We're four provinces once again

Provincialism used to be considered an unfortunate feature of Irish life, something membership of the EU would hopefully eradicate.

But thanks to the European Rugby Cup, ironically, provincialism has become the height of fashion here. Ireland, long a nation, has become a collection of provinces once again. And the trend reaches new heights this weekend when the competition's semi-finals pitch Munster and Leinster against French opposition, at home and away.

Today in Toulouse, at least 10,000 red-shirted Munster fans will attempt to smuggle the atmosphere of Limerick's Thomond Park into France, in the hope of inspiring a repeat of their team's victory three years ago over the kings of French rugby.

But the provincial bug has infected even the cosmopolitans of Leinster, who tomorrow take on Perpignan at Lansdowne Road. Once used to playing all their home games at cosy Donnybrook before crowds too polite to cheer, Leinster will for the second time in a month take the field to a Lansdowne roar, from a crowd expected to be close to the 49,000 capacity.

If the results go the right way, next month's final at the same venue will be an internecine feud, a battle for European supremacy fought out on Irish soil between two fiercely opposed local factions. A bit like the Battle of the Boyne. That might be overstating the case for a Munster-Leinster final, even by the standards of the hype that surrounds this competition. But there's no question that the eight-year-old Heineken Cup is thriving from Ireland's renewed passion for provincialism.

Today's 36,000 sell-out in Toulouse will be a record for a semi-final, but only until tomorrow's game, for which ticket sales had already exceeded that figure yesterday. Another telling statistic is that, by contrast to the Munster invasion of the south of France today, a mere 800 Perpignan fans are expected to make the trip for the Leinster game.

The higher ticket prices for the Dublin semi-final may be a deterrent for the French, but clearly not for the home fans. Up to yesterday afternoon 42,000 seats had been sold. Most of the rest are expected to be snapped up before tomorrow's 2.45 kick-off.

Although both semi-finals are taking place at "neutral" venues - Toulouse will be playing at the local soccer stadium rather than their own ground, while Leinster are forced to make the hard trek from one end of Dublin 4 to the other, with a potentially dangerous crossing of the Merrion Road - the de facto home advantage makes Leinster and Toulouse favourites to win.

But the bookies will be particularly wary of Munster, who qualified for today's stage with a 20-7 victory at Leicester's once-impregnable Welford Road. More to the point, Munster have won five times in France in the competition's short history. So the odds against the mother of all provincial showdowns next month are a mere 2-1.