In between the Ospreys' replacement fly-half toppling Clermont and Leinster's 21-year-old lock winning a man-of-the-match award on debut, a whole host of new names introduced themselves to the European stage.
They included Zander Fagerson, the Warriors' tighthead who won immediate recognition with a place in Scotland's squad for the RBS 6 Nations - all that on his 20th birthday.
By the time the dust had settled, they had changed the landscape of both competitions. A new generation is on the way, its cast drawn from teams across all four countries in the GUINNESS PRO12.
So many featured last weekend that it is possible to pick two complete teams and still have more than a few on the bench straining at the leash.
The youngest one of all appeared in the Ospreys' mighty comeback victory over Clermont Auvergne, a win that leaves just one more obstacle to be removed from their path into the last eight - Exeter in Devon on Sunday afternoon.
Sam Underhill stepped into Dan Lydiate's boots and gave such a good account of himself that the Welsh Lion would have been proud to call it his own. The new flanker is 19 and will still be in his teens when the season finishes.
Already capped by England at under-age level, Underhill enrolled at university in Wales and joined Bridgend, a town which over the decades has run one of the most productive assembly lines for international players anywhere in Britain. More relevantly from an Ospreys perspective, it happens to be within the boundary of Ospreylia.
Having marked his GUINNESS PRO12 debut with an impressive performance against Leinster's formidable Sean O'Brien, Underhill followed that up one week later with further evidence of a young man far ahead of his years. For good measure he has arguably the best mentor any aspiring back row forward could wish for, the multi-dimensional, England World Cup winner Richard Hill.
Nobody over the last ten years in Europe had scored three straight home wins over a club of Clermont's stature. That the Ospreys managed it despite losing Dan Biggar to a thigh injury halfway through speaks volumes for the role played by his replacement.
Far from being overawed at finding his team seven points adrift with their Champions' Cup survival on the line, Davies took charge in the teeming rain and never looked like missing. The fifth goal, as sweetly struck as the previous four, ensured Clermont went home with nothing and who knows what difference the removal of a losing bonus point may make in the final analysis.
The one certainty about the weekend's final pool round is that another win will ensure the Ospreys carry the GUINNESS PRO12 flag into the quarter-finals, in their case for the first time in seven years.
They will have to do it the hard way, against Aviva Premiership opponents who have swept all before them at home this season - London Irish (38-11), Leicester Tigers (19-6), Bordeaux Begles (34-19), Harlequins (26-25), Clermont (31-14), Sale Sharks (33-17) and Gloucester (19-10).
Ulster make their pitch to qualify for the quarter-finals as one of the three best runners-up knowing that nothing less than all five points from Oyonnax in Belfast on Saturday will be good enough. Even then, they may need a little unwitting assistance from results elsewhere to repair all the damage of losing home and away to Saracens.
In the best of all GUINNESS PRO12 worlds, Ulster will make the last eight for the fifth time in six seasons and Ospreys will secure the last of the home quarter finals behind Saracens, Leicester and Racing 92. The concluding rounds in every pool kick off simultaneously.
Ulster are first up at 1pm on Saturday which means they will probably have to wait until close of play on Sunday to know whether they have done enough. Two or more teams from separate pools finishing on the same number of match points will be ranked on the difference of aggregate points for and against.
As the rule book states:
'The ranking for clubs who have not played each other in the pool stage will be determined as follows:
1 - the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage, or
2 - if equal, the number of tries scored in the pool stage, or
3 - if equal, the club with the fewest number of players suspended for incidents in the pool stage, or
4 - if equal, by drawing lots.
The same procedure applies to the Challenge Cup where one GUINNESS PRO12 team, Newport Gwent Dragons, is already through to the last eight. The region run by director of rugby Lyn Jones and head coach Kingsley Jones deserve special mention for their achievement.
Two more - Connacht and Edinburgh - are on course to join them. A maximum points win in Galway over the Russian pioneers Enisei-STM will put John Muldoon's team into a home quarter-final, unless Brive take all five points at Newcastle.
Edinburgh travel to Grenoble aiming for a sixth straight win under Alan Solomons. Having conceded just three tries in the last four matches, their resistance will be tested by French opponents eager to settle a score after losing by a distance (28-10) at BT Murrayfield two months ago.
The charge of the young brigade, as reflected in two teams of players no older than 22 who featured in last weekend's matches:
Team No 1:
15 Rory Scholes (Ulster) 22
14 Ashton Hewitt (Dragons) 21
13 Garry Ringrose (Leinster) 20
12 Chris Dean (Edinburgh) 21
11 Hallam Amos (Dragons) 21
10 Sam Davies (Ospreys) 22
9 Luke McGrath (Leinster) 22
1 Liam O'Conner (Munster) 20
2 Elliott Dee (Dragons) 21
3 Zander Fagerson (Warriors) 19
4 Jonny Gray (Warriors) 21
5 Ross Molony (Leinster) 21
6 Sam Underhill (Ospreys) 19
7 Sean O'Brien (Connacht) 21
8 Jack O'Donoghue (Munster) 22
Team No 2:
15 Steff Evans (Scarlets) 21
14 Damien Hoyland (Edinburgh) 22
13 Cory Allen (Blues) 22
12 Rory Scannell (Munster) 22
11 Rory Parata (Connacht) 21
10 Rhys Patchell (Blues) 22
9 Ali Price (Warriors) 22
1 Peter Dooley (Leinster) 21
2 Ethan Lewis (Blues) 21
3 Dillon Lewis (Blues) 20
4 Ultan Dillane (Connacht) 22
5 Federico Ruzza (Zebre) 22
6 Ellis Jenkins (Blues) 22
7 Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 22
8 Adam Ashe (Warriors) 22
Others also featured, amongst them Scarlets fly half Dan Jones (20), Ospreys prop Nicky Smith (21), Connacht scrum half Caolin Blade (21), Scarlets lock Tom Price (22), Connacht back row forward Eoghan Masterson (22), Scarlets full back Mike Collins (22) plus the Zebre pair, fly half Edoardo Padovani and flanker Johan Meyer, both 22.
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