Duncan Casey: Hatred exists in this fixture. Nobody wants to keep losing to their arch-rivals

I imagine I’m one of a small number of Munster players in recent history that can say they won every game they started against Leinster

OH WHAT A NIGHT: Munster's Peter O'Mahony celebrates at the end of the 2014 clash with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

SOME games get you up more than others. There’s no denying it. People can be surprised to hear that; they think it’s a sign of weakness if a player fails to enter every game in the same frame of mind. The reality is, it’s not possible to do so. 

Adrenaline is a funny thing and what it does can be misunderstood. It’s not binary and you don’t turn it on and off. You don’t go, ‘I’m playing a match here, I better pump myself full of it and get ready to perform.’ It manifests in the body and mind on a scale. It’s always there but not always at the same level. To draw on George Orwell in Animal Farm, ‘All matches are equal but some matches are more equal than others.’