Munster in familiar territory against old enemy Castres

A notoriously hard place to go, Castres is also proving a hard place to get to this week.

A French rail strike is complicating the travel plans for some of the Munster supporters as they try to make the 90km journey from Toulouse.

If Munster supporters are sick of the sight of Castres Olympique, then it's hard to imagine how strong the feeling is on the other side.

These two teams just can't stay away from each other. Tonight’s meeting at Stade Pierre-Fabre will be the 19th clash of what is the most common pairing in the 30 years of the Investec Champions Cup.

Munster’s pedigree in this competition means that Castres are just one of many rivalries they’ve built up down the years, with a series of great back-and-forths against the likes of Toulouse, Wasps, Racing 92 and Northampton Saints down through the decades.

Castres don't have that same pedigree. While this will be Munster’s 202nd game of Champions Cup rugby, the French side will be playing their 98th, with Munster now accounting for 19.3% of their games in Europe. There's a bit of history in this game.

Appropriately, Munster bookend Castres’ involvement in the competition. The French side's first ever game in the inaugural 1995-96 season was at home to Munster, who had beaten Swansea at home a week earlier thanks to Pat Murray's late try. Castres won 19-12 in the first European meeting of the sides, future coach Laurent Labit kicking 14 of their points but the Top 14 side have stubbornly refused to fall in love with the tournament.

In 17 previous Champions Cup campaigns, the five-time French champions have only ever reached the knockout stages once, and as luck would have it, they ran into Munster three times that season. After sharing a win apiece in the pool stage in