O’Connell rallies Reds ahead of another battle

PAUL O’CONNELL will lead arguably the most experienced team in the history of the Heineken Cup when Munster take on Montauban at Thomond Park on Friday.

The mighty John Hayes makes his 80th appearance in the tournament and right on his heels come Ronan O’Gara, 75 to date; Peter Stringer, 74; David Wallace, 63; Marcus Horan, 62, and Alan Quinlan, 59. After that you have Donncha O’Callaghan with 54 and O’Connell himself is a relative “novice” with a mere 40.

One might have imagined with two titles already to their credit and so much achieved that these guys and those around them might be lacking in a certain degree of enthusiasm. But all indications are that this couldn’t be further from the truth.