Toulouse may rule the roost in this area of France but GERRY THORNLEYprofiles a proud club who see the visit of Munster as one of the season's highlights

AKIN TO Leinster’s trek to Montpellier last Saturday, this coming Saturday Munster may well find that playing a French side on their terrain early in the pool stages can be more difficult than later in the campaign.

Furthermore, à la Montpellier moving their competition debut to the bigger football stadium, Castres have moved their “marquee match” to Toulouse.

In transferring this game from their customary home at the 10,000-capacity Stade Pierre Antoine, where Munster have won two and lost three of their 10 Heineken Cup clashes with Castres over the years, to the Stade Ernest Wallon (capacity 18,754), Castres have primarily been motivated by the desire to maximise the earning potential of a visit from the Red Army.

From the outside, this looks like a curious move. Located in the Midi-Pyrénées, about 80km east of Toulouse, it has often lived in the shadow of its Big Brother neighbour. Founded in 1898 as a multi-sport club, Castres Olympique took its current name in 1906 when members of the rugby section wanted independence from the dominant tennis section.

They have been in the top flight since 1921, punching above their weight, but after the heydays of 1959 and 1960, when Castres won their first Bouclier du Brennus and held it 12 months later, the club went into a steady decline until Pierre Fabre, the founder of a local pharmaceutical company, decided to take over the club and restore it to its former relative glory in 1988. Castres duly won their third Brennus in 1993 before losing the 1995 final to Toulouse.

In any event, moving Saturday’s match to Toulouse has not, thus far, reaped the dividend which the club’s hierarchy had perhaps hoped for, with 10,000 tickets sold thus far despite the club offering free transport to the match.

Although hooker Marc-Antoine Rallier and French prop Luc Ducalcon have been ruled out, save for one or two other longer-term absentees, coaches Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers have picked a full-strength squad.

This includes all their heavy hitters, such as captain and former All Blacks backrower Chris Masoe, Samoan number eight Iosefa Tekori (nine tries last season) and prolific French international winger Marc Andreu (the fifth highest try scorer in the Top 14 last season).

Also present, of course, is the even more prolific points machine that is Romain Teulet, the pint-sized fullback with the distinctive kicking style, who was the second highest points scorer in the French championship last season with 326 points and already has 75 points this season from seven appearances.

Both of their highly-regarded young coaches yesterday made it abundantly clear they are targeting a win this Saturday. “We are hosting a very big team which has ambitions to be champions of Europe, like Northampton,” observed Travers. “We have, in this pool, two pretenders to the title. One can call it the pool of death.

“Also, the entire club is proud to host this team. It is an honour and we are putting every effort into winning,” added Travers, who said it would be une belle fete.

As for moving the match from the Stade Pierre Antoine, where Castres have lost just three of 31 matches over the last two and a bit years under les deux Laurents, he cited an earlier 24-3 win over Toulouse this season. “When we played against Toulouse in Beziers we showed we could play in a home from home.”

Only once in eight previous attempts have Castres advanced to the knock-out stages, when a last-day pool win at home to Munster would lead to a return grudge match in the semi-finals nine seasons ago, which Munster won 25-17 in Beziers.

However, whatever about their away record (Saturday’s 31-23 defeat away to the Scarlets was their seventh in a row and 14th in last 15 cup ties on the road) typically French, they’re very often good for a scalp or two at home.

Leinster can testify as much from three seasons ago when, a week after losing 33-3 at the RDS, they won the return meeting 18-15 at the Stade Pierre Antoine.

They are infinitely more resolute than they were then though, thanks in the main to the transformation wrought by Tavers and Labit. They had cut their teeth by taking little Montauban from the Pro D2 to the Top 14 (where they comfortably held their own with ninth, eighth and eighth place finishes). Montauban even qualified for the Heineken Cup two seasons ago, only losing on their debut at Thomond Park by 19-17 thanks to a late penalty by some bloke called Ronan.

Castres, having finished four places below Montauban in the 2008-09 season in 12th, just one spot and seven points above the relegation trap door, duly recruited the two Laurents, who brought with them a quartet of players from Montauban, including Scottish lock Scott Murray (on the bench last Saturday).

On holidays in mid-August, this writer happened upon their first Top 14 game that season in searing temperatures of almost 40 degrees in Biarritz. The home team were handsomely beaten by a rejuvenated Castres, and one could sense they were a revitalised club.

Under Travers and Labit, Castres qualified for the French knock-out stages in each of their first two seasons, finishing fifth two seasons ago before losing in the barrage away to Toulouse. They were even better last season, making the early running and eventually finishing third with 13 wins out of 13 at home, along with three wins and a draw on the road, only to lose by a point to Montpellier when, for once, Teulet had a rare off day.

Travers and Labit – astute coaches and good man managers – have made Castres a pragmatic, obdurate, tough team to beat, with an emphasis on their huge pack and particularly strong scrum. That has been maintained even though ex-All Blacks prop Carl Hoeft has departed to Toulouse. They are defensively a strong and very well organised around the fringes.

Much of their game revolves around Masoe, who has also assumed the captaincy. He is regarded as quite symbolic of the club and the town, a hard-working one with a population less than 45,000.

In what is likely to be another taut arm wrestle, their desire for this match is palpable and Labit struck the same themes as Travers when commenting: “It is a match apart. Playing Munster is not playing a team like any other. Our players will see that this is a match apart. We will not lack motivation.”