Munster handed home run to decider

MUNSTER were handed a home run to the Heineken Cup final in May last night but champions Leinster face an away semi-final following the last-four draw by organisers ERC.

Munster’s thumping 51-36 win at Northampton on Saturday ensured they would finish the pool stages with a 100% record and as top seeds. They now face Irish rivals and eighth seeds Ulster in a Thomond Park quarter-final on the weekend of April 6/7/8 and last night’s semi-final draw will see the winner of that clash host either Edinburgh or Toulouse.

Munster captain Paul O’Connell was quick to praise Ulster after the top seeds were handed a Thomond Park clash with their Irish rivals in the last eight.

“They have been excellent,” O’Connell said. “They were outstanding last week against Leicester, they have a lot of quality players and a lot of players showing really good form.”

The Munster lock, who will team up with Ulster stars Rory Best, Stephen Ferris and Andrew Trimble this week in Limerick for Ireland’s pre-Six Nations training camp, said they and their Ravenhill colleagues, including former Springboks Johann Muller, Pedrie Wannenburg and Ruan Pienaar would present a formidable challenge.

“That’s the big thing for them — you look at Trimble, Ferris and Best last week, I thought they were outstanding and you add their South African brigade and [former All Blacks prop John] Afoa to that as well and they have a lot of real form players playing really well so it is going to be a really tough game.”

Leinster finished the pool stage second seeds and their bid to become the first club since Leicester Tigers in 2001 and ’02 to successfully defend their title will require victory over Cardiff at the Aviva Stadium. Beat the seventh seeds, the best pool stage runner-up, and they travel to either Saracens or Clermont Auvergne.

Leinster lock Damian Browne welcomed the opportunity to face Cardiff at the Aviva. “Every player wants to play on the big stage in front of big crowds and a big atmosphere,” Browne said. “What we talked about in the run-up was getting a home quarter-final at the Aviva and protect the [unbeaten] record that we have there.”

And Schmidt said his side would not be daunted by the prospect of an away semi-final. “First and foremost we’re delighted to be in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and to achieve a home tie, given the group we managed to progress out of, is a fine achievement by the team,” Schmidt said.

“If we do manage to win this game that means that we’ll maybe travel to either Wembley Stadium or St Etienne and to be honest if we do get to that stage then we’ll be delighted. But we’re not looking any further past the quarter-final.”