Skipper Peter O'Mahony warns pool wide open despite Munster's control

Munster skipper Peter O’Mahony has warned Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Gloucester at Kingsholm will be the mother of all battles.

Although results so far indicate Munster are in control of Pool 6, O’Mahony insists it is still wide open and warns there is no margin for error in the run-in.

“I still think this pool is still wide open to be totally honest with you. The fact that [Gloucester] shipped a heavy defeat to Saracens last week could be a motivating factor for them. I suppose we’ve always seen a bit of us in them, to be fair, down the years. It’s a special occasion every time we play each other and there’s probably a bit of Thomond Park in Kingsholm; it’s that kind of ground.

“It’s a tough place for teams to play, they’re a proud bunch of players and they have proud supporters. So they’ll be looking for a big performance. It will be tougher than you think.

“Anytime I’ve been a supporter over there, or playing, it’s a tough place to be; they’re a hostile crew, a great bunch of supporters. We’re expecting a full house and for them to shout the house down. However, we’re looking forward to it. I’ve been there more following than playing, particularly in ’03 and ’08 with my father. It was even intimidating being there as a supporter.”

“No doubt, Nigel Davies will have them fired up after the Sarries fiasco so in many ways it’s the worst thing that could have happened. We just have to look after ourselves and get our own house in order.

“Gloucester can prioritise this game; they’re eighth in the Premiership but this pool isn’t over in our heads. It’s a huge game, probably the biggest so far.”

O’Mahony believes the defeat by Ulster may have an upside to it — a timely wake-up call he believes.

“We didn’t deserve to win in the end, we left ourselves with too much to do at half-time. We’ve had a look at it and had honest enough meetings. We’ve got to the bottom of a few things, our attack wasn’t good enough at times. Some of our scrum defence wasn’t good enough, our set-piece wasn’t good enough either, so we’ve had a lot to focus on and we’re happy with the way today’s training session went.

“Guys are nicely focused on the weekend. It’s good to be out there on a Tuesday, normally we do that type of stuff on a Wednesday. We’re in a good place; we had a good couple of meetings yesterday and a suitable response from the lads.”

Amongst that group was Simon Zebo, who is on the cusp of making the match-day squad after recovering from a broken foot. The skipper believes Zebo’s enthusiasm could make a difference.

“It’s great to have him back training. He never really went away. And credit to him, he’s been doing so much hard work on his own these past few months. It’s great to have him back at training. He’s a bubbly character and he’s great to have around the squad. He’s a very good professional, a serious athlete.”