Munster to face Exeter Chiefs in Champions Cup knockout stages

Leinster and Connacht will go head to head in the round of 16 while Ulster face up to Toulouse over the two legs

Sun, 23 Jan, 2022 - 19:32

Brendan O'Brien

English opposition for Munster, the reigning French and European champions for Ulster and an old-fashioned Irish interpro for Leinster and Connacht, albeit with all those Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 ties being decided over two legs.

Johann van Graan and Munster’s reward for their third-place finish in Pool B is a brace of contests with Exeter Chiefs, who lost away to Montpellier on Sunday. The first of them will be played in the UK on the weekend of 8-10 April with the return in Limerick the following weekend.

“Obviously we had them in our pool (four years ago), the 10-10 draw at Sandy Park, the 9-7 at Thomond Park, the famous Billy Holland steal,” said Van Graan. “Obviously Exeter are a phenomenal team, the champions of this cup two seasons ago.

“The round of 16 is going to be unique, the first time the Champions Cup is on points across to legs, so win or lose the first one by X amount of points, you’ve got to better that the second time around.

“So it will be unique for all 16 teams, and really looking forward to it.”

Exeter Cheifs boss Rob Baxter is also looking forward to the tie.

“It’s brilliant for our supporters," he said. "Every time we go over to Ireland our supporters think it is amazing. Munster is an amazing rugby city (sic), it’s one of those great places to go and play so we are really looking forward to that.

“That will be a nice experience for us and it’s one of those things that you need to do. If you want to have a really good Heineken Cup campaign at some stage you’ve got to beat one of the Irish teams and this will be a nice experience for us.

“Double-headers as knockouts are quite rare. It’s been a long time since we’ve had one before. Being home first will be interesting. It will be an interesting dynamic for us.”

Connacht will welcome Leinster to the Sportsground for their first leg before making the reverse trip for a game that will surely be transferred from the RDS to the Aviva Stadium. One to savour, wherever it is played.

Ulster, like Munster, negotiated the group stages with four wins from four and would be forgiven for feeling miffed that their reward is 160 minutes against Toulouse, even if the second one will take place in Belfast.

Round of 16 fixtures (first team plays at home in 2nd leg):

Racing 92 v Stade Francais; Ulster v Toulouse; La Rochelle v Bordeaux; Leinster v Connacht; Bristol v Sale; Munster v Exeter Chiefs; Harlequins v Montpellier; Leicester Tigers v Clermont Auvergne.