Party of pirates fear Volley for jolly Rog

L’IRLANDE envahit Castres. Or, for those of you who, like myself, never progressed beyond pass French for the Inter: ‘The Irish invade Castres’.

So ran the headline on the front of local newspaper La Dépêche yesterday.

Make no mistake about it, Castres are up for it. The semi-final defeat to Munster in Beziers two years ago still rankles and revenge is the overriding theme in any conversation with the populace of this rugby-mad town. There are different rumours circulating about events at the post-match reception for the Ireland-Argentina game last week.