Undaunted O’Connell relishing challenge

PERHAPS it’s just as well that only a third of Sunday’s likely starting line-up were in the Munster team that lost 23-8 to Perpignan in the Heineken Cup in 2003.

It was one of the most decisive defeats the province have suffered in the competition, and not something any member of the current squad would like see repeated.

My memories of the game are of the freezing cold, the non-stop music from a series of bands dotted around the Stade Aime Giral, the raucous reaction to every decision against their side by the partisan crowd and the unapologetic manner in which they heckled their visitors from kick-off to final whistle.

Ronan O’Gara, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan and Alan Quinlan all started that day and are likely to do so again Sunday.

Mick O’Driscoll and Denis Leamy were also involved and you can rest assured that all have vivid memories of the lessons dished out by their hosts.

One of those to miss that bruising affair was Paul O’Connell, laid low by a broken bone in his hand. He is not under any illusions about the massive task awaiting his team when they take the field at the 17,000 capacity stadium in the heart of Catalonia.

O’Connell said: “Perpignan have a fantastic record there and probably won the French Championship last year on the back of their home record, It’s the only place Munster have been badly beaten in recent years. So it’s a very intimidating venue to go to but we have a lot of experience of these kinds of places, putting in big performances and picking up results. There’s no reason why we wouldn’t or can’t do it again this weekend.

“As you get older and more experienced, you can take that attitude but their record at home still speaks for itself. Too much could be made of it and I know once you’ve crossed the white line, it’s the same as any other pitch.

“But you can’t deny that record against all these French teams with big budgets. It’s the kind of occasion we look forward to just as I’m sure they looked forward to coming over to Thomond Park. It’s like Thomond Park for us, a big pride thing of playing in front of your own crowd and that’s the challenge we have to face.”

One of the most significant aspects of the first game is that Munster failed to make as much of an impression with their maul as the Catalans and a repeat or even more of the same will assuredly raise the decibel level ever higher.

“I thought we did okay last week but there’s probably a big difference between stopping them at Thomond Park and at home,” said O’Connell. “Up to last weekend, they were mauling 80% of their line-out possession and they probably won’t change that this weekend.”

Munster go into Sunday’s game relieved at eking out a one point win at home but also fully aware that a repeat of the errors that led to three soft Perpignan tries will seriously dent their prospects of reaching the knock-out stages.

And they were far from the only mistakes in a performance that ranged from the excellent to the downright poor.

“We were happy and disappointed with the game last week — some parts we did really well and I felt we played with a lot of intensity,” said O’Connell. “Looking back on the video, we did create chances but there was poor alignment and guys weren’t getting in the right positions to take advantage. But I think it was a big step forward in a lot of things we did. We dominated possession and probably most of the territory and now need to get more accuracy to go with the intensity we’re playing at. If we can up our intensity, that’s when we play well, that’s when we get confident and I felt that was there in abundance on Friday night.”