Time for the end of season bouquets

It's funny how we review things. Human nature decrees that whatever's freshest in the memory over-rides what went before. A match will be better remembered if it finishes in an exciting way rather than if it started that way, and so it is with a season.

Amid the current glow pervading Irish rugby with Ireland's dramatic and rejuvenated turnaround in the Six Nations, and most of all Munster's European odyssey, you could almost forget the horrors and crushing anti-climaxes of Lens, especially, and Twickenham. There seemed little or no chance of what was to follow then.

Perhaps it shows how fickle sport can be, and sports viewers as well. Having come within one game of probably parting with the Irish team, Warren Gatland and Donal Lenihan were able to ride out the season in some style.

Similarly, only as recently as last season's interprovincials Declan Kidney and Niall O'Donovan were in charge of a Munster side who were bottom of the interpros at the half-way point after successive defeats to Ulster and Leinster. Munster then found themselves quickly trailing by 7-0 to Connacht in front of no more than a few hundred people at Dooradoyle.

But here they are, with Munster's first back-to-back interprovincial titles, and a first European Cup quarter-final last season followed by next Saturday's final. Regardless of how they fare against Northampton, taking their consistent achievements of the last two seasons together (one defeat in 14 competitive games this season, and that doesn't include the pre-World Cup win over "Ireland", and just three defeats in their last 24 games) they arguably deserve to be hailed as the best Munster side of all time.

And the best may still be to come, thereby completing one of the most remarkable and draining emotional roller-coasters over the past 12 months since Ulster conquered Europe, even by the volatile standards of Irish rugby.

Team of the season: Hats off to Munster. They take the award by a street. Sure, with a fair dollop from elsewhere, Munster even backboned the Irish rejuvenation. Not being supermen, they couldn't quite sustain it through to their clubs (must be those damned fitness levels).

Club of the season: St Mary's. As much for past efforts as this one. Even most Munster players would concede that St Mary's were deserving winners of the AIB League. St Mary's broke their duck, emphatically, away to Garryowen and Shannon, topped the table and won the knock-out phase. The Munster clubs had started poorly even before the Euro run really set in; the big three of Cork Constitution, Shannon and Garryowen each lost three of their first five fixtures, even if Young Munster had won the first four. Undoubtedly, their fixture pile-ups hindered their top four prospects, but the title went where it was deserved.

Worthy of special mention: Lansdowne (three finals at firsts, seconds and thirds), Blackrock (won Division Two, contested Metro, McCorry and JP Fanagan finals), Trinity, the only unbeaten AIL side, Naas and the Connemara All Blacks.

Unluckiest club of the year: UCD. Beaten 61-56 on aggregate in play-off by Clontarf, wouldn't even have been consigned to that had Blackrock maintained their performance levels against Old Crescent and especially in a rearranged game against Galwegians the day after their annual dinner.

It was surely the year of the comebacks: Mick Galwey, Anthony Foley, Kieron Dawson, Rob Henderson and Denis Hickie.

And the year of the newcomers: Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, John Hayes, even Brian O'Driscoll at championship level, Simon Easterby and more.

Player of the year: In normal years any of the above might have won it, and Malcolm O'Kelly too. Brian O'Driscoll most obviously perhaps for his sheer brilliance, and scaling the greatest heights with his virtuoso performance in Paris. For enduring excellence, resolving a problem position and revolutionising the scope for those outside with Munster and Ireland, Peter Stringer's is a compelling case. So too Peter Clohessy - simply awesome - and though Mick Galwey perhaps didn't quite scale those heights on the pitch, for the most unlikely comeback of all, for his spiritual leadership and with the best still possibly to come, he would be a personal favourite.

The year of the tries: They flowed like they hadn't flowed since Paul Dean was pulling the strings in 1985 and similarly the video re-runs will make them immortal.

1 - Ronan O'Gara's game-breaker in Bordeaux. From a scrum on their own 22, through four phases and 16 pairs of hands over 91 seconds, and in the context of the game and the occasion of the season.

2 - Brian O'Driscoll's third in Paris, his pick-up and sprint as France froze. Perhaps not technically his best of the hat-trick, and will always be remembered too for Emile Ntamack ushering him in, but also for O'Driscoll's acceleration, opportunism and importance, all initiated by Denis Hickie's arcing run and the support play of Paddy Johns and Andy Ward.

3 - The Scotland game and David Humphreys' first for Ireland, the sublime skill in caressing the ball into the in-goal area with backspin, with his left foot and without breaking stride, and the sight of Denis Hickie wheeling away in delight. With one bound Ireland were free.

Penalties of the season: 1 - David Humphreys' redemptory strike in Paris. 2 - O'Gara's match-winner away to Saracens. 3 - O'Gara's match-winner at home to Saracens.

Rotten decision of the season: Cutting off Connacht at the knees. The IRFU have got many things right, but deciding to trim Connacht's budget by £200,000 and their full-time playing staff to 16 undermines the very same structures they so assiduously built up and also reeks of pure self-interest on the part of others. By their failure to stand up for their western brethren, the other provinces stand indicted to a degree as well.

Most promising referee: Alain Rolland. Still fit enough to be playing, in tune with the modern game and players.

Personality of the season: Declan Kidney. Might even change the way we think about ourselves as well as the way we play.