Interview with Anthony Foley: No opponents mark out Munster's territorial advances in Europe quite like the games against Toulouse. The 60-19 pool defeat six seasons ago was something of a benchmark for Munster's travel sickness at the time. But the unforgettable 31-25 victory in baking Bordeaux semi-final three years ago signalled their true arrival as a force in European rugby.

A smattering of wise old heads have moved on from that day in Bordeaux - Mick Galwey, Peter Clohessy, Keith Wood. Some of the young Munster kids on the block were just starting to cut their teeth internationally as well - Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer and John Hayes. Some were merely muscling in on Munster - Frankie Sheahan, Marcus Horan and Donncha O'Callaghan were the three subs used that day. However, only Anthony Foley is long enough in the tooth to have played both games.

"Keep it under 50," laughs Foley, recalling Mick Galwey's plaintive words to his team-mates as they huddled behind their goal-line following another Toulouse try.

"It was scary once they got going. When they get in behind you and throw a 50-50 pass, some fella cuts a line and picks it off his toes, you get the 'ole, ole, ole'. It's all on then. So it's important for us to keep a lid on that, impose our game on top of them and make sure they have to scrap for every bit of possession they get, and try to make it a long, hard day for the likes of Poitrenaud and Clerc and Ntamack, make them turn, make them chase, just give them something else to think about."

Two weekends ago, in the aftermath of Munster overcoming Leicester, Galwey made the observation that nobody beats Munster twice. And those vengeful victories over Leicester and Gloucester were but the latest in a long line of examples which supported the former captain's comment.

On Saturday though, if either team has that mental edge it will be Toulouse, although Foley points out Munster have other things going for them now after their escapology in the pool stages.

"Mentally, at this stage for us we're in bonus territory because if you were telling me we were going to have this conversation on April 23rd prior to the Gloucester game I'd have said you were mad. So we're not playing with too much fear. Our usual win-loss ratio in the European Cup is usually about two losses. We got them out of the way early this season," jokes Foley. "It's not often we lose three European Cup games in a year."

Indeed the last time it happened was five seasons ago, since then they have lost two matches in each campaign. Friendless in Toulouse six seasons ago, arguably that day in Bordeaux also constituted the true beginnings of the Red Army.

"We're going to have a massive support over there and that's going to give us a huge lift on the day, and it'll take a lot of pressure off the referee (Chris White) as well because it won't be such an intimidating atmosphere," argues Foley. "Hopefully we can get our crowd involved and get on a roll ourselves, because once we get on a roll we're a pretty hard team to stop as well."

When you analyse Munster's performance in Bordeaux three seasons ago - long passages of unstinting defence, great continuity and opportunism when required, and in hot and hostile conditions - it was possibly their best all-round performance of many in Europe.

"It was," agrees Foley, "and when you think back, you think we hammered them, yet we only beat them by a score. They were still in the game for a long period and they got a try late on, yer man Fleming played about 20 minutes of injury-time, so it was getting a bit tense out there.

"But it was a tough place to go then because we were only growing as a side. A lot of young guys were just starting off their international careers as well, and it was a big learning experience. Now we look forward to going over and meeting Vincent our chef again, lovely weather, nice pitch. We're just going to look forward to it."

This will be their 13th European Cup match in Europe, and their sixth at the knock-out stages, having won three of the last four. What's more, Irish provinces hold a 27-21 win-loss ratio over French opposition in the cup, with one drawn, and have won nine of 11 meetings in the knock-out stages. Munstermen travel to France nowadays with unshackled confidence.

"When you've got guys like (Donncha) O'Callaghan and (Paul) O'Connell in the second row, it's frightening as a back rower the amount of work they do and the pressure they'll take off you. Then you've got Marcus (Horan) and Frankie (Sheahan) fighting for their international places. A few years ago they were fighting just to get on the Munster team. Now everybody is maybe a bit more comfortable in where they are in their rugby careers, and looking forward to the next phase. And it's massive playing Toulouse in Toulouse. But it's also a great adventure."