Standing Tall

The sun shone brightly on the Munster squad at Musgrave Park yesterday, but there was still an air of grim determination to begin the Heineken Cup campaign with a big away win and prove that last week’s walloping by Leinster was just a temporary aberration. Charlie Mulqueen spoke to Donncha O’Callaghan and Mick O’Driscoll

THE MESSAGE yesterday as the players trooped out of Musgrave Park was that while lessons had been learned from last week’s demolition by Leinster, it was now in the past and they were focusing entirely on a game that may enlighten the debate whether the team remains a major force in Europe.

“We have been there before where we have come off a bad result,” said Donncha O’Callaghan. “It’s how you react to mistakes and disappointments, it’s how you go out the next week. If you learn from your mistakes – and granted, it was a massive one against a team you not only don’t want to lose to, but to under perform like we did – it’s how we come back”.