Whoever wins will have done it the hard way

No teams in Europe have been more durable or consistent over the last 13 years than Munster or Toulouse

WHEN THE World Cup ended, few countries were at a lower ebb than France and Ireland. That they provide the finalists for the blue riband of European rugby next Saturday is testimony to the resilience of the two protagonists themselves, for in the wake of the Coupe de Monde, Munster and Toulouse (who backboned their countries) have probably never had to dig deeper. Judgment Day it's been labelled, and it ought to be the piece de resistance of European rugby this season.

It's been that kind of curious, marathon of a season. Welsh rugby, of course, rebounded with a Grand Slam, the Ospreys EDF Cup and two teams in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup, while New Zealand teams are lording it in the Super 14 again despite haemorrhaging players to Europe, and even they will have their representatives in each finalist.

It is the ultimate final in many ways; two true heavyweights of European rugby. That they are currently ranked number one and two in the ERC ranking system for next season's draw may not amount to a hill of beans come 5pm in the Millennium Stadium next Saturday - as New Zealand will amply testify - but it underlines how no teams in Europe have been more durable or consistent over the last 13 years.

No teams have played as many matches than Toulouse (93) and Munster (92), nor qualified for the knock-out stages as often (10 times apiece). That they've only met three times before - all on French soil - and never in a final is almost surprising.

Next season's new draw system, based on rankings, ensures both of a top tier seeding and will ensure they don't meet again before the knock-out stages.

Toulouse coach Guy Noves is right to contend that both utterly deserve to be there. Teams have won Heineken Cups with easier draws than either of Saturday's finalists have had in this season's pool stages alone.

Munster probably had it tougher than any team ever, and the records will show they had to navigate their way past the French Championship pacesetters (Clermont Auvergne), the English Premiership finalists (Wasps), the English Premiership table toppers (Gloucester) on their own soil.

Toulouse had to overcome the other English Premiership finalists (Leicester) and the Magners League champions (Leinster), while as events transpired, Edinburgh proved every bit as obdurate as Llanelli.

Then they both had to win semi-finals away from home to fired up teams producing arguably their best performances of the season. Now, neither could be faced with a more daunting challenge. The best has been kept until last.

For Munster, the atmosphere will be more like a home match, albeit perhaps not quite on the scale of two years ago in the same stadium, when there was a 60,000-plus invasion by the Red Army. That, most likely, will never be seen abroad again; anywhere, anytime by anybody.

There was a sense of desperation attached to that final as Munster sought to reach their Holy Grail. Everybody wanted to be able to say they were there. Some even travelled to Cardiff via Biarritz.

This time around, the talk is of the economic downturn, and general fatigue amongst Munster fans a little at the end of their tether with a competition that invariably sends them to inconvenient destinations and often on a Sunday, witness the many empty seats and un-used tickets at the semi-final in Coventry.

To this might be added the expense many would have incurred travelling to France in huge numbers last September, along with disgruntlement with the Munster Branch over ticketing policy for the new Thomond Park and, perhaps, the lack of desperation this time. To a degree, they have been sated by that day of May days in 2006.

Yet, bearing all that in mind, a travelling support of 13,000 in the Ricoh Arena for the semi-final was remarkable, as is the advance purchase of 18,000 tickets for next Saturday prior to the semi-finals.

We can safely presume that the vast majority of those will have fallen into the hands of those wearing red, even some taking their cue from two years ago when Ulster jerseys revealed that they were happy to pass on the baton from their success in 1999 or, as one supporter's T-shirt had it on one side - "Leinster for Life" - while the other read: "Langer for a Day".

Coupled with Munster's official allocation of 10,000 since the semi-finals, at least 30,000, or probably 40,000 are liable to be in attendance, and knowing them, it would be no great surprise if come kick-off that number reaches 50,000.

Informed estimates also reckon the numbers who will congregate in O'Connell Street in Limerick are liable to be well in excess of the 25,000 pictured there from the Millennium Stadium big screen two years ago. Another difference though, is that unlike sleepy Biarritz pre summer high season, Place du Capitol in Toulouse will also be thronged.

As they demonstrated loudly in the semi-final in Twickenham, the hard core 4,000 Toulouse fans or so who will travel to Cardiff, many of them overnight by coach and boat, will make their presence felt.

Besides, while perceived wisdom has it that French sides, including Toulouse, don't travel, it's worth pointing out that their four previous finals have been in Cardiff, Dublin, London and Edinburgh.

They won three of them and ironically produced assuredly their best offloading rugby in their sole defeat, against Wasps at Twickenham in 2004, when Clement Poitrenaud's brain storm possibly denied them four wins from four finals.

So amidst the chants of "Mun-ster", there'll also be chants of "Tou-lou-sain". Echoes of the 2000 semi-final in Bordeaux then, when the Chaban Dalmas truly rocked and reverberated like no other Munster match. This will be another special game on an even more special day.

There's no worse place to lose than in a final and the pity is that, for one of them, such a fate awaits them. But one thing's for sure, whoever wins will have done it the hard way. It will be their best European triumph yet.