Butler: Munster ready to unlock Cross Keys

Nothing grates on Munster rugby players more than being told that they are in any way inferior to their Leinster counterparts.

So when the A side upset expectations with their recent fine victory over their greatest rivals in the British & Irish Cup semi-final at the RDS, the confidence that flowed through the camp in the build-up to tomorrow’s final against Cross Keys at Musgrave Park was total.

“A lot of the papers were writing up the Leinster academy and when we played them, we proved that we are just as good if not better than some of those players,” says flanker Paddy Butler, one of several highly promising Tipperary men in the Munster set-up. “That gives you confidence and I think that confidence is deserved.”