Tuesday 1 December 2015 12:18, UK
What with one of the nation's greatest sporting victories in Belgium, rugby had to endure a weekend away from the headlines.
However there is still plenty to discuss and here are my thoughts after all the weekend's action:
1. I would say the calm before the storm, but Storm Clodagh hit hard enough to cause some chaos on the rugby fields of Britain and Ireland. The thought crossed my mind as I watched some pretty tedious stuff - 'summer rugby'. It's a bad idea but it is one that will be loudly debated when winter envelops the odd weekend.
Why is it a bad idea? Because rugby union is a subtle sport with a place for the thrilling attacking play on a dry day but also room for the attrition of a forward battle and the cunning of the strategic thinkers when other options are required; summer rugby simplifies the sport and takes much of the variety out of the game.
Learn to love winter rugby for its battling qualities and its constant need to compete not just with the opposition but the elements.
2. I am not a great one for naming every gust over five miles per hour after Eurovision Song contest winners (going back a while, but shame on you if you have never heard of Clodagh) but here's my attempt to name the next storm to hit England - Hurricane Eddie. It will shake the foundations of the English game.
Welcome to England, Eddie, with its wild weather and woolly rugby thinking. Hopefully he can address one of these problems.
All this guff about record points scorers is a smoke screen. It was the reading of the game, the passing, the poetry of Charlie Hodgson that should be remembered. What a fly-half he has been.
3. Looking at the top of the table is the obvious but not the only way to find a few hidden gems. London Irish may not have picked up a point yet but Alex Lewington looked quite a prospect on the wing.
Take a leap with your imagination and put Lewington on the wing for Saturday's opponents, Wasps. There are plenty more like him.
4. The individual gives way to the collective as Connacht win the Barnes award for team of the weekend.
Big Brother is beaten and beaten in Limerick. Pat Lam keeps the flag of southern hemisphere superiority flying while his boys buck the lethargic Irish trend and keep winning.
The fact that so few Connacht players were part of the Irish contingent whose hopes were dashed by Argentina might be more than a coincidence as they power on.
5. Some bad weather is good weather for the front row. These dark days are the days when they dazzle.
Kieran Brookes continues to shine as he plays a part in the utter destruction of Gloucester's scrum on Friday night. Credit to Gloucester for having the guts to substitute their loosehead after a mere 20 minutes; not that it changed the game; Brookes spearheads a potent Saints pack.
Two days later, his rival for the England shirt, Dan Cole, had a ball as he scored his first try from a metre out in six and a half years... and against Bath to boot, bliss for the yeoman.
6. England and their skipper took plenty of stick from me for their decision making against Wales in the World Cup (as well as other times which is what convinced me that the captain was not up to making the big decisions) so some criticism for Bath too.
Obviously it was nothing like as dramatic but as I watched Bath kick to the corner with seven minutes left and 10 points behind, I thought the season is about total points from 22 games, not any 80 minutes.
Bath thought on too narrow a front and lost a point they should have gained. Stuart Hooper made a mess while George Ford, as the brains of the team, really should have thought clearer than he did. It wasn't as if they hadn't already made a cock-up of a driving lineout from this corner.
7. In one of the worst games I have broadcast for a few years, Sam Davies emerged from the bench as replacement for Dan Biggar and won the day and saved the afternoon with a mesmerising display of tactical kicking.
One day later, Leicester and Bath booted the ball high and into opposition arms whereas Davies and his low drills found the grass, touch and the territory that is essential to win when Clodagh comes to town.
8. Dan Cole won a turnover, Henry Thomas turned Cole's turnover over and threw a pass that was intercepted by Marcos Ayerza. What the heck was the Bath loosehead doing? A weekend for the front rows, you bet.
9. Not much in the way of eulogies, just the news that Charge Down Charlie is to retire from the end of the season and become Saracens' head of recruitment. What a smart move. Hodgson is one of the shrewdest thinkers England has possessed for many a long year.
And what a career; in the shadow of the box office talents of Jonny Wilkinson he never received the general acclaim his talents deserved. His solo destruction of South Africa is now forgotten. Had he been named Wilkinson or Cipriani, maybe even Farrell or Ford, it would be at the forefront of English rugby memories.
All this guff about record points scorers is a smoke screen. It was the reading of the game, the passing, the poetry of Charlie that should be remembered. What a fly-half he has been.
10. And finally Ernst Joubert... ever met him? If not, I can tell you he is a gentleman off the field but far from a gentle man on it.
He did not represent either South Africa or England but this is no longer the age where caps define careers. His was a good one in South Africa before becoming a stellar one with Saracens.
Saturday was the final game of a fine player and an outstanding professional. Farewell Ernst.
