Gaffney: Cullen can meet Wasps challenge

IRRESPECTIVE of his contribution to date, Christian Cullen will definitely start for Munster in Sunday’s Heineken Cup semi-final against Wasps at Lansdowne Road.

Coach Alan Gaffney made this perfectly clear last night while also expressing full confidence in the New Zealander's capacity to get very close to his awe-inspiring best against Warren Gatland's side. Cullen himself accepts that the season so far has been a little frustrating for him, largely because of the injury that kept him on the sidelines for his first couple of months in Munster. Now, with five Celtic League games behind him and, most crucially of all, the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Stade Francais, the time has surely arrived for the All Blacks record breaker to deliver.

Cullen fully recognises that his form in the Celtic League hasn't been all it might have been. Nor was he all that impressed with his second half display against Stade Francais. He would like to believe, however, that he did his share early in that game, especially when helping to send Shaun Payne away for the first try. As for Alan Gaffney, the coach is satisfied we are about to see the best of Cullen.