Paul O’Connell chasing another European miracle

Paul O’Connell has rated Munster’s chances of reaching the Champions Cup quarter-finals as "slim" as they head into a must-win pool encounter at Saracens on Saturday in search of a 100th European victory.

Back-to-back defeats to Clermont Auvergne before Christmas have left the province third in Pool One with two rounds to go, the first of which sees Munster travel to London for a Saturday lunchtime appointment at a sold-out Allianz Park.

Anthony Foley’s team need victory to stay alive and then will likely require a bonus point win at home to Sale Sharks eight days later if they are to progress to a 15th top-flight quarter-final in 16 seasons.

That is an unparalleled level of consistency for the two-time Heineken Cup winners, achieved in part by a number of great escapes from the pool phases, not least the famous “Miracle Match” win over Gloucester at Thomond Park in January 2003.

O’Connell referenced that match but although he warned the chances of reaching the last eight this season are slight, the Ireland captain believes if he and his fellow forwards can play “bigger than we are” against a big English Premiership pack this weekend, then those odds can narrow considerably.

“They’re probably slim,” O’Connell said of Munster’s chances of playing knockout rugby in April, “We have to do something, I wouldn’t say that (it is something) we haven’t done before, I think in Anthony’s era (as a player) we were in a similar position when we lost to Perpignan over there and we managed to pull through.

“But it’s going to take a little bit of luck to go away to Saracens and to win this game is going to be really difficult. So if we can do that, we give ourselves a chance.”

Munster will go to London with a bonus-point Pro12 victory at Zebre under their belts but the stakes are considerably higher against last season’s European finalists and O’Connell acknowledged that the mood in the camp had shifted noticeably this week.

“They’re nervy, edgy weeks in the build-up. I suppose you’re afraid of the consequences of losing and you know what opportunities winning can bring. For me as well, I know how tough it is going over there. They’re a really clever team, very hard to analyse, very unpredictable. They prey on a lot of your errors and they force teams into errors so it’s going to be a very tough game for us. It would be fantastic to get a result, get a win over there and give ourselves a shout and a chance of qualifying but it’s going to be very difficult.”

Allying those heightened emotions to an efficient performance will be key and against a physically imposing Saracens pack which mauled its way to three tries in a narrow league defeat at Gloucester last Friday. O’Connell is acutely aware of the size of the challenge he and the Munster forwards face.

“When you look at their pack, and the size of their pack, you look at the strength in depth they have, we need to be ready to play, I suppose, bigger than we are. That’s what we’ve done in the past in these European Cup games, we’ve played bigger than we are in terms of the teams we’ve played and the packs we’ve taken on.

“That’s what those high emotional levels give you but as I said before, it’s probably irrelevant if you’re not accurate in what you’re doing as well.

“You need a good combination of the two. Rugby’s still a physical game and you need to be ready emotionally to dig in and go hard but you need to be accurate as well. I think if you look at our first game (against Saracens in October) we had a great combination of both, it was a brilliant atmosphere in Thomond Park, we were really up for the game and really accurate in everything we did as well.

“You’ve got to be really ready to physically go against these teams but you have to be really accurate against them as well, especially a team like Saracens because they score so many tries off your mistakes.”

With O’Connell, 36, contemplating retirement at the end of his current IRFU contract in June 2016, the former British & Irish Lions captain acknowledges opportunities for adding to his two winner’s medals are running out, increasing the stakes still further for Saturday’s clash.

“I’m definitely conscious that days like this are going to be few and farther between now.

“You would love to think there will be another few games like this. If we can produce a big performance at the weekend and get a win it gives us a great chance of getting out of the group.”