Leinster look the part, but it’s only October

LEINSTER start their Heineken Cup campaign tonight as the hunted, not the hunter.

As I know from the 2006/07 Cup campaign, this brings about its own new set of challenges. That season, Munster trudged off the pitch after suffering a crushing defeat by Llanelli. Being knocked out at the quarter-final stages reduced the previous May’s glorious high of defeating Biarritz in the final to a distant memory.

And the next three months would be spent playing out pointless, lifeless matches in a league where our mid-table status was already decided. The previous year we had achieved our ultimate goal, the Heineken Cup. Most of the players in the squad didn’t want the success to end at that. Our aim was to go on and capture trophy after trophy, etching Munster into history as one of the great European sides.