Munster get Friday date for quarters

RUGBY: European CupReigning European champions Munster will be in action in the first of the quarter-final matches of this season's Heineken European Cup, when they travel to Stradey Park to face Llanelli Scarlets on Friday, March 30th, in an evening kick-off (7.30pm). Brian O'Driscoll's Leinster will face London Wasps the following day in Adams Park, also in an evening game, kicking off at 5.45pm.

It will be the first time Llanelli and Munster have met in the tournament and the first time in three seasons Llanelli, who went through their pool unbeaten, have made the last eight.

Munster have reached the knock-out stage every year since 1999, when they lost to the French side Colomiers, 9-23, in their quarter-final.

It will be the first time Leinster have played the 2004 winners, Wasps, in the competition. The Leinster tie, like the other three quarter-finals, will be televised live on Sky Sports.

The two Sunday matches of the weekend are Anglo-French affairs. The French champions, Biarritz Olympique, will be seeking to reach their fourth successive semi-final, when they meet the 2000 winners, Northampton Saints, at San Sebastien's Estadio Anoeta, kick-off at 2pm local time.

The quarter-final weekend will be completed at Welford Road, Leicester, where the Tigers will entertain Stade Français at 3.30pm.

Here too a number of Irish players will be involved. Secondrow Leo Cullen, flanker Shane Jennings (both of whom are returning to Leinster for next season) and the Belfast-born outhalf Ian Humphreys, who put in an eye-catching display against Munster in last Saturday's pool game at Thomond Park, are likely to be included.

Following the draw earlier this week for the semi-finals, the winners of the game between Biarritz Olympique and Northampton Saints will meet the winners of the clash between London Wasps and Leinster.

Whichever team comes out on top in the Welford Road quarter-final between Leicester Tigers and Stade Français Paris will face either Llanelli Scarlets or Munster in the last four.

The semi-finals will be played on the weekend of April 21st, and the final will be staged at Twickenham Stadium, London, on Sunday, May 20th (kick-off 2.30pm).

More than 48,000 tickets have been sold for what will be the 12th European Cup final. All the matches will be live on Sky Sports.