The heavy overnight rain in Montpellier continued into the morning but its forecasted to clear by the time the teams run out at the compact Stade de la Mosson (6pm local).
But the rain did little to quell the enthusiasm of the Munster supporters who continue to arrive in the city for the semi final clash with Clermont Auverge. The French side are expected to have the majority support in the stadium with a convoy of 200 coaches reported approaching from Clermont today.
The Munster squad's visit to the stadium yesterday was preceded by a media conference attended by coach Rob Penney and captain Paul O'Connell. When asked what Munster needed to do to win this game Penney reckoned they'd need to improve at least 20% from the Harlequins game while O'Connell was adamant that while Harlequins were not at their best that day, Clermont would not produce a no-show this evening.
And that means Munster players will have to play out of their skin for every second of every minute they're on the field and then as in any contest hope for a rub of the green here and there.
Much have been made of this Clermont side who are odds on favourites to advance to the final even though the game is being played three hours from their own patch where they are unbeaten in 59 consecutive games.
They boast a side that's a Who's Who of world rugby assembled at a cost that no club outside France could even remotely dream about. And it's an open secret that they have targetted this competition after losing in the semi last season.
Sometimes it's hard to know where Munster dredge their belief from but there are resonances with that famous trip to Bordeaux some 13 years ago when the then Declan Kidney, Niall O'Donovan coached side conjured a win against all the odds.
The weather today will be a little kinder. The challenge much crueler. But they can be relied on to stand up and fight.
Munster: F Jones; K Earls, C Laulala, J Downey, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell capt; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, W du Preez, J Ryan, B Holland, P Butler, C Sheridan, I Keatley, D Hurley.
Clermont: Lee Byrne; Sitiveni Sivivatu, Regan King, Wesley Fofana, Naipolioni Nalaga; Brock James, Morgan Parra, Thomas Domingo, Benjamin Kayser, Davit Zirakashvili; Jamie Cudmore,Nathan Hines, Julien Bonnaire, Julien Bardy, Damien Chouly. Replacements: Ti'i Paulo, Vincent Debaty, Clement Ric, Julien Pierre, Alexandre Lapandry, Ludovic Radosavljevic, Jean Marcel Buttin, Noa Nakaitaci or David Skrela.
Referee: Nigel Owens.
