Ulster now have the belief, declares Pienaar

Ulster’s Ruan Pienaar is in contention to join an elite group of players who have won both the Heineken Cup and the Rugby World Cup.

Part of the successful South Africa squad in 2007, Pienaar is quietlyconfident that Ulster can claim Europe’s premier club tournamentfollowing their momentous quarter-final victory over Munster at Thomond on Sunday.

“We believe we can go all the way, but we have to stay humble,” says the 28-year-old, who has been capped 51 times by South Africa.

“We still have a lot of hard work left to do before the semi and hopefully we’ll get the result. Obviously, we know quite a bit about Edinburgh, and it was a really great performance by them to beat Toulouse, so it’s going to be a tough battle for us.

“It was a fantastic victory over Munster and we’ve had our celebrations, so in a way it’s forgotten and we’ve got to move on now.

“It’s special to win at Thomond Park, but in the context of the tournament, we haven’t achieved anything yet.”

He played in the last season’s quarter-final defeat by Northampton Saints at stadium:mk when Ulster ran out of steam in the second half and is adamant that the disappointment that day was a factor in the storming of Thomond Park. “We spoke about the mistakes we made last season against Northampton, and we learned from that,” he said. “We’re all a bit older and wiser and I think that showed against Munster. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put in another big performance (against Edinburgh in the semi-final) like the one against Munster. I don’t necessarily think that having the semi-final in Ireland gives us an edge, but having the majority of the support will help.”

Meanwhile Leinster are bidding to become only the second club to claim back-to-back titles. But prop Mike Ross wouldn’t be underestimating the challenge posed by Clermont in France last this month.

“The semi-final will be a tough challenge,” said Ross. “They were without Thomas Domingo and Martin Scelzo in the quarter-final but they still have a formidable scrum and it will be like playing in a bear pit down there. It would be a massive coup to defend the Heineken Cup. Only one team has done that before and we know what a great team Leicester were (2001, 2002). To match the feat of that Tigers team would be a great achievement and we couldn’t ask for any extra motivation.

“We are also still on course in the league and doing the double is something that hasn’t been done before so it’s all on the table for us and these are exciting times to be a Leinster player.”