O’Connell: We re-focused after cup loss

ONE year in the European rugby wilderness was enough to hammer home a vivid message to the Munster rugby squad, and skipper Paul O’Connell believes the failure last season to qualify for the last eight of the Heineken Cup has proved a blessing in disguise.

Munster’s Heineken Cup history is littered with tales of glory against the odds, especially when the chips were down. Well, this season the pressure has been on for just about every big game, O’Connell’s transitional side revelling in beating the odds just about every match.

With everyone hurting from the headlines that followed Munster’s Heineken and Amlin Cupdisappointments, it was a difficult 2011 for a team that had broken all quarter-final qualification records in Europe. O’Connell now believes Munster are in a better place. Victory over Castres at Thomond Park onSaturday will be enough to confirm a spot in the knockout stages, and possibly even guarantee a home draw.

“Yes, I think certainly we’re in a much better place this year in terms of our willingness to fight for everything,” said O’Connell. “Through the years we’ve always pulled it out of the fire, late in the pool stages or whatever. We came into this season knowing we had to make every minute of every game count. We knew that if we didn’t give it everything early on, there would be no pulling it out of the fire because that opportunity would be gone.

“This year we’re probably coming from a different place in terms of the Heineken Cup and trying to qualify. It’s probably similar to eight or nine years ago when qualification wasn’t as regular an occurrence for us. We’re aware of every moment.”

In a transitional phase when senior players have retired and others have been forced out through injury, O’Connell accepts that it has beendifficult, but exciting too.

“I’m only mentioning last year because I was asked about it. We’re aware of where we are as a squad. Guys have retired, people who were part of the team and the atmosphere. We’re aware of the good things that have been achieved here, but we’ve had injuries, then we had guys away, so there probably has been a sea change.”

Qualification for the last eight is very much in Munster’s hands after their unbeaten run. But O’Connell is acutely aware this team is a “work in progress”.

“We haven’t been anyway dominant in this competition,” he said, “We’re four out of four, which is great, but we’re not dominating. I feel we’re still in that kind of mode at the moment. We know we have to fight for everything and that’s a good place to be. The young guys who have come through have been really good. There’s a group of young players who have come into the team and haven’t been happy just to hold their own. They’ve come in and been close to the best players on the pitch. It lifts the squad and gives everyone belief, it infuses them with belief and all those who are coming behind them.”