By Tournament / Heineken Cup

Long gone are the groups of death; pools blessed with the weak Italian and Celtic sides offering the best chance for an underdog making the semi-finals and two finalists paired with one of the favourites - roll out the red carpet for the seedings system and some proper competition.

Pool 1: Munster, Sale, Clermont Auvergne, Montauban
Prediction: Winners: Clermont Auvergne
Analysis: Declan Kidney's absence vs. French fear of travel? The French should suit the ELVs better than the marching red machine.

Pool 2: Wasps, Leinster, Castres, Edinburgh
Prediction: Winners: Wasps
Analysis: Guinness Premiership Champions vs. Magners League Winners - Wasps are better on the road so should escape the demons of Dublin.

Pool 3: Leicester, Perpignan, Ospreys, Treviso
Prediction: Winners: Leicester
Analysis: An elusive away win is the key to the tastiest of pool's, but the Tigers defence edges the heavyweight contest.

Pool 4: Stade Francais, Scarlets, Ulster, Harlequins
Prediction: Winners: Stade Francais
Analysis: Stade Francais at a canter. Harlequins away should prove to be the sternest of tests but it's unlikely the Parisians will lose two.

Pool 5: Toulouse, Bath, Dragons, Glasgow
Prediction: Winners: Toulouse
Analysis: Toulouse's record speaks for itself and in the pool stages they are an unrivalled force.

Pool 6: Biarritz, Gloucester, Blues, Calvisano
Prediction: Gloucester
Analysis: Fortress Kingsholm won't come under scrutiny until they host one of the big guns in the knock-out stage

Best Runners-Up: Bath and Munster

Munster 16-13 Toulouse

They always say winning it the second time is always harder and Munster's soldiers used up their entire battery as they charged to Heineken Cup glory, shading a ferocious final by three points over thrice-time winners, Toulouse.

Few could argue against if ever there was a more deserving champion, after triumphantly emerging from the 'pool of death' that included Wasps, Clermont Auvergne and the Scarlets before bulldozing through Kingsholm and killing off Saracens.

The ever-reliable engine that drives the big-red-machine was in punishing mood with man-of-the-match Alan Quinlan epitomising the brutal work of the bombadier back-row.

Ronan O'Gara's impeccable boot made sure that all the inches, centimetres and millimetres of grunting, pushing and shoving didn't go un-rewarded, contributing 11 points in a flawless diplay of the art.

Denis Leamy's first-half try separated the two sides at the break with the fearless Munster No.8 making it second time lucky after bundling over from close range.

Jean Baptise Elisalde reduced the arrears with a couple of sweetly struck penalties but you always felt that the impending champions were in control, showing more composure at the breakdown and more menace in the tackle. Basically, they wanted it more...

French hopes were lifted when Yves Donguy pounced to slap his paws on the ball after Cedric Heymans showed exactly why he is considered one of the sport's most lethal weapons with a 75m burst that included a sumptuous chip and chase before the athletic genius that is Yannick Jauzion poaked it over the line.

In fairness, the trio were the heartbeat for most of Toulouse's best work but were always comfronted by an impenetrable red-brick-wall.

Toulouse dominated the opening exchanges but with so many uncharacteristic guilt-edged spillages with the try-line beckoning, Munster became more and more encouraged to feast on the scraps. It was like watching Jose Mourinho's Chelsea 'come and get us if you think your hard enough' act.

The hungrier of the two, Munster's water-tight defence reduced Jean-Baptiste Elisalde to hardly inspiring drop-goal attempts. It was a sign of the times that Toulouse, once the most feared arsenal in club rugby, were playing a brand of olde-English rugby.

Final's are never without controversy and Munster thought they had made the first dent in the try-scoring category when Leamy appeared to have got downward pressure after a succession of patient forward thrusts.

How poetic that one TMO could disappoint about 65,000 Irish people, correctly adjudging that he had coughed up a glorious opportunity to surge ahead. Paul O'Connell choked up another late-on but like any descent tail-ender, Munster's talisman had his on the end rather than the means after his eyes lit up like beacons.

You've heard of kicking someone up the back-side to give them impetous, but Toulouse's rock Fabien Pelous wouldn't have exactly perceived his typical moment of French petulence would iconically achieve such bonuses in both senses of the word.

His impersonation of another enigmatic French icon by karate kicking Alan Quinlan on the softest part of his anatomy not only gifted O'Gara his three points but spurred his fellow aristocrats on to their solitary try.

With the roof closed on the mugiest day of the year, the 'fields of athenry' echoed as if the game was being played in the 'bat cave' such was the piercing volume of every cheer that greeted every ounce of Munster momentum.

