Ronan O'Gara will be welcomed back to Thomond Park as the enemy after his Racing 92 side were drawn against Munster in the pool stage of next season's Champions Cup.
The Munster legend is part of the coaching ticket at the Top 14 champions, and his homecoming is one of several interesting plot-lines to be thrown up by today's draw in Switzerland.
Look forward to seeing you back @thomondstadium ROG! #ChampionsCupDraw @racing92 pic.twitter.com/g0nmpRDENL
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) June 29, 2016
Leinster struck it lucky by being drawn into Tier 1 alongside Pro12 champions Connacht, and both provinces will have been been pleased to avoid French giants Toulon and Clermont among the second seeds.
Connacht will face top English side Wasps, while the presence of Toulouse will evoke memories of their famous victory over the aristocrats of French rugby at Stade Ernest Wallon three seasons ago.
The presence of Zebre in Pool 2 is also a boost to the prospects of the second-placed team in the group earning one of the three runners-up spots in the quarter-finals.
"Champions Cup is the ultimate in Northern hemisphere rugby," Connacht head coach Pat Lam said.
"It's great to be a part of it and, like I said, to have earned the right to be there. We certainly will back ourselves to prepare well and the aim for us is to reach the knockout stages of the competition."
It will be double French for Leinster, after Leo Cullen's men saw Castres and Top-14 semi-finalists Montpellier land in Pool 4, while the province will renew their rivalry with 2011 final opponents Northampton.
While fortune smiled on Leinster, Ulster suffered as a result as they dropped to the third tier of seeds, and Les Kiss' side were drawn alongside Premiership runners-up Exeter and Clermont.
Bordeaux complete the Pool 5 line-up, meaning a potential all-Ireland out-half battle between Paddy Jackson and new arrival in the south of France Ian Madigan.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is expecting a testing group, but is confident his side can emerge from Pool 4.
"We've three very tough teams in there and it's kind of what we expected going into it. We're going to be pitted against three quality teams and we certainly have a hard pool this year."
By virtue of their sixth-placed finish domestically, Munster entered the draw as fourth seeds and unsurprisingly have been handed the hardest task of the four provinces on paper.
In addition to O'Gara's French champions, Leicester Tigers and Pro12 rivals Glasgow stand in their way of a return to the knockout stages.
Team manager Niall O'Donovan acknowledged a tough draw was inevitable, saying: "We always knew we were in store for a difficult challenge.
"But this is what this competition is about - it's the top 20 clubs in European Rugby competing for the highest accolade so we didn't expect any less and every pool presents its own challenges.
"There are no easy groups in this, everybody is fighting to get to the knock-out stages.
"Looking at the three sides they have all experienced Thomond Park before and will have no fear coming over to us, and of course Racing Metro with the Ronan O'Gara influence, he will have them well briefed on us.
"They are the French club champions for a reason and they don't come bigger than that."
