Heineken glass still full for Scots who ply their trade elsewhere

Why change the habits of a lifetime and if 2004, when Edinburgh last qualified for the last eight, is technically well within a "lifetime", a season feels like a decade when you are covering the pro-teams in Europe.

But though Scotland's clubs have made their excuses and collected their coats, Scottish players are still heavily involved. Nathan Hines will help Leinster defend their silverware on Friday night when Clermont Auvergne visit Dublin. It will be a tough ask as Sir Ian McGeechan picked the French outfit as the best team in the final eight. They may not be able to win a domestic title (ten times Clermont have been runners up) but this year may be their best shot at European glory.

The tie has a little added spice since the Clermont backs' coach Joe Schmidt will take charge of the Dubliners next season while Leinster coach Michael Cheika moves to Paris and attempts to sort out the shambles that Stade Francais have become.

On Saturday the stand-out tie of the round pitches the sole England representative Northampton against Munster at Thomond Park. Joe Ansbro started yesterday against Leeds but the centre is unlikely to start next weekend. However Euan Murray will surely resume his ongoing tussle with Marcus Horan after the two enjoyed a ding-dong battle in the recent A-team international match. Saints beat Munster at Franklins Gardens in the pool stages a few months back and they should have had the better of the Irish giants in the return match but a seven-man Munster pack somehow held firm at a critical five-yard scrum.

Saints have the ability to get through to the last four, but these big Heineken ties are won by experience as much as anything else and this will be Munster's 12th successive quarter-final. It will be a major upset if the men in red don't win on home soil.

Nikki Walker may struggle to get a start when the Ospreys travel to Biarritz on Saturday if Tommy Bowe and Shane Williams are both fit, but Simon Taylor and Hugo Southwell should be reporting for duty next Sunday when Stade Francais attempt to salvage something from what is fast turning into a disastrous season for the Parisian club. Ahead of yesterday's match Stade boasted one win from their last six outings and they are left with two hopes of making the end of season playoffs: no hope and Bob Hope.

Just to rub salt in the wounds, Stade were recently hauled up before the DNACG, the French financial watchdog that has just demoted Andy Henderson's Montauban club to the Pro D2 for running up a debt of ?1.7 million. Stade have enough backers to brush off any fears of relegation after posting an operating loss of ?2.5m for the 2009/10 season despite attracting 70,000-odd spectators to Stade de France for yesterday's match against Clermont. The club owner Max Guazzini was forced to address a meeting of players last week to insist that the club was not bankrupt.

Their only chance of playing Heineken Cup rugby next season is to win this year's competition. It's quite a motivation and they will need it next Sunday.

Stade Francais face Stade Toulousain in the Stade Municipal and Guy Noves' three-time winners will start as odds-on favourites even though they are having a mixed season. Toulouse had lost nine matches in the Top 14 ahead of this weekend's results but it will still be a surprise if they don't feature in the Heineken semi-finals.

In the junior Amlin Challenge Cup the Scotland-A hooker Phil Fitzgerald could feature and the Lamont brothers, Rory and Sean, may clash heads on Saturday when Toulon play host to the Scarlets but only if Rory makes a dramatic recovery from the knee injury that he sustained against Wales in the Six Nations. However there will be plenty of Scots involved next Sunday with Newcastle Falcons hosting the Blues and Gloucester travelling away to London Wasps. Plenty of Scots but no Scottish clubs.