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Munster to face London Irish away in opening Heineken Cup match
MUNSTER will open their Heineken Cup campaign for 2010-2011 against London Irish at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, October 9 at 5.45pm.
It will be the first time for Munster and London Irish to meet in the competition and although the Madejski was the stadium nominated for the tie when the fixtures were announced this afternoon, there is the possibility that London Irish will look at the possibility of using Twickenham for this glamour fixture.
A week after that London trip, Munster welcome big spending French Top 14 side Toulon to Thomond Park for a 3.30pm kick-off on October 16. The star studded French outfit reached the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup final in My where they suffered a surprising defeat to Cardiff.
The back-to-back fixtures in December will see two-time Heineken Cup winners Munster pit their wits against reigning Magners League champions, the Ospreys twice in the space of six days.
The sides meet at Thomond Park on Sunday December 12 at 1pm followed by the return leg in Swansea on Saturday, December 18 at 3.30pm.
Munster complete their programme of Pool 3 games away to Toulon on the weekend of January 14 to 16 and at home to London Irish on the following weekend.
Munster coach Tony McGahan said: "First and foremost, we recognise the quality of the opposition we face in our Pool. There are no weak sides, each of them I believe, well capable of winning the competition, certainly all well capable of getting results on the road. It's amarvellous competition. Easily the most competitive Cup tournament in world club rugby.
"Home advantage is important but can also bring its own pressures, particularly in round one, but London Irish will prove a massive challenge. They were just edged out of a place in the play offs last season and prior to that lost narrowly in the semi final."
Toulon represent a little bit of an unknown quantity in the respect that we've never played them before. We've seen plenty of them and it's probably better to get them in Limerick first up.
"In reality however, any one of the four sides in this group is capable of winning the competition."
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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