It all started 22 years ago in a small, hostile stadium in Mazamet...

Munster’s Champions Cup opener in France tomorrow will, in one respect, bring the province full circle, 22 years after they embarked on an inaugural European adventure.

Rassie Erasmus will lead a travelling party of around 40 players and support staff from Shannon this morning, in preparation for tomorrow’s round-one clash with Castres at Stade Pierre-Antoine.

Back in 1995, there was a much smaller expedition which left Shannon on the morning of Wednesday, November 8 and flew via London to Toulouse for a game that night not in Castres but in nearby Mazamet at the small town’s municipal Stade Antoine Bergere.