Pat Murray’s vote of confidence for Munster’s Saracens mission

When Pat Murray speaks about Munster, he does so as much with his head as with his heart.

With most people writing Munster off, former skipper Murray has given a vote of confidence to Anthony Foley’s men as they once again dare to produce the impossible in Saturday’s crucial European clash with Saracens.

Irrespective of what happened to date in Pool 1, Murray has watched Munster over the years claw their way back from the edge in matches, watched them develop from strugglers to two-time champions and into a team that have often stunned opponents and thrilled their marvellous supporters.

Things haven’t changed much, says Murray. “If you’re only to look at this game because you’re playing a top class team away, then Munster will struggle, but with Munster there’s always the view that games like this can be won. Since the 1999 win over Saracens, Munster have met and conquered the best.”

Murray helped bring Munster into the professional era. Looking back, he still looks to that game as a day when Munster finally came good to put a steep learning curve behind them. He will never forget the tremendous display produced by Munster against a star-studded Saracens. That was, in a big way, where Munster emerged from the shadows.

“That game against Saracens was remarkable. It kept on going away from us but we kept coming back. We were dead and buried on a couple of occasions but mental strength was everything.”

Drawing on that inspiration, Murray believes Munster can pull off another shock win.

“Looking forward to this weekend, I’m sure Axel and Paulie, all those senior players especially, will look to Munster’s achievements and take on board the fact that things like this have happened before. Nothing has changed.

“Yes, if you’re looking at it from a neutral point if you would be backing Saracens to win. If you look at them from 1 to 15 and us from 1 to 15, what we have here are lots of homegrown guys who have been following Munster for a long time. We have been building up a squad, and everybody has had to build into the ethos. That is huge, you simply cannot buy that.”

“I suppose it comes down to ‘the fight in the dog’. Munster showed what they are made of in the closing moments of the away game in Clermont. Pulling 10 points out of the bag and getting the bonus point from defeat was remarkable. It wasn’t I believe because Clermont took the foot off the throttle but an indication that Munster simply never give up.”