SINCE the Heineken European Cup was inaugurated last season, the competition has been marked by a few surprising results and remarkable scorelines. But nothing has occurred to equal the events at Loftus Road last Sunday when Wasps beat the cup holders, Toulouse, by the incredible score of 77-17.

Rugby, like all sports, can provide the unexpected and the unpredictable, which is of course part of sport's great appeal. Pool D, the so called "pool of death" has certainly been marked by the unpredictable and a truly astonishing series of results. Toulouse went into the match against Wasps as European and French champions, and the warmest of favourites to win it.

Wasps went into the match last Saturday having lost to Munster the previous week by 49-22 and having also lost a league match to Gloucester and a European Cup tie to Cardiff. Scarcely a confident situation against the European champions.

Munster had overwhelmed Wasps three days after losing in Cardiff by 48-18. The day after Munster destroyed Wasps, Toulouse defeated Cardiff readily 36-20. The indications were then very firm that Munster would be going to Toulouse next Saturday, not alone having to win to qualify but likely to have to do so by a wide margin to get in on points difference.

Now all that has changed and Munster go to Toulouse needing only a draw to qualify for the quarter-finals and if Munster do win or draw, Toulouse will be out of the competition. Cardiff have already qualified.

The Munster coach, Jerry Holland, was among the crowd of 7,000 at Loftus Road last Saturday and, as he pot it himself, "Like Toulouse I was a bit shell-shocked after watching the match. Wasps had made a few changes from the side we beat and I expected them to give Toulouse a match, but it was just incredible.

"There is no doubt it was very good result for us. It gives us a much greater focus now."

Not that Holland sees Munster's task as other than extremely difficult. "They are playing, to stay in the competition. But it is much better for us to be going and to prepare for the match knowing that a win by any margin or a draw will get us through.

"While Wasps played very well on Sunday, I was very surprised at aspects of the Toulouse approach and the way they just gave up before the end. It was just humiliation such as I thought I would never see happen to a club of their stature. We may feel the backlash yet you must have doubts now about Toulouse, the kind of doubts you did not have before.

"Any team can get a day when everything seems to go wrong and everything right for your opponents," Holland said. "But what really surprised me was the way Toulouse capitulated. I would not wish to take anything from Wasps' excellent performance, but Toulouse just did not have the will to fight and were destroyed in the second half and just threw their hat at it before the end.

"But they were completely outplayed. No matter how you look at it, such a defeat has to have an adverse effect on morale and bring self-doubt. I would certainly question the application of the Toulouse players, and I would be very unhappy if a Munster team lacked that in the manner I saw last Saturday.

"Toulouse were destroyed in the line-out and up front generally. But it was not just a case of forward domination. Toulouse just did not seem to know how to deal with Wasps' support play and pace and how they played the game. They also made several changes during the match, but it made absolutely no difference," Holland said.

In fact, after leading 23-17 at the interval, Wasps scored 54 points without reply and, in all, scored nine tries to two against a side that had been unbeaten this season.

Holland, however, is well aware of the task facing his side in Toulouse, and added: "France at any time is, however, an intimidating place for any visiting team, and we found that out in Castres last season. Yet we should have won that match (Munster lost to a try in the seventh minute of injury time) and the experience we gained there will be a great help to our players. You really need players to have experienced that kind of atmosphere.

"We are going to Toulouse with a totally positive approach and believe with a very realistic hope of qualifying for the quarter-final. We know now exactly what we require to do."

The Munster forwards had a scrummaging session in Cork last night and the team will come together to train in Limerick tomorrow before they fly to Toulouse on Friday morning. "I sincerely hope our players involved in the midweek English League matches come through without injury," said Holland.

David Corkery was in the Bristol team that played Bath last night and Richard Wallace in the Saracens team that played Northampton. London Irish play Leicester tonight and Gabriel Fulcher's welfare will be Munster's concern.

A Toulouse official said yesterday that it is extremely unlikely that they will finalise their side before Saturday. "The defeat last Saturday and injury problems will mean that we will not be in a position to name a team until later in the week, maybe not until Saturday," he said.

Their most serious injury concern is over international centre Thomas Castaignede, who injured an ankle and went off the field in the 24th minute against Wasps. Wing David Berthy and full back Stephane Ougier were also replaced against Wasps, as were two of the forwards.

Toulouse's first choice hooker, Patrick Sousda, has been suspended after being sent off against Cardiff 10 days ago.

London Irish have resolved their contract dispute with the five players who chose to play in European competition for their Irish provinces rather than the club.

David Humphreys. Malcolm O'Kelly, Gabriel Fulcher, Jeremy Davidson and Victor Costello all return to the side for the first time since the start of the European fixtures to play in the Courage League match at Leicester tonight.