‘We must play out of our skins’

DONNCHA O’Callaghan has very special memories of the Millennium Stadium, and he cannot wait to get back to the hallowed sporting ground of Wales.

As the build-up to tomorrow’s Heineken Cup clash against Biarritz intensifies, O’Callaghan just wants to get the show on the road. Even without the Munster masses, O’Callaghan thinks match-day atmosphere at the Millennium is incomparable.

From a personal point of view it is particularly special as he made his international debut there in 2003, the day Ireland beat Wales with a last-gasp drop goal from his Munster colleague Ronan O’Gara.

He was there for the Celtic Cup final last year and there too when Wales clinched the Grand Slam last season. Despite the disappointment of Ireland losing, he concedes: “The atmosphere was pretty spell-binding that day too.”

As the day of reckoning dawns for Munster, O’Callaghan is trying to remain focused.

“We have to keep our eyes firmly on the task in hand, but we’re all fully aware of the sacrifices the fans have made to come watch us over the years; we know how much people are paying to come on this trip, and I sometimes feel they are being taken advantage of by travel agents and hotels. But they’re making a huge effort, they’re scrambling for tickets and we know how hard they have to work to come across the type of money they’re paying out.

“From that perspective, we don’t want to let these people down. Our supporters are part of the team; I think they know that, they’re very special to us. The big difference between our supporters and those who follow other teams is, I think, how well educated they are on rugby.

“They know when to get behind a team, they know when you need a lift and when to increase the volume,” he said.

Acknowledging that there may be a number of fair-weather supporters, O’Callaghan believes the vast majority are in there for the long haul.

And he is grateful for the way they have reacted to failure in the past: “We’re all in it to win. We have had some great days, but bad days too when we didn’t do ourselves justice.

“In those circumstances, fans would be excused for walking away, but they haven’t done that. They have been with us every step of the way and the reason for that, I believe, is that they recognise that, whatever else, we’re honest.

“In the dressing room after the Biarritz game last year, we were out on our feet, everyone was absolutely knackered, but we couldn’t have given it any more in terms of effort.

“We lost the game in the first 20 minutes, but ran ourselves to a standstill for the next 60 and redeemed ourselves somewhat. The supporters recognised that and accepted it. That was about the only good thing to come out of that game.”

In terms of tomorrow’s game, O’Callaghan isn’t fooled by suggestions that Biarritz have lost their shape in the Heineken Cup.

He recognised that they hadn’t produced the type of champagne rugby they might be noted for in the knock-out stages but warned: “When you see them stumbling through two matches but still managing to beat quality sides like Sale and Bath, then you have to fear that there is a lot more to come.

“You must remember how good a team Sale are, and they did everything right in that game in terms of the way they tried to play. Yet, they weren’t allowed play. Biarritz strangled them and won more convincingly than the score line suggested,” he said.

While he fears Biarritz’s capability to cut loose and produce their best performance of the season, he is confident that Munster can meet the challenge head on.

“We respect every team we meet, but we’re not afraid. We know we have to play out of our skin, but when you get to the latter stages of any tournament, when it’s knock out cup rugby, then it’s not rocket science to know that you have to do that.”

He is also convinced that Munster will need the rub of the green.

“Finals can be decided by the smallest little thing, the bounce of the ball, the little bit of luck, or it may need one or two players at key moments of the game to step up and produce something special, to have that performance or do that one little thing that will win the game — like Stephen Gerrard in the FA Cup final.”

Strangely, as a Liverpool supporter, O’Callaghan sympathised with West Ham in the circumstances. “You would have to have some sympathy for a team that loses after working so hard to cause an upset,” he said.

But if Biarritz lose in unfortunate circumstances this week, O’Callaghan won’t have the same view.

“We want this to be our day, nobody else’s,” he said.