Gerry Thornley/On Rugby: A bit like the BBC maintaining that the FA Cup didn't need Don King's services (even if, well, they did use him to demonstrate the point), the Munster-Wasps semi-final of the Heineken Cup hardly needs any pre-match hype.
This being Munster's Holy Grail, add in the Anglo-Irish slant, stir in Ireland's standard-bearers against the best team in England, and it's not stretching things to label this semi-final the game of the season; with or without King.
Munster have probably been as big as Ireland these past few years anyhow, and with an overdue European Cup appearance at Lansdowne Road (Ulster and Leinster having had their turn) one senses the country will adopt the province more than ever. It may not be quite Thomond Park, but on Sunday week it could become a little part of Limerick for the day, with four times the capacity and perhaps even four times the noise.
As Ulster's march to the 1999 final showed, the advance of Munster's Red Army will probably ensure more colour and atmosphere than is the case for an international.
One ventures that even in Lansdowne Road, Gloucester would still have been scarred by their Thomond Park experiences whereas Warren Gatland probably has a valid point when stating that his side would be less intimidated by Lansdowne Road than Thomond Park, and will benefit from their experiences of playing there with England.
Even when the semi-final draw was made well in advance of the quarter-finals, Gatland eagerly anticipated the prospect of a return to Lansdowne Road, not just because the former Irish coach still retains a huge affection for the country that was home to his family for the best part of a decade, but because Wasps are utterly fearless when friendless and on the road.
Wasps have proved this with their win in the daunting Stade Aimé Giral in Perpignan; quite simply the most impressive performance of the competition this season away from home, as well as toughing it out on a Friday night in Bridgend against the Celtic Warriors, and recently going down to the Rec and beating long-standing Premiership leaders Bath.
A core of players from both teams - Munster's John Hayes, Anthony Foley, Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara, along with Wasps' Lawrence Dallaglio, Josh Lewsey and Joe Worsley - have experience of the fairly seismic meetings between Ireland and England over the last three years. So, there'll be enough cordite in the air to sustain a spaghetti western.
That English trio didn't play in Lansdowne Road three years ago, though the outstanding, under-capped Simon Shaw was unfairly jettisoned afterwards. But it's actually the presence of a retired Welsh international that causes as much concern as even the mighty Dallaglio or any other member of Wasps' World Cup winning contingent. Rob Howley looks as good as he ever was. He's the dangerman.
And then there's Wasps' physicality across the line of impact and their defensive system, which does seem to flirt with the offside line.
It's no surprise that Munster, Wasps and Toulouse have reached the semi-finals. They looked like the big three from the outset.
By Friday night last in Stradey Park, it was no surprise either that Biarritz had made it too. They have a host of in-form players who've had a taste of France's Grand Slam, Nicolas Brusque oozing class with his brace of tries. Indeed it was quite a vintage weekend for full-back play, given a line-up featuring Brusque, Christian Cullen, Ignacio Corleto, Clement Poitrenaud and Wasps' South African Mark van Gisbergen.
Now it is a vintage semi-final line-up. Whatever about the best eight teams making the quarter-finals under the ERC's flawed qualifying system from the pool stages, undoubtedly the four best teams have made the semi-finals.
Nick Mallett is surely right when simply stating that the competition is now wide open, and can be won by any of the four sides. Indeed, it's incredible to think that Biarritz were 25 to 1 to lift the cup up until Friday teatime.
No less than Lansdowne Road, the clash of the two best sides in France, in neutral Bordeaux, 24 hours beforehand, could be one of the matches of the year. The pity is that the ERC bowed to French television's insistence that, as with the Montferrand-Bath second leg in the semi-finals of the Parker Pen European Challenge Cup, the Toulouse-Biarritz game has to go ahead on the Saturday as well.
The French, apparently, do not like playing/televising/watching rugby on Sundays. In this the French have occasionally been disappointingly insular and inflexible.
The net result is that Connacht's big day in the sunshine against Harlequins in the second leg of their semi-final on Sunday week at 1.00 p.m. will be largely eclipsed by Munster.
They always seem to draw the short straw. Whereas the Irish management were at Thomond Park on Saturday, there was no sign of them on Sunday at the Stoop, even though there were more Irish-qualified players on the pitch.
Undoubtedly the lack of any A games further limits chances of recognition for those outside the Irish squad, but there is a feeling within Connacht that their games and their players are largely ignored by the powers that be in Irish rugby. (And in fairness, that probably includes us in the media.)
It may not have been the intention, but Gavin Duffy's selection for an extended Irish squad, despite unexceptional form with Harlequins, sent out mixed messages to Connacht. All of this is reflected in the departure of home-grown young players such as Duffy, Johnny O'Connor, Colm Rigney and now Damien Browne.
A little more recognition wouldn't go amiss.
gthornley@irish-times.ie
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