This is a nice example of why you SHOULD NOT test @@ROWCOUNT at the start of a trigger and exit if the value is zero. Although this technique has been documented in independent books (e.g., Ken Henderson) the value could be zero from some other action performed by some other trigger or program unit (procedure, function). I.e., the value of @@ROWCOUNT does not always reflect the number of rows affected in the table that the trigger is attached to when the trigger is fired.