The need to succeed

THE opening Heineken Cup defeat to Sale has Munster on the back foot ahead of today’s must-win clash with Castres — something the players are acutely aware of, full-back Shaun Payne tells Declan Colley.

IF TALENT, as the saying goes, is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple, then Shaun Payne has it made.

By common consensus, the South African is the single best import to have joined Munster in recent years. His often uncanny vision, his ability to attack and defend with equal tenacity and his sheer versatility have made him a crowd favourite; while his self-effacing nature, honesty and good humour have also endeared him to the press pack. He's a no-bullshit sort of guy.

As one of the most experienced players, he's well placed to evaluate Munster's Heineken Cup situation as they face into today's critical must-win tie against Castres at Thomond Park (5.15pm).

"We didn't play that badly against Sale but the bottom line was that we didn't have the ball that much," he said. "The way they approached the game and their game plan was really quite clever. It was a very frustrating game for me at full-back because they executed really well and it seemed like Charlie (Hodgson) was bouncing the ball in front of me and into touch all night.

"But they took their chances and you have to remember that it was only two small mistakes that left them in. That's all it takes at this level two mistakes, goodnight game, goodnight bonus point.

"Even so, there's a long way to go even if it does put a whole new meaning on our home games because we are definitely under pressure now."

Payne is only too well aware of the dangers of trying to compartmentalise the Sale defeat in terms of comparing Munster's performance against that of the likes of Stade Français, Wasps, Leinster and Biarritz, all of whom also lost their opening games when they could well have won.

"Obviously we cannot be looking at other teams to see how they are doing; we've got to focus on our own thing. But I can certainly say Toulouse aside, perhaps there won't be too many runaway group winners. There is now a much more open feeling to the pools. The bottom line for Munster, even so, is that we have to win against Castres.

"Having said that, our preparation and training has not changed in any shape or form this week but there is that little bit of extra pressure, that extra little twinge at the back of your mind that there is no way you can afford to lose this game."

The 33-year-old is obviously not going to hand over any state secrets on how Munster intend dealing with Castres, or what coach Declan Kidney might have up his sleeve for the French outfit, but in general terms the aims are straight-forward.

"We want to keep the ball away from them because we don't want them throwing it around. We also don't want any mistakes in our own half which allows them attack us. The French are experts at turning the ball over, so we've obviously worked on our defence and on making sure our first-up tackles are right and making sure our defensive alignment is good.

"We've also been working on the attack, but you can wait to see for yourself what we've done on that front. We have to get straight into them from the off and just not give them a look-in, not give them any hope."

Payne offers a comprehensive analysis on how the Munster squad has evolved over the last three seasons.

The arrivals of fellow South Africans Trevor Halstead and Anthon Pitout, rugby league great Gary Connolly, prop 'Freddy' Pucciariello and a raft of new youngsters, as well as the return of Declan Kidney at the coaching helm, are all factors in this evolution.

Of Connolly, Payne says his arrival was a surprise to the players, albeit a pleasant one, because they had no idea he was even being considered. The unsurprising thing was how close Declan Kidney kept his cards to his chest.

"All in all we have got a couple of excellent signings," he reckons. "Gary brings a wealth of experience and he's very good with the ball in hand. Trevor is very strong and good at unloading in the tackle. We still have to see what's to come from Anthon, but he's very physical and Freddy has brought a lot to the team as well."

On Connolly he elaborates: "He brings so much his running lines, passing skills and ability to read the game are all excellent. It's been a seamless transition for him really and it might have been different had he been a forward, but two tries on his debut was pretty impressive. Anthon too has been a bit of a revelation and I know from contacts back home that after he emerged on the sevens circuit, he did really well with Free State and might not have been too far away from the Springbok side when he broke his leg.

"We have not seen enough of him here yet to realise his potential, but I think he has a lot to offer."

Of course the coach changed last summer as well and Payne jokes that there's an obvious difference in style between the two men "one's Australian and the other's Irish."

On a practical level, though, he reckons Declan Kidney is probably more methodical than Alan Gaffney.

"Declan likes to make sure you're right 'upstairs' for a match. He deals with the mental side of things a lot more thoroughly than Alan would. He makes you think a lot more. I'm not saying Alan's organisation wasn't good, but I think the organisation of the team and the training has run very smoothly this season and I've been very impressed.

"We sometimes take that for granted as players we expect it to run like clockwork. But that's not easy, what with Munster having two training centres, one in Limerick and one in Cork. There's a lot goes into running that."

The bottom line for Munster is winning the Heineken Cup.

"Munster know they have the capability they're not just going out playing games. They know they can win it and they want to win it."