 p.m. and is repeated on RTE 1 on Fridays at 11.00 a.m. The question master is, as ever, this century's answer to Samuel Pepys, Kevin Myers.