WATCH | Jack O’Donoghue and Damian De Allende excited for “incredible” Toulouse match-up

The Aviva Stadium is the venue as Munster face Toulouse in a repeat of last year’s Champions Cup quarter final.

Munster face Toulouse, the reigning champions of France and Europe, on Saturday in the province’s biggest game of the season, the Champions Cup quarter final.

Johann van Graan’s side go into the match on the back of a three-game winning streak with Exeter Chiefs, Ulster and Cardiff all put to the sword in recent weeks.

The 26-10 victory over Exeter at Thomond Park secured Munster’s passage to the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup while winning away in Belfast and beating Cardiff at Musgrave Park maintained hopes for a home quarter-final in the URC.

Toulouse will travel to the Aviva Stadium with no fear having beaten Munster 40-33 at Thomond Park in the round of 16 last year on their way to a Champions Cup and Top 14 double.

The French side boast ten current Grand Slam winners in their ranks and have been successful on their last four trips to Ireland, beating Ulster 30-23 in Belfast last month to progress to the quarter-finals by the slimmest of margins (50-49 on aggregate).

A further boost saw Toulouse beat La Rochelle 23-16 on Saturday night to move into the top six of the Top 14 table with two games to play.

Ahead of the titanic tussle, Munster back row Jack O’Donoghue is focused on the task ahead and understands how well drilled his side have to be in order to overcome the French giants.

Toulouse play with a tactical aura about them and their execution of kicks and set pieces from Antoine Dupoint and Romain Ntamack is some of the best in the world, something O’Donoghue is well aware of.

“It’ll be an incredible set piece battle for us. We seen what they done in the Top 14, we seen how they’ve dominated teams even in the European Champions Cup

“I think this group we already are writing our own history, you can look at the past it’s a completely new crop of players so for us it’s all about enjoying the moment and enjoying the build up to the game.”

Munster centre Damian De Allende is still in awe from the atmosphere of Thomond Park in the last round as the province upset the odds against Exeter. The World Cup winner is used to playing on the big stage and is excited for another huge encounter.

“Obviously we’re really disappointed with result last year and obviously we reviewed the game and it was just a bit frustrating, not that we left anything out there but the silly mistakes we made in the game.

“I think I feel it’s more rewarding for myself to set up and try and someone else score it. So if I scored a try. My try against Exeter the energy in the stadium was incredible, the last time I felt energy like that in the stadium is when I scored against Wales in the semi final of the World Cup.”

Check out the full interviews with O’Donoghue, De Allende as well as Johann van Graan below