The old ones are still the best

Indisputably, this was up there with the very best that Munster have achieved in their rich and storied relationship with the Heineken Cup.

For me, memories of a famous quarter-final win in Welford Road in 2003 came flooding back when Leicester were going for a hat-trick of Heineken Cups. In the second row for the Tigers that day were Martin Johnson and Ben Kay, both at the height of their powers just six months in advance of steering England to World Cup glory in Sydney.

Opposite them in the line-out that day, a pair of young bucks, Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan. A decade on and O’Connell rose from his latest injury woes to inspire another famous away quarter-final win with a performance that will surely book his place on the plane for a third Lions tour. A word too for his long-time partner, O’Callaghan, who was also there at the end to share another one of those special Munster days after Donnacha Ryan was forced to drag his battered body off with 12 minutes to go.