“They’ve been to plenty of hostile environments in their time,” admits Paul O’Connell, who evidently doesn’t think the prospect of visiting Thomond Park is especially intimidating for Toulouse. These guys gave us a guard of honour, applauding us off the bus and across the runway. “After the final in 2008, I remember we met dozens of Irish fans at Cardiff Airport, who were also taking a plane to go home. “Regardless of where you play against the Irish, the atmosphere is great,” says the legendary Noves. Indeed, even without Johnston, it's probably still the biggest away pack ever to visit Thomond Park, and for all the talk of Toulouse only winning one away game in the Top 14 this season, they beat Saracens in Wembley as well as Connacht and Zebre away in the Heineken Cup, and they will also be hugely respectful of today's sense of occasion. But the selection of Joe Tekori and Yacouba Camara in the backrow strongly suggests that Guy Noves has opted to ape their unrelenting performances in winning away to Saracens and Connacht. Unrelenting performances McAlister gives Toulouse a go-forward edge which Lionel Beauxis, for all his languid, golf-swinger's kicking style, does not. This is only the second time in the Cup's rich history that all three Irish sides are still standing at this juncture, and despite the repetitive nature of a competition which has arguably provided the best eight sides in the last eight, there is also a distinct whiff of novelty about this weekend's match-ups. By contrast, Clermont are ten point favourites to extend their winning run at the Stade Marcel Michelin to 75 matches today. The bookies make them all close, one-score games, with Munster and Ulster four and three point favourites at home to Munster and Saracens today, and Leinster four-point underdogs away to reigning champions Toulon tomorrow. That’s all that’s at stake then.īut therein lies the rub, for one could make a rationale argument as to why any or none of Leinster, Munster and Ulster could either progress or go out. This is a bit more tribal, but come tomorrow evening circa 6.30 Irish time, there will be three Irish provinces standing or none at all, or somewhere in between, which will define the rest of their seasons.Ĭonceivably, Ulster and Leinster could secure home semi-finals at the Aviva three weeks’ hence, with Munster also ensuring a third mother of all semi-finals against Leinster to emulate the epics of 20, and with it a €2.4 million boost to the IRFU’s coffers and €20 million-plus to the Irish economy. It is a measure of the Heineken Cup’s status that this quarter-final weekend is almost as pivotal in the story of the 2013-14 season as Ireland’s title-winning trek to Paris on the final weekend of the Six Nations three weeks ago.
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