RUGBY/ European Cup semi-final:The Wasps contingent arrived via the tortuous route of Heathrow in snazzy black suits with yellow and black ties, while the Munster head honchos came straight from training at Thomond Park in tracksuits on a 50-minute helicopter ride. Needless to say, the Irish were late. Gerry Thornley reports

One of the most eagerly awaited Heineken European Cup fixtures ever to be played in Ireland, which is saying something, could probably have been sold several times over and hardly needed any more advance promotion. But team coaches Alan Gaffney and Warren Gatland, along with the opposing captains Jim Williams and Lawrence Dallaglio, made flying visits to ostensibly unveil their hands for Sunday's semi-final.

Each is unchanged from the quarter-finals. Wasps' coach Gatland has picked the same team which recently hammered Northampton and Gloucester by an aggregate of 65-8 after what he described, with classic understatement, were "reasonable performances". The one change to his 22 sees the return to the bench of live-wire reserve scrumhalf Peter Richards for Harvey Biljon from English sevens' duty.

There are a couple of minor ailments here and there, the sorest of which is the bruised ribs which Simon Shaw suffered, reputedly, at the feet of the former Connacht back rower Colm Rigney, now with Leeds, who had been suspended for eight weeks earlier in the season for stamping on Wasps' hooker Phil Greening.

Shaw is a tough hombre though, as well as being exceptionally skilful for a lock who is grossly undercapped by England, prompting Gatland to remark: "At times he'll train on injuries or when he's battered and you actually have to tell him to bugger off really and go and have a rest. He doesn't hold anything back and puts his body on the line, and that's why he has so much respect within the squad and from other teams, if unfortunately not quite the same respect form Clive Woodward."

The battle lines will be drawn up front, Williams inducing a wry, knowing smile from his counterpart Dallaglio (who leads him 1-0 in their sole head-to-head) when predicting the back-row battle would be very physical. "There won't be a quarter given between the packs and that's probably where the game is going to be won and lost. I think the pack is only a small part of it, and I think set-piece time is going to be crucial."

Yet there are also plenty of individualistic match-winners about, right back to the respective New Zealand full backs; Munster's Christian Cullen and Mark van Gisbergen of Wasps.

The latter arrived over as an inexpensive, unheralded reserve outhalf, before Gatland converted him into a brilliant full back with an 85 per cent goalkicking ratio.

Cullen, of course, scaled altogether greater heights in his heyday as the record try scorer for the All Blacks and in the Super 12. Rumours abound that, physically and mentally, Cullen hasn't yet fully recovered from the shoulder operation he underwent after arriving in Ireland which was compounded by a back problem, but Gaffney - perhaps a tad wearily - defended the player staunchly.

"He's settling in well, enjoying himself in Cork and his parents are over at the moment which has had a very calming influence on him," said Gaffney. "Christian is an instinctive player and it was always going to take time. He's running lines at the present time that are probably as good as any full back in the world but we're not taking advantage. Hopefully that will come, within three days, but we're very happy with Christian."

Another part of the game's intrigue is that this semi-final is unlikely to be one dimensional. Both teams are somewhat similarly endowed, well rounded sides hence Gatland, for one, reckoned the match might well live up to the occasion, and all the more so bearing in mind a very favourable weather forecast for the weekend.

"We were hoping for good weather conditions and what's going to make this an exciting game is that both teams are very physical up front, and able to maul and play the tight game, but they also like to play rugby and move the ball.

"I think from a purist's point of view you're going to get a great game of rugby with two teams going out there and actually trying to play rugby, and not dominated by one aspect of the game; perhaps not dominated by kicking or too much negative play."

With Connacht, historically, also one step away from a European final and two matches away from a place in next season's European Cup, pending the outcome of their Parker Pen European Challenge Cup semi-final second leg against Harlequins, Sunday's double-header (albeit about 140 miles apart) could be quite a day for Irish rugby.

With a 1.0 p.m. kick-off in Galway, they'll need a particularly strong constitution there. Following a pre-match Champagne Lunch at the city's Radisson SAS Hotel (tables of 10 will cost €800), where the highlights will be a performance by Macnas, a host of costume characters and then 10 drummers in Connacht gear will lead a march from the hotel to the ground.

Spiritually, Dublin and Galway, or Munster and Connacht, will be as one. The record 6,000 capacity crowd in the Sportsground will have access to television coverage of the ensuing Munster game in the ground, or on Galwegians' three screens in Crowley Park, while to facilitate fans attending Sunday's game at Lansdowne Road, a big screen at the venue will relay live coverage of the second leg from the Sportsground.

During the warm-ups, one suspects Gatland will have more difficulty than most in diverting his eyes towards events involving his former province. Needless to say, despite stating a high regard for Wasps' London neighbours, Gatland could scarcely conceal his bias.

"I'd love to see Connacht do well, and I'd love to see them get through to the final and get to play in the Heineken Cup. With (Tani) Fuga being banned, 6,000 people in the Sportsground and a bit of dog pooh around the place, I'm not too sure if the Quins boys will like it too much," he concluded, to loud laughter from everyone at the top table.

With Munster having removed another worst-case scenario of an all-French final, the presence of either a home-town London team or the phenomenon that is Munster's red army in Twickenham on May 23rd should ensure a full house, though a Wasps-Biarritz decider might require more of a hard sell.

Biarritz, with an estimated 8,000 travelling fans, will be outnumbered two to one by Stade Toulousain's supporters in Saturday's first semi-final in Bordeaux.

In any case, ERC have learnt their lessons from last year, and have already pre-sold 45,000 of the 70,000 tickets - almost 30,000 of them to the public. The flip side of this is that a starting point of 12,500 of the remaining tickets would scarcely satisfy demand in Munster.

Unsurprisingly though, about 10,000 of those have been snapped up in Ireland - and a wild hunch says the vast bulk of them are circulating in Munster.