Heineken milestone for Munster

MUNSTER and Toulouse, who play Perpignan and Newport, respectively, will reach a Heineken Cup milestone this weekend when both play their 50th games in the competition.

Toulouse kicked off the Heineken Cup on Tuesday October 31, 1995 with a 54-10 win at Farul Constanta.

Toulouse can also boast the tournament's leading try scorer. Michel Marfaing has notched 24 tries amongst his 287 points.

For Munster, twice beaten Cup finalists by English opposition, a narrow 9-8 defeat to Northampton at Twickenham in 2000, and a 15-9 defeat to Leicester Tigers in 2002 at the Millennium Stadium, Mick Galway has been the heart and soul of the side, making 47 appearances, including captaining the side in both cup finals.

He is amongst three players - Anthony Foley (13 tries) and Eddie Halvey could also figure in the game with Perpignan - who played in that opening fixture.

And Ronan O'Gara has gone on to emulate Marfaing with a huge total of 477 points for Munster since he made his debut.

Both have played 49. Toulouse have the edge with 33 victories to Munster's 32. Both teams drew twice with Toulouse losing 14 and Munster 15.

Munster, however, have lost once on home soil - to Cardiff in 1997/98 (32-37) while Toulouse dropped four matches.

Munster have scored 128 tries with Toulouse on 180 and the pair have scored high totals and conceded lots of points in individual games as well. Toulouse topped 108 points against Ebbw Vale. Munster's best total was against Viadana (64) this season and their worst concession came against Toulouse in 1996 (60).