French feast with a drop of Irish

IT wasn't so much an argument as a debate, but Toulouse coach Guy Noves certainly won on points.

As Dublin prepares for this afternoon's all-French Heineken Cup final, two Irishmen prepare to fly into battle.

In the yellow corner of Perpignan is Canadian international Phil Murphy, Irish qualified and who lined out with the Irish Schools. In the white corner, is Irish international and Toulouse star Trevor Brennan.

Perpignan coach Olivier Saisset is clearly proud of Murphy and considers him a huge influence. Noves, however, was quick to push the cause of his green ace in the pack.

"We don't have any Irish/Canadians in our side, just one Irishman and we are really proud of him!"

Sadly, though, this is the extent of the native influence at Lansdowne Road.

The ticket bonanza has painfully evaporated. Just over 7,000 French fans are expected to travel and ERC hopes for an attendance of 20,000. Anything more seems to be optimistic.

Even as Heineken, the major sponsors, announced a further two-year financial commitment yesterday, there was an emptiness to yesterday's proceedings.

Indeed, there was a feeling that the French participants felt cheated at having to travel, although that still didn't stop them jockeying for position.

Toulouse, for instance, demanded the home dressing room at Lansdowne Road. Perpignan were only too happy to oblige because they beat Leinster in the semi-final from the away quarters.

ERC people thought it had come down to alphabetical order but that wasn't the case. There wasn't even a draw. Perpignan coach Saisset and his team were quite happy to accommodate Toulouse's demands after beating Leinster a month ago.

Perpignan also seemed happy enough that Toulouse have been installed as hot favourites to lift their second title.

"We have waited a long time for this," said Noves. "After our first European Cup win we seemed to go off the boil and other teams caught up with us. It has been a disappointing few years and we want to put the record straight."

Equally, however, Saisset is determined to bring a trophy of substance back to Perpignan.

"In many ways we are the second class citizens of French rugby although we don't feel that ourselves. Our supporters have not been able to travel

in numbers because of the costs involved but we do intend to have one big party, win or lose, when we get home."

Perpignan supporters will be admitted to their home ground to watch the match live on big screens. "We expect to have up to 20,000 people watching there and we know they will be with us in spirit. The players will be thinking of them when they play this game".

The Catalan side have bitter memories of their defeat in the 1998 French Championship final. The bitterness, according to captain Bernard Goutta, still exists.

"We are not the most fashionable club in France but we do believe we are one of the toughest.

"I don't say this lightly but I love playing in Ireland. I loved playing in Ireland a month ago and I loved winning the game. It was a great achievement. This is not an "ass-licking" comment.

"All I can hope is that the Irish people, now that we have been in Dublin once, will get behind our team because we need them."

A message the ERC is keen to spread.

PERPIGNAN: J-M Souverbie; P Bomati, P Giordani, C Manas, F Cermeno; M Edmonds, L Loustau; R Peillard, M Konieckiewicz, N Mas, J Thion, R Alvarez-Kairelis, G Le Corvec, B Goutta (capt), P Murphy.

Replacements: M Dal Maso, S De Besombes, C Porcu, L Mallier, J Basset, N Laharrague, D Marty.

TOULOUSE: C Poitrenaud; E Ntamack, X Garbajosa, Y Jauzion, V Clerc; Y Delaigue, F Michalak; B Lecouls, Y Bru, J-B Poux, D Gerard, F Pelous (capt), T Brennan, J Bouilhou, C Labit.

Replacements: C Soulette, W Servat, G Lamboley, F Maka, S Dupuy, C Heymans, C Desbrosse.

Referee: Chris White (England).