Ronan O’Gara will welcome Munster to La Rochelle in the Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 in April.
The legendary former out-half has not coached against his old team since the 2016/17 season when he was an assistant at Racing 92, and taking them on as a head coach will be an altogether different matter.
Tickets for the Stade Marcel Deflandre will be in high demand for the clash which will take place on the first weekend in April. The defeat to Leinster was La Rochelle’s 101st consecutive sellout and it’s likely a huge number of the Red Army will make the trip to the Atlantic coast.
Munster went close to securing home advantage for the knock-outs against Northampton Saints, but their 34-32 defeat means they’ve to go on the road for the third successive season having lost to the Sharks in Durban in 2023 and Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.
Despite winning just one pool match, Ulster squeezed into the knock-outs after the Sharks’ heavy defeat to Bordeaux meant the South Africans slipped into fifth in Pool One.
Richie Murphy’s side’s reward for qualifying on five points is a daunting away game against Bordeaux who won well in Belfast before Christmas.
Leinster will host Premiership side Harlequins at Croke Park in their Round of 16 clash.
Toulon’s heavy defeat in Sale means Leo Cullen’s side finish as second seeds in the tournament, meaning they will have home advantage through the knock-outs, and they’ll be heavily fancied to beat the English side.
There’s added reward for Leinster in that they are on the opposite side of the draw to the tournament’s pacesetters Bordeaux and Toulouse as well as their old friends La Rochelle and Munster and former winners Toulon and Saracens.
The winner of La Rochelle v Munster will face the winner of Bordeaux v Ulster, while Leinster’s reward for beating Harlequins would be a home tie against Glasgow or Michael Cheika’s Leicester Tigers.
Leinster’s path to the showpiece is likely to see them take on Glasgow in the Quarter-Final and Northampton Saints in the Semi-Final if results go to seeding.