Toulouse is unique within French rugby in that it is the only major French city in which rugby supercedes football, for the heartbeat of the union game is more its villages and towns. That is the starting point in understanding the magnitude of Munster's opponents in Bordeaux tomorrow, for there is little doubt that Declan Kidney's team are facing the creme de la creme of French club rugby.

Stade Toulousain are a relatively recent phenomenon which only began tapping into the city's psyche in the 80s, largely due to the inspiration of the club's then president Jean Fabre. In tandem with Pierre Villepreux, it was decided that Toulouse would become the biggest club in France. They were the first to bring a real sense of professionalism to their operations, in terms of marketing, advertising, communication etc. They were the first to employ a full-time physical fitness coach. Everything about the club was way ahead of their contemporaries. The system has always remained stronger than the individual and their ethos is simply winning, winning and winning.

After the breakthrough titles in 1985 and '86, another championship followed in '89 before Toulouse won four in a row from '94 to '97, the nouveau riche of Stade Francais briefly stealing their crown the next season before Toulouse regained the title last season.

They were also the inaugural European Cup winners in 1996 but although they are the competition's most enduringly successful outfit, reaching the quarter-final in each of the Cup's five-year history and tomorrow making their fourth semi-final appearance, there's a running sore in the club about this competition - particularly last season.

Then, the ill-disciplined defeat away to previously winless Ebbw Vale in their final pool match, constituting a 100-point turnaround from the first game in Toulouse, sent them to Ravenhill for a quarter-final defeat on a wet December night in Ravenhill.

Since the defeat at home to Bath in their final pool game (when they'd already secured themselves a home quarter-final) and subsequent 16-15 loss away to Brive in the French championship, Toulouse have won their last nine games on the trot to confirm their standing as leaders of Pool One in the French Championship.

The team which plays Munster will be announced this evening following their three-day training camp in the Pyrenees. "We did it before the quarter-final against Montferrand and it worked, so we are doing it again," explains their classy winger Emile Ntamack, who has scored a record 19 tries in the competition's five-year history.

Although Xavier Garbajosa, a long-term absentee since the World Cup, broke down again in training, otherwise Toulouse have a fully fit squad of prime French internationals to choose from and are expected to be unchanged from that quarterfinal, which re-affirmed their win over Montferrand in last season's French championship final. The one area of debate for coach Guy Noves is whether to play French captain Fabien Pelous in the second row, or accommodate Hugues Miorin as Franck Belot's partner by playing Pelous at number eight to the exclusion of Sylvain Dispagne, but he seems likely to play Pelous at lock.

The starting line-up is set to include a dozen French internationals - as well as the former All Black centre Lee Stensness - including eight of the starting team which hammered Munster by 60-19 in Toulouse three seasons ago when the home side scored seven of their nine tries after the break.

"We had better be careful now because Munster is a very good side," maintains Noves. "I don't see any weaknesses. "It won't be the same team that we played three years ago. It's completely different."

The French media are giving Munster little chance, and this is being billed as their final. Toulouse also have the added motivation of avenging Ireland's win in Stade de France this season, even if no more than a third of the team is the same. More pertinently perhaps, Munster have eight of that Irish team.

"Munster have a lot of Irish international players within their squad who helped Ireland beat France in the Six Nations this year," observes the Toulouse captain Franck Belot. "At Stade Toulousain we will not be thinking of this as a revenge match from that international defeat but, in the eyes of the public, that is certainly what it will be . . . France v Ireland."

As befits the Man United of French rugby, Stade Toulousain command envy as well as respect, though this is one time when all of France will be united behind them.

The Munster party eventually arrived in Bordeaux at around teatime yesterday evening after several delays resulted in their private charter taking off nearly four hours later than was originally scheduled.

On arrival the squad took a five-minute walk to a nearby park, and had a decidedly light run-out on a football pitch just to get the travel out of the system. The team should take the field as selected and the replacements will be decided today.