Back to the real world for Stringer

AS Munster’s new captain Jim Williams observed, the pain of last May’s Heineken Cup final defeat still lingers.

It might never quite go away, even if the squad has regrouped in as good a mental and physical condition as possible going into tomorrow’s opener against Gloucester at Kingsholm.

The Munsterman centrally involved in the infamous cheating incident that may well have cost Munster the match and the title is scrum-half Peter Stringer. “I’d like to bring you back to what happened that day”, I ventured only to be immediately interrupted: “No pun intended”, he laughed.