‘The hunger doesn’t go away because you’ve won it twice’

DIFFERENT teams, different times but there’s no escaping the feeling that Munster’s victory over Leicester in 2003 will be seen as a psychological tool to be used by the holders as they begin their defence of the Heineken Cup at Welford Road on Sunday.

The cynics might suggest they’ll need more than that to cope with the Tigers in their own backyard given that they are going into the game on the back of two successive Magners Celtic League defeats and four in all. The squad readily acknowledge this fact; nobody more than scrum-half Peter Stringer, now entering his eighth Heineken Cup campaign.

Scorer of the try in last season’s final that has already attained legendary status, Stringer has clearly benefited from the summer lay-off and on Friday night last when so many around him were foundering under Edinburgh’s sustained pressure, he was the epitome of calm and efficiency.