European Cup final: So here it is again then: Munster's latest day of reckoning. History, and specifically the turn of the Millennium and a previous trek to the Millennium Stadium four years ago, shows us not even Munster have a divine right to their holy grail that is the Heineken European Cup.
Destiny didn't call them then, but come tonight (well, maybe not tonight necessarily), henceforth maybe we will all be able to sleep a little easier.
If anything the hype and sense of anticipation are even more acute than in 2000 and 2002, or even for that mother of all Irish derbies with Leinster four very long weeks ago. No less than defeat, the potential for celebration, for sheer undiluted joy after seven years of searching, scarcely bears thinking about. Only a Grand Slam or a World Cup could possibly eclipse Munster finally getting their mitts on this goddam trophy today.
It's that big, maybe even bigger. Estimates vary as to the travelling number - 30,000 and rising - with the Red Army as ever swollen by an invasion of expats from mainland Europe. Be it trains, planes, automobiles or boats, some of which are rumoured to have been marooned in Ireland by choppy seas, they've resourcefully come via London, Biarritz, Amsterdam and elsewhere, lodging as far afield as Swansea, Newport and Bristol.
Dominic Crotty, fullback in 2000 and 2002, jetted in from the States and will return to his pregnant wife after the game tonight.
The province is simply in a state of red fever. It was Red Day in Limerick yesterday, and for today, Cardiff has become a little part of Munster. The roof looks like it will be closed, but the noise may well lift it anyway.
Past, painful experiences of two final defeats when Munster didn't quite deliver, failing to reach double figures in either of them, can only help. Anthony Foley yesterday again implicitly conceded Munster have learnt from mistakes, when perhaps becoming too caught up in the hype and, as Ronan O'Gara has also said, leaving too much emotion behind them when they went on to the pitch.
Who knows, there might not be another chance for some of them to finally reach this holy grail, yet they have pretty much the combination of age and experience you'd want. The core of the side are in their prime and yet loaded with test caps and cup appearances.
But Biarritz take some serious pedigree and form over the last two years into this final. Lest we forget, they are the reigning French champions, are atop that table again, were cruelly beaten in last season's European Cup semi-finals, and are now in the final. Like Munster, they are honed in the more primitive arts of knock-out rugby.
You could, not unreasonably, argue Biarritz are the toughest team Munster could have faced at this juncture, but then that's to be expected.
Weaknesses don't exactly jump out. Nor are Biarritz quite the dullards they've been portrayed as. They may not trust individual flair like others, but they are well organised and have some good moves employing Nicolas Brusque to hit the line late or use the strapping Jean-Baptiste Gobelet as a strike runner, while the Fijian Sereli Bobo (18 tries this season) is a devastatingly quick and powerful winger.
Indeed, it would be no surprise if they actually sought to surprise Munster (so to speak) and their critics by going wide at the start before reverting to their more traditional mauling and attritional approach.
Like Munster, they don't concede many points. Unlike Leinster, they will not be bullied up front. They have a stronger scrum and, with Imanol Harinordoquy a tall, athletic tail option, a good lineout.
Serge Betsen will ensure O'Gara will not have the comfort he enjoyed against Leinster. Behind this gnarled bunch, the gifted playmaking scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili may well do for Biarritz what Felipe Contepomi didn't do for Leinster. Getting at Yachvili, via the dogs of war Jerry Flannery and Denis Leamy perhaps, could be the key.
There's also the nagging thought that, right now, anyone encountering a Spanish connection in European sport, be it Fernando Alonso, Sevilla or Barcelona, is destined to lose. Another coincidence is that Chris White, in charge of last season's quarter-final, is again the referee.
That memory (nobody beats Munster twice, as Foley texted his teammates on the night of the semi-final) is no harm either. Nor is the second-half comeback, when they injected pace into their game. Even without the sidelined O'Gara, they made Biarritz look a tad slow that day and, contrary to popular wisdom, may even seek to play the more expansive, high-tempo rugby they're not given sufficient credit for.
Paul O'Connell, Foley, Donncha O'Callaghan and co imposing their will and physicality from the start is imperative. What odds an early schemozzle?
Along with his pack, O'Gara has put together two supreme displays of knock-out cup rugby. You'd back him today in a kicking duel with Yachvili, if only just. Mentally, in particular, Munster seem better primed than ever, and there were signs in that semi-final against Leinster they can transfer the Thomond factor elsewhere.
If they are to get there, Munster, as we know, will have done so the hard way, but so too Biarritz. Not only will there be a new name inscribed on the trophy, but for the first time in the tournament's history, the winners will have recovered from losing their opening game and thus become the first team to win eight matches in succession in a European Cup campaign.
Most likely, it will be the white-knuckle ride to end all white-knuckle rides. It could be that there will never be more than a score in it, and come the 80th minute we'll all feel a little older. But, helped by the kind of astonishing, cool-headed, clear-thinking accuracy they achieved against Leinster, from Flannery's darts to the decision-making of Stringer and O'Gara, there may come a point, most likely in the second half, when O'Connell, Foley and company will sniff the Biarritz whitewash, and they won't panic.
They'll up their intensity and do what's required, helped by a cumulative force of energy and that rare chemistry with the crowd. Call it the X factor.
Referee: Chris White (England).
Odds (Paddy Powers): 8/11 Munster, 16/1 Draw, 11/10 Biarritz. Handicap odds (= Biarritz +1pt) 10/11 Munster, 16/1 Draw, 10/11 Biarritz.
Forecast: Munster to win.
