PLANET RUGBY: IT'S INSTRUCTIVE to note the thoughts of the French captain and Castres lock Lionel Nallet on the implications of playing in the Heineken Cup.

Castres, coached by the former Ireland internationals Jeremy Davidson and Mark McCall, are up against Wasps (to whom they lost 25-11 yesterday) Leinster and Edinburgh in Europe and have made a poor start to season at home.

Nallet mused: "Our main objective this season is to find some confidence again and reassure ourselves against the best European teams considering our poor start in the Top 14. We need to prove we can achieve things in another tournament. We still have some bad habits that we need to change and the players need to work on that aspect. And we can do this without any great pressure because no one expects us to achieve anything . . .

"The players will take advantage of this competition and play without constraints and enjoy a more flexible style of play to express themselves and try things."

Leinster would probably prefer Castres to be a little uptight by the time they face them in back-to-back clashes in December.

Staid approach not for Stade

The Andy Warhol-inspired Stade Français jerseys did not get an airing at Ravenhill on Saturday, the French side instead preferring to wear their more "traditional" pink regalia.

There is no doubt that the Parisian club is at the cutting edge of rugby fashion trends, and it appears it is likely to continue in that role.

According to sources in France, Stade have already settled on a new jersey for next season, and by all accounts it is even more outlandish than their latest kit.

Murrayfield gets a makeover

MURRAYFIELD, the scene of Leinster's win over Edinburgh on Saturday and home of the 2009 Heineken Cup final, has been undergoing a €2.5-million makeover which will result in three new playing areas and a state-of-the-art artificial pitch.

Work began in late summer on the rugby element of the project and, in spite of some weather delays, it is due for completion by December of this year.

The new pitches are, however, unlikely to be in full operation until May next year.

Meanwhile, those hoping for increased public car parking at the stadium during Edinburgh's Heineken Cup matches and also the Six Nations matches in early 2009 - and Ireland will play there on Saturday, March 14th - are likely to be disappointed.

Scottish Rugby has already announced there will be no public parking during the autumn internationals, when the Scots take on the All Blacks, the Springboks and Canada.

Elissalde told he must lose stones

JEAN-BAPTISTE ELISSALDE may face surgery after suffering renal colic.

The Toulouse and France utility halfback did not play yesterday against Bath in the opening round of Heineken Cup matches.

Renal colic manifests itself as severe pain and nausea and is usually caused by stones in the kidney, renal pelvis or ureter.

Experts describe the pain, which is usually intermittent and varies in duration, as "probably the most excruciatingly painful event a person can endure" and "worse than childbirth" - though we're not sure who offered to do the comparisons.

Doctors are using ultra-sound treatment to break up the calcium stones lodged in Elissalde's kidney.

If the treatment fails, the 30-year-old have to undergo surgery.

Quote of the week . . .

"Grewy and I both play the game as hard as we can and to a level that often draws attention. We are not cheats or dirty and we do not play outside the rules. We just take things to the limit and live on the edge.

"Daniel's persona is an absolute polar distance to what he is like on the field. He is one of the most caring considerate gentlemen that I have ever met; on the field if you were not on the same team as him, you would be too fearful to be anywhere in stadium."

 - Justin Harrison has obviously been spending way too much time with his Bath secondrow colleague Danny Grewcock. A strange Aussie-English love-in.

Central roles

Undoubtedly two of the best matches of the weekend took place yesterday, with Leicester Tigers hanging on against the Ospreys at Welford Road and Toulouse stealing victory away from a gallant Bath at the Stade Municipal.

From an Irish perspective it was interesting that the officials for the two matches were Alain Rolland (in Leicester) and George Clancy.

Both played important roles in producing highly entertaining encounters.