The dying stages in this war of attrition rather than advert for European rugby glamour summed up the achievements of both sides. Toulouse for all their talent littered from 1-15 are exactly that - a team that relies on the star individuals.

Munster are creating a dynasty, credited to the outgoing coach Declan Kidney, for whom there was not a more fitting finale.

After Wednesday night's footballing equivalent that peetered out into spineless penalty shoot-out with both teams driven by fear of heartbreaking defeat rather than endeavor of euphoric gain, the sold-out Millennium Stadium houses European rugby's finest with no shortage of passion, enterprise and soul associated with the buyers market concerning the round ball.

It would be easy to jump on the bandwagon by building up the hype by overplaying the superlatives in a Shakespearian manner, citing every annal of history and comparing the unprescedented successes of both teams, but juxtapositions don't do these magical institution's justice.

Way back in 1996, Toulouse won their first ever European Cup Final, notably in Cardiff, before adding another two pieces of the shiniest silverware to the family china - an obsession aptly matched by Munster's quest for that elusive first trophy, which coincidentally arrived in 2006 at Saturday's exact venue.

For the creme of the Celtic League, the Heineken Cup makes up for most of the inadequacies of the Magners League. In Munster's case, you couldn't be closer to the truth.

When Toulouse step out, it captures the imagination. Like all things French, whether their temperament is aligned with the season and bloom like an sunflower or wilt like a lilly.

Munster are unchanged from the semi-final success over Saracens. All-Black trio, Lifeimi Mafi, Rua Tipoki and Doug Howlett have introduced another dimension to the powerful Irish pack. Tipoki's frightening defence and razor-sharp attack will get its biggest test against the gliding skills of Yannick Jauzion.

Toulouse found it difficult to move their red machine swiftly through the gears against London Irish and Florian Fritz's return to fitness isn't timely enough for a starting berth.  The majestic talents of Cedric Heymans providing the mystifying threat from full-back can't go missing like they did at Twickenham and Thierry Dusautoir needs to give Ronan O'Gara a migrane at flanker.

Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett, L Mafi, R Tipoki, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt), A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.

Replacements: F Sheahan, T Buckey, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, P Stringer, P Warwick, K Earls.

Toulouse: C Heymans; M Medard, M Kunavore, Y Jauion, Y Donguy; J-B Elissalde, B Kelleher; D Human, W Servat, S Perugini, F Pelous (capt), P Albacete, J Bouilhou, T Dusautoir, S Sowerby.

Replacements: A Vernet Basualdo, J-B Poux, R Millo-Chlusky, Y Nyanga, F Fritz, M Ahotaeiloa, V Courrent.

Prediction: Toulouse to win by four points

Most Finalists (Country): France 11, England 8, Ireland 4, Wales 1
Most Finalists (Team): Leicester Tigers & Toulouse x 4, Munster x 3
Most Wins: Toulouse 3, Leicester & Wasps 2,
All-country affairs: All-French affairs 2005 - Stade v Toulouse, Toulouse v Perpginan, all-England match, Wasps v Leicester in 2007.
Highest aggregate points: 64: Leicester 34-30 Stade Francais, 2001
Lowest aggregate points: 17: Northampton 9-8 Munster
Highest winning margin: Brive 28-9 Leicester 1997
Most tries (Player): 2 Leon Lloyd (Leicester Tigers), Sebastien Carrat (Brive)
Most tries (Match): 4, London Wasps v Toulouse in 2004
Highest points (Player): Diego Dominguez 30 and ended up on losing side against Leicester in 2001
Most tries in a final (Team): 3 - Leicester Tigers (v Stade Francais) 2001 and Wasps (v Toulouse) 2004
Extra-time: Toulouse 18-12 Stade Francais in 2005
Most used venue: Twickenham x 3, Millennium x 2, Arms Park x 2, Lansdowne x 2
Tryless encounter: Toulouse v Stade Francais, 2005
Highest Attendance: 2007, Wasps v Leicester, 81,076, Twickenham
Referee Appearances: Chris White - 2003, 2005, 2006

Did you know? Fabien Pelous could become the first man to captain a team of hat-trick Heineken Cup Final triumphs, 1995, 2003, 2005.

Scotland will be celebrating a Heineken Cup champion in 2009 - it might not necessarily be Glasgow or Edinburgh but Murrayfield has been chosen to host the Heineken Cup Final.

Toulouse triumphed over Stade Francais in the last final to be held in the romantic Scottish capital in 2005.