More accurately, they remember a game.

Because their game, and the glory days of their teams, are gone now. Faded jerseys replaced by the flash of the professional era, festooned with sponsors' logos. Munster have managed to move with the times, made themselves commercial, but their youngsters can still dream of the sort of immortality bestowed on the sideburned players of 1978.

Munster have an identity and a history.

Not so sure Biarritz can make the same boast. The town is small with a population of little more than 30,000, but no old boys with their boules, their Gitanes' butts and their memories here. With its beaches, its surfing, its golf courses, its luxury hotels and its retirement villas, Biarritz lives fast in the summer, and oozes a laid-back wealth in the winter.

Champions of France back in 1935 and '39, rugby has always had a foothold, yet despite the fame of players such as Pascal Ondarts, Francis Haget and most of all the legendary Serge Blanco, Biarritz Olympique were good, but never that good.

It was probably typical that with the town's glamorous history and its line into some hard cash, Biarritz would embrace the professional era. A successful businessman with interests in hotels, clothing and property, Blanco drove the club project and convinced one of rugby's best-known administrative gunslingers, Marcel Martin, to come on board. With Blanco's contacts, Martin's extensive committee room experience, and the financial backing of the global consulting heavyweight Capgemini, Biarritz were soon moving and shaking with Toulouse and Stade Francais, winning the national championship in 2002 and again last year.

Critics of professionalism are carping that the Basque nature of the club has been compromised by the number of blowins, and certainly looking out on the pitch at the Parc des Sports Aguilera where France internationals Dimitri Yachvili, Damien Traille, Jerome Thion, the imposing Romanian prop Petru Balan and the equally imposing Silesi Bobo from Fiji, are warming up, it seems that Imanol Harinordoquy will be the only high-profile Basque player in the line-up for the club's first Heineken Cup final.

It's not a case . . . which Munster will discover full-bore in just under three weeks . . . of Biarritz lacking any desire, but there is this question of authenticity. The likes of Paul O'Connell, Anthony Foley, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer, John Hayes and David Wallace don't just have a dream of European success, they live it.

Then out from the clinking weights room under the Aguilera's main stand comes Thomas Lievremont. Set against the sculpted shapes and sizes of some of the other players who are either reticent to discuss the final, or a bit too cool for their own good, Lievremont is old school. Immensely powerful, but not that athletic, the welcome and the shake of the hand are genuine. You could be shooting the breeze with Foley himself.

"I remember when we lost the quarter-final to Munster in Limerick in 2001, " he says, "it was the first time I had experienced that sort of support, the way everyone went silent for the kickers, it was an incredible atmosphere. And then last year, it was so close in San Sebastien. We're exhausted for about a fortnight every time we play Munster. They're strong, just so strong in every area. They're exactly the sort of team I'd like to play for."

Even though Munster have turned the practice of talking up the opposition into something of an art form, there will also be an amount of pre-final guff emanating out of Biarritz, but not from Lievremont. Not his style.

You sense his respect for Munster is as heartfelt as his rejection of the notion that Biarritz are simply glad to be in the final.

"Look, I've been dreaming of coming back here with the cup.

We're in contention in our own championship, but right now we feel as if our season will stand or fall on this one game, and if we lose we'll be bitterly disappointed. Of course our supporters are very proud of us because we've made the final, but simply getting there is not enough for the players. We want to win so badly."

Even though he is a Catalan having forsaken Perpignan and the Mediterranean for the Atlantic breakers of Biarritz, it was no surprise when Lievremont succeeded Jean-Michel Gonzalez as the club captain. A grizzled France international, winning the first of his 35 caps as far back as 1996, he has proved an inspirational leader.

"In my head, I'm Basque now and I'm proud of that."

The 32-year-old could have taken his customary number eight jersey for the semi-final against Bath, but a groin injury hadn't healed perfectly, and he decided to gamble, hoping his teammates would make up for the disappointments of previous semi-final defeats against Stade Francais and Toulouse.

"It would've been disastrous to have lost again, and actually we were happy this time that we weren't playing against French teams in the knockout stages.

We've had a psychological problem against other French sides in Europe, and while we can deal with the same opposition in our own championship, with foreign referees in Europe, we find it more difficult."

That said, he knows that the intensely conservative way Biarritz performed against both Bath and Sale is unlikely to be enough for glory in Cardiff. If making certain of reaching the final following the near-misses has been understandable, the path to victory will probably be around Munster and not through them.

"It's true, if we want to beat Munster, there's no way we can play the same way as against Bath and Sale. We have to offer a lot more, we have to be more ambitious, and if we are limited and up tight, then we won't win.

We've proved we're defensively strong, but we failed to show anything in attack. We haven't played a complete game all season, and we need one now."

The indomitable Serge Betsen, who could well be breathing down O'Gara's neck for much of the afternoon of 20 May, as well as the playmaker Yachvili, didn't feel the need to watch Munster's seismic win over Leinster, but Lievremont couldn't resist "After what Leinster had achieved in Toulouse, I wasn't sure about the outcome beforehand, but when I saw the facial expressions of the Munster players at the start of the game, it was obvious they weren't going to lose. They were stronger mentally, more focused, and going into their third final, I suppose they have an advantage over us in terms of experience. They'll have a lot of pressure on them, but in truth, we're going to be under pressure as well. It could be now or never for us."

As he gets up to leave, the sound of an Irish voice floats through the air. With between only 4,000 and 5,000 Biarrots expected to make the trip to Cardiff, Munster supporters having been coming to the club's ticket office with wads of cash for the past few days. Lievremont hears that one couple from Cork bought 110 tickets between them.

"We can't think about the crowd and all the Munster supporters, we can only take care of what's on the pitch. And I believe we are strong enough to cope."

Thomas Lievremont and his team will find out soon enough.