Stade Toulousain coach Guy Noves has revealed that he urged his payers to up their intensity at half-time in their weekend victory over Stade Francais.

"What did I say to them? I said it was necessary to play faster, as you must do in European quarter-finals" he said.

"We wanted to have Byron [Kelleher] passing the ball much faster because their defence was well drilled - especially in the first half - and the slow ball allowed them to get in position. In the first half we were playing at Top 14 pace, and that wasn't enough," he told the Stade Toulousain website.

Noves has come in for unaccustomed media flak this season due to Toulouse's sometimes indifferent league form, but the experienced coach was clearly in bullish mood following Sunday's 42-16 victory.

Heineken Cup Pools & Fixtures

"We're in the top four clubs in Europe and we're also in the quarter-finals of Top 14, so we are making our presence felt, contrary to all the criticism we hear. We are the only French club to be competing on both levels," he said.

Fellow Heineken Cup semi-finalists Biarritz could change that this weekend if they win away to sixth-placed Racing-Métro 92 in Top 14 - and thus move into the pay-off positions - but Noves said Toulouse's weekend success was vindication for his team management this season.

"I think it's magic to be there [the semi-finals] again when we see how difficult it is to qualify," said Europe's most successful club coach. "The players have always believed in what we're trying to achieve, despite the sometimes malicious criticism in the media. We continue to believe in what we are doing. We are in the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup and the quarter-finals of Top 14; I think we are right and others are wrong," he said with clear glee.

But Noves knows that nothing has been won yet and he counseled caution ahead of Stade's mouthwatering semi-final against Leinster.

"They are champions of Europe, so for once we can say Toulouse is not the favourite for a semi-final," he said. "We'll try to give the best of ourselves but I am not saying we will win this semi-final against the European champions. It would be a great feat [if we did win], but we will be ready," he promised.

Leinster could be without international fly-half Jonny Sexton for the Toulouse match after he required a minor operation after cracking his jaw in the 29-28 win against Clermont Auvergne.

Coach Michael Cheika believes Sexton should be fit in time though, together with other injury concerns Rob Kearney and Brian O'Driscoll. He will certainly need all the talent he can lay his hands on for the trip to south west France and acknowledged that Toulouse would be an incredibly tough opponent to beat.

"They have got amazing depth from the bench. Knowing they way of thinking down there a little bit I don't think they mind too much that it is us. I think they would prefer it to be us than, say, Munster. Maybe they think we are still a little bit tender. That might be the impression of Leinster in France and, also, everyone in France seems to think that we were a bit lucky to win the other day and don't see the work that went into that match either," he told erc.com.

Biarritz head coach Jean-Michel Gonzalez, meanwhile, was also relishing his club's weekend success after beating the Ospreys 29-28 in San Sebastian. He is hoping the win will prove the springboard for a successful climax to the season, beginning with Saturday's Paris clash with Racing.

"All our matches are finals now and we will do everything we can to prolong the season as long as possible. First we need victory as Racing," he said.

Biarritz will face Irish giants Munster in the semi-finals - again being held at the Estadio Anoeta - and Ospreys and Wales winger Shane Williams believes the French side are in for a tough match.

"Munster will have watched our game closely and they will realise Biarritz are beatable," he said after Saturday's match. "Anything can happen in the Heineken Cup, but we have shown that you can score tries against Biarritz. We all know the kind of team Munster are and they will have to take their chances. They can't afford to give away penalties or conceded possession to the likes of Yachvili and Damien Traille. They are top class players," warned Williams.

The wing wizard was also impressed by opposite number Takudzwa Ngwenya after the American outpaced him for a stunning 70m breakaway try. "He's a good player who got recognised after a great World Cup in 2007 and is one of the quickest around," conceded the Welsh star.

Racing-Métro coach Pierre Berbizier has also been singing Biarritz's praises this week ahead of their crucial Top 14 showdown.

"They have a collective maturity greater than ours," he said when asked what the difference between the two clubs was. "They have a legitimacy of their journey from previous season and this maturity of their squad differs from the experience of certain individual players who make up our team. These teams may have periods of doubt but their collective maturity allows them to progress. Our squad is still being built. There was no benchmark there - we built the benchmark - and that is the difference," he added.

Elsewhere in France, Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal is relishing his club's forthcoming table-top clash with defending champions Perpignan this weekend. The match is being played at Marseille's Stade Velodrome and could see Toulon end the weekend as Top 14 leaders.

"My first target is to fill the Velodrome and my second is to win the match, which would leave us in first place for at least one week," said the club's multi-millionaire backer. "Symbolically, it would be reward for four years of hard work," he told L'Equipe.

Top 14 Table  / Top 14 leading scorers / Top 14 Results / Top 14 Fixtures / Top 14 Transfers

Boudjellal is clearly delighted with how this season is panning out but he refused to get carried away by Toulon's current success - second in the table and through to the ACC semi-finals. "I am a realist and I know that we have taken advantage of the misfortune of others, including Biarritz and Stade Francais, and also the overloaded agenda of Toulouse. We are at a place that is perhaps a little above our possibilities," he said. "But we have entered the bank, we have put on the balaclava and we are ready to do a robbery. If the police stop us, too bad," he added.

Boudjellal praised "the genius of Philippe Saint-André" for Toulon's progress this season and said the club's goal remained to "be stronger each year more than the previous year".

Boudjellal described himself as a "sputnik" within the rugby environment - due to his lack of playing experience - but said he was at the vanguard of a revolution within French rugby. "I met with the presidents of a new generation who want to advance the sport in a positive way," he added.