Tomorrow night’s Top 14 final sees Toulon aiming for a double after their win over Clermont in the Heineken Cup final a fortnight ago. Standing in their way are Castres, the underdogs.

Fifty games.

He remembers his last moments in a Mayo jersey like it was yesterday.

Two pigs’ heads were found hanging at the entrance to a mosque in southern France today, in the latest incident of what Muslim leaders say is rising Islamophobia in the country.

A gunman claiming links to al-Qaida who took four people hostage in a Toulouse bank today has released one of the four, a woman.

French police have detained 19 people in a crackdown on suspected Islamist extremists in cities around the country.

The pregnant girlfriend of a French soldier killed in a dramatic gun rampage will marry her partner in a posthumous ceremony, a family lawyer says.

The gunman who claimed responsibility for a radical Islam-inspired killing spree was shot in the head by police, officials say.

As Mohammed Merah’s stand-off with French police came to a climax late last night, French television released a picture of the gunman wanted for shooting seven people.

The gunman wanted for shooting seven people dead plans to turn himself in to French police surrounding him at night “to be more discreet,” the Interior Minister says.

A police raid on the home of the Jewish school shooting suspect turned into a gun battle then a stand-off today.

French police stepped up the search for a gunman who filmed his carnage as he shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school, fearing the killer could strike again.

Thousands of French police were today hunting for the Jewish school killer described by the country’s president as “a monster on the loose”.

A rabbi, his two young sons and another child were shot dead by a lone gunman outside a French school today in what was feared to be the latest in a string of racist murders.

A lone gunman murdered a rabbi, his two small sons and another child outside a Jewish school in France today.

A father, his two sons and another child were shot dead in front of their school in France by a lone gunman today.

At least four people - three of them children - have died after a shooting at a Jewish school in south-west France.

There are reports at least three people - two of them children - have died after a shooting at a Jewish school in France.

A gunman on a motorbike has opened fire on three French paratroopers at a bank machine in southern France, killing two and critically wounding one, officials said.

THOMOND PARK officials are confident that there will be no repeat of last year’s traffic chaos when Munster open their Heineken Cup campaign against Perpignan at the Limerick venue on Friday night.

British and Irish Lions prop Gethin Jenkins will captain Cardiff Blues against Sale Sharks tonight when he makes first appearance of the season.

Dylan Hartley insists Northampton will step into the unknown without any fear at Perpignan tomorrow night, after their momentous victory over two-time European champions Munster.

WITH Irish rugby’s days at Croke Park on borrowed time, how appropriate that at least one episode of domestic tribal warfare should get an airing at the country’s leading venue.

THIS Sunday is Munster’s 100th Heineken Cup game.

IRFU MEDICAL staff last night described the injury sustained by Keith Earls in Munster’s Heineken Cup victory over Montauban as ‘a dead leg’.

NO ARGUMENTS please. Paul O’Connell’s remarkable level of performance and consistency underlines his claim on the title of best second-row forward on the planet.

IT MAY have taken almost 24 hours longer than originally intended but Munster negotiated a safe passage to a home quarter final of this season’s Heineken Cup by virtue of their comprehensive 26-point victory at the Stade De Sapiac.

THERE were times yesterday when Munster were close to their awesome best but in the end workmanlike was the best word to describe their performance in beating Montauban at the Stade de Sapiac.

Champions Munster will seek to secure a home quarter-final in the Heineken Cup this afternoon.

MUNSTER fans in the Stade de Sapiac this afternoon and those watching on television will need to take a second look when the Munster guy with the number one on his back trots out this afternoon for the Heineken Cup clash with Montauban.

PAUL O’CONNELL has been a talismanic figure for Munster almost since the day he first broke into the side back in 2001.

WITH only three teams already guaranteed qualification to the knockout stages, and just one of those assured a lucrative home draw, there is still so much to play for in this weekend’s final round of Heineken Cup pool games.

THE good news for Munster should they secure a home semi-final in this season’s Heineken Cup is that they wouldn’t have to play the game outside of Ireland.

Paul O’Connell basked in the glory of Munster’s stunning six-try 37-14 win over Sale Sharks at Thomond Park tonight, insisting they did the jersey proud.

Munster 37 Sale 14

IT’S a tall order, given Munster’s European credentials at Thomond Park, but Sale second-row Luke Abraham is confident the English side can triumph in Limerick tomorrow and go onto secure a spot in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

The dates and times for the last two rounds of the Heineken Cup pool stages have been announced.

MUNSTER have asked European rugby chiefs not to fix their Round Five Heineken Cup Pool One clash against Sale Sharks on a Friday night.

THIS was the perfect example of a scoreline offering a distorted picture of a game of rugby.

Montauban 16 Sale Sharks 12

Munster 23 Clermont Auvergne 13

IN a sport as directly confrontational as rugby, on a pitch that has really levelled out physically since the advent of the professional era, more and more nowadays at the top level it’s the psychological battles that can end up deciding the outcome of the war.

BOTH Tony McGahan and Michael Cheika can enjoy a brief period of positive reflection as the Heineken Cup takes a short hiatus until December. The events of last weekend in particular not only bode well for the two provinces but Irish rugby as a whole.

CLERMONT-AUVERGNE sent a clear message to Munster yesterday — they still intend to be in the mix in Pool Six with a potentially crucial away victory over French rivals Montauban.