Gerry Thornley On Rugby: It has had its ups and downs, its rifts and its ropey moments, but like any enduring relationship Munster's on-off romance with the European Cup has worked both ways. Munster have moaned and complained at times, but both would be a helluva lot poorer without the other

Indeed, all bias aside, it probably wouldn't be stretching things to say that Munster were the best thing to happen to the European Cup. Sure, we may be looking at this through red-tinted glasses, and there have been plenty of epics in the tournament's nine-year history. Most of the finals would have to be included, beginning with Brive's destruction of Leicester in the 1997 final in the old Cardiff Arms Park, the sheer scale of the occasion when Ulster won it at Lansdowne Road in 1999, the Red Army's invasion of Twickenham a year later, and Leicester's memorable comeback win over Stade Francais in the 2001 final in Parc des Princes.

There were other awesome matches prior to finals, such as Leicester's semi-final win over poor Llanelli, courtesy of Tim Stimpson's dramatic winner via upright and crossbar, last season.

But Munster have been involved in so many: the last-ditch wins over Saracens, home and away, three seasons ago; that stunning 31-25 win over Toulouse in Bordeaux which followed; the comeback win away to Castres two seasons ago; the quarter-final win away to Stade Francais last season and the vengeful semi-final win away to Castres; then the Miracle Match and, of course, last Sunday's storming of Welford Road.

Put it this way: if you compiled a short-list of the Cup's dozen or so best matches, Munster would be involved in at least half of them. And, of course, it goes without saying, that in every case the sense of occasion has been elevated by Munster's supporters - assuredly the best in Europe - whether in the Thomond Park bearpit or on the road.

Sunday's win brought to mind perhaps the best of the lot against Toulouse on that baking-hot day in Bordeaux three seasons ago. Specifically, the clinching Peter Stringer try was reminiscent of that minute-plus bout of continuity and recycling which culminated in Ronan O'Gara's try off Dominic Crotty's offload against Toulouse.

Stringer's didn't go through any phases, but, similarly, this was the decisive score, and originated from a set-piece move inside their half, with O'Gara making an offload off the deck to the supporting Rob Henderson which brought to mind John Kelly's gymnastics on the deck in that move in Bordeaux.

Offloads, offloads, offloads. The team that makes the most of them seems to win these days. Likewise, Leinster's breakthrough try by Keith Gleeson on Saturday, which Christian Warner and David Quinlan created with offloads in the tackles.

And lineouts. Such was the cumulative effort at Welford Road on Sunday that it would be easy to overlook the role of Munster's forwards coach, Brian Hickey, who pored over videos and edited down one seven-hour tape to present a definitive manual on Leicester's lineout for Paul O'Connell, Donncha O'Callaghan and co to study.

Concentrating intently, they adapted to Leicester's variations well, though Munster were struck by how the Tigers still stuck to throwing at two and four. The superiority complexes English sides hold for Irish sides can never be overestimated.

And then there was Austin Healey's fateful decision to remain on the pitch when injured after his injudicious and laboured midfield move in his 22 with Leon Lloyd - "a victim of his own monumental self-confidence" as one English writer put it.

Jim Williams duly called for the 9-10-12 move which saw Henderson offload for Anthony Foley to charge past Healey's right arm, with Frankie Sheahan going through Healey off the recycle for good measure, Marcus Horan taking it on and O'Gara dummying inside Martin Corry for the try.

Redemption for Munster and O'Gara. The head-to-head which had the biggest bearing on the outcome was undoubtedly at number 10. Whereas Healey had a decidedly mixed bag, O'Gara not only came good with his kicking game but, of three attempted breaks, made one clean incision, scored the first try and launched the move for the second try. He has probably already regained the Irish number 10 jersey, and surely will have done by the time Ireland play Australia in Perth in eight weeks.

Now Munster have achieved something even Leicester or anyone else has never managed, namely reaching four semi-finals in a row. The competition's three standard-bearers, and most consistently effective sides, have been Munster (34 wins), Leicester (34 wins) and Toulouse (35 wins).

There is an acceptance within the Munster camp already that Toulouse will represent an even harder challenge, in that they have more game-breakers and a more dangerous, potent style than Leicester at the moment, as well as an equally hard edge up front.

By the by, could you imagine if Peter Clohessy hadn't hesitated about Toulouse's original offer to join them and was there now?

The quarter-finals just completed drew combined attendances of 111,000 - more than double the figure at the same stage last year. The decision to move the quarter-finals from the weekend after the completion of the pool stages in January to after the Six Nations, as had been argued here for years, was an unmitigated success. The good news is that this will happen again next season when, due to the World Cup in Australia in October and November, the European Cup pool stages will have to be compressed into two weekends in December and four in January. The momentum it generates then might be unstoppable.

The Six Nations might even struggle to follow that, and the more the Six Nations committee, the BBC, Twickenham, the English clubs and other selfish parties tinker with the championship, with Sunday kick-offs, ridiculously compressed itineraries, contrived Anglo-French finales, the more they dilute it and leave it vulnerable to being taken over by the European Cup.

Indeed, with each passing year the European Cup bridges the gap with the Six Nations as the mainstay of Northern Hemisphere rugby. If the blazerati aren't careful, rugby might one day ultimately emulate football, and the club game will assume precedence over the international game.