‘Saracens all out to emulate those special Munster nights’

Billy Vunipola has warned Munster they will be walking into a cauldron at Allianz Park on Saturday and says Saracens are never more dangerous than when their backs are against the wall.

The losers of the European Rugby Cup clash are almost certain to exit the competition before the knockout stage in a difficult group that features three of last season’s semi-finalists.

Yet neither side is in fine form with Munster losing at Connacht on New Year’s Day and Saracens going down to Gloucester last time out.

Saracens’ stuttering form has led to many experts to question whether they can reach last season’s heights, with Ian McGeechan wondering if there was ‘psychological damage’ caused by losing in both the Heineken Cup and Aviva Premiership finals.

Vunipola has hit out at the critics, though, insisting both Saracens and himself are back to form after he suffered a woeful Autumn internationals campaign that saw him dumped by England.

And he is ready to show his worth as Saracens look to emulate Munster’s famous nights at Thomond Park by making Allianz Park a fortress.

“When the heat is on we bring our A game and we will do that on Saturday,” said Vunipola.

“Munster have said themselves that on the big stages they tend to perform, and we are a similar team to them.

“Do we know about those special Munster nights? We do, we definitely want to emulate that and we want to beat them.

“Our crowd will help us. They have quite a few supporters coming down and that shows what a big club they are. We have to close the game out.

“We have our own stadium now and we love the atmosphere. As for criticism I think he (McGeechan) might be trying to just write in his newspaper column and fill it out.

“It (poor form) obviously plays on your mind but as professionals you play every game differently. Some people might like to agree with him but if as player you linger on it too long it will affect your performance.

“On a personal level I was doing alright anyway going into this week. I need to carry on the way I have been going.

“It is a massive game for us as a team. It is knockout now, if we lose these two we are out of the competition and we want to be in it. It is massive not just for me but the team as a whole.”

And Vunipola admits his side need to be ‘less honest’ after going down 14-3 at Thomond Park back in October, a game he felt his side could have won if they had cynically taken down the drive that led to Dave Kilcoyne scoring the only try of the match.

Vunipola has also hailed Paul O’Connell, who he believes is still Munster’s talisman at the age of 36 as the province aim for their 100th win in Europe’s premier competition.

He added: “What did we learn from the loss to them last time? Not to be so honest. With the maul they scored from we hit it early enough and we saw how Clermont were in their faces and not giving them time to set up anything. You saw by the end how frustrated Paul O’Connell was when they stole that ball. Maybe that’s one thing we have to do. They are a very good team so we have to find ways to stop them elsewhere.

“The game in their 22 they turn it up a few notches and you just have to match it. And on the pitch you notice his (O’Connell’s) presence within his own team. People listen to what he says and sometimes when there is a break in play people listen to what he has to say. Peter O’Mahony is the captain but he definitely has a massive influence on their squad.”