He had been the big absentee from the round of 16 in 2021 at Thomond Park: the public of Munster, the “Red Army”. With the health crisis, Toulouse had won its first match in its history on the Munster pitch, behind closed doors (33-40). This year, the situation changes. For the quarter-final, the famous Irish supporters will push their team hard but in Dublin. With Ed Sheeran’s exceptional concert at Thomond Park, the match was relocated to the home of Irish rugby: the Aviva Stadium in the Irish capital.
The context therefore has nothing to do with last year’s game. Julien Marchand, the Toulouse captain, still expects an exceptional atmosphere: “The Munster is emblematic, mythical. There, we will play at the Aviva in Dublin, so it will change a little for them, for us, it’s the same. It’s an incredible audience and we know the contribution he can have. He can influence certain things, give courage to the players…”. Faced with this atmosphere, Julien Marchand affirms that we have to “to serve” of this public, this atmosphere. “We must take full advantage of the meeting and we can rely on our players like Thomas (Ramos), Antoine (Dupont) or Romain (Ntamack)!”
“A real cup flavor of Europe”
For Thibaut Flament, we will have to expect a confrontation of the same ilk as last year. Stade Toulousain was led at half-time and had accelerated in the second act (33-40).“They have a big pack again this year. They are solid in touch, in scrum and behind they have talented fast players.” After three seasons at Racing 92, winger or full-back Simon Zebo returned to the Munster squad this summer with formidable efficiency: he has 9 tries in 12 games played.
Irish international winger Andrew Conway is expected to be back on the pitch after injury. Also injured for several weeks, the Irish second line Tadhg Beirne will miss this quarter-final. On the Toulouse side, Zack Holmes and Arthur Bonneval returned to the training ground this week.
Munster brings together many players from the Irish team. Playing this type of team gives “a real cup flavor from Europe” for the Toulouse second line: “It’s always interesting to compete against players of this caliber to continue to progress. It’s a bit of the charm of this European Cup, it’s also to meet teams that we don’t have the used to meeting. Last year, we played in the finals against Clermont and Bordeaux and there, suddenly, there, for the moment, we are almost only playing foreign teams.