O’Connell ‘not at peace’ with Leinster’s success
The tide has turned in just a short few years and O’Connell recognises that Munster, once the kings of Europe, are playing catch-up to their eastern rivals.
The newly-crowned Heineken Cup champions might have only one win in recent visits to Thomond Park but they have five victories out of the last six between the teams; a statistic which remains a cause of worry to O’Connell.
The Munster captain admitted he could have done without his Irish colleagues being able to claim bragging rights in Europe; yet he admitted their victory was deserved.
“I’m a Munster man at the end of the day and I’d rather we were there and we were winning it. You’d be envious of them, but they played great stuff this year and they are in a very good place at the moment.”
O’Connell believes the current rivalry is all positive, however. “Yeah, you’ve got to respect performances like that (produced by Leinster in the Heineken Cup final) and look at what you can learn from it.
“Munster and Leinster have made each other better throughout the years. We’ve driven each other on through our rivalry and it has probably helped the Irish team as well, although we have probably a bit to learn from them at the moment.
He revealed: “I’m not at peace with Leinster’s success, not at all, but there is nothing we can do about it.
“We’ve got to get on with our own job and this final is going to be a very tough challenge for us, the way they are playing and the form they are in.
“But that’s part of it (the challenge) and we’ve got to rise to that challenge at the weekend.”
O’Connell has been involved in some thrilling performances at club, provincial and international levels yet doffs his cap at the manner of Leinster’s second half comeback in overcoming the Northampton Saints at the Millennium Stadium.
He said: “I’d never seen such a changearound. Teams have come back plenty of times from scorelines like that but I’ve never seen a team so dominating in the second-half.
“Leinster had opened them up quite a few times in the first half, they showed they had the potential for it and the scrum turnaround in the second half was massive and made the difference.”
So how good are Leinster? “There is no doubt they are the best side in Europe at the moment and they are playing the best rugby. The manner in which they made the final, the teams they had to play to make the final and the way in which they won the final proves that.”
And O’Connell points to the fact that such successes — and all-Irish decider tonight — can only be good for the national team’s morale as the clock ticks down to the Rugby World Cup in September.
“Yeah, I think it will have been watched by a lot of people as well, a lot of other teams, and a few of those Northampton guys play with England.
“It certainly helps the mentality of Irish rugby, it helps everyone watching it, it gives everyone belief and that this is the standard that can be achieved by Irish teams.
“I think winning is a habit. A certain belief and confidence comes with winning and a lot of Leinster players will have that now going into the World Cup.
“It will be a great thing for the squad, and it will help that we (Munster) are in a big final, that we’re there or thereabouts, that Ulster are there too, that Connacht are in the mix for next season.
“In terms of Leinster, it’s not like they had an easy run to the final, they played the best teams in France and the best teams in England and did really well and dominated teams. That can only be good for the Irish psyche going into the World Cup.”
But today is foremost in O’Connell’s mind. Munster will be looking towards producing their best performance of the season, and the skipper believes they shouldn’t try to change anything from the semi-final when they defeated holders the Ospreys by 17-10.
“Two weeks ago we played some great rugby but didn’t finish off as well as we could, we left a number of tries out there and you can do that maybe against Ospreys but I don’t think you can do that against Leinster.”
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