We must forget Thomond factor says Connacht's John Muldoon

Connacht captain John Muldoon has warned his men can’t get distracted about the possibility of creating history at Thomond Park tomorrow.

Muldoon who turns 33 on Monday, and has made 258 appearances for the province, has yet to taste success at the Limerick venue where Connacht have not won a competitive game since 1986.

But while Connacht go there as PRO12 leaders after their best start to the season, Muldoon warned they need to concentrate on the match itself and not get wrapped up in the significance of the occasion.

“Thomond Park has been a graveyard for Connacht rugby. Would we love to win down there, absolutely. We beat them in pre-season and I’ve beaten them a couple of times at underage level.

“I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t love to win in Munster before I retire, it’s one of the places where I have never won at senior level.

“There’s a lot of us out there that would love it,” said Muldoon.

The westerners have only ever beaten Munster twice in 25 league meetings, but with their current form, coupled with last season’s 24-16 win at the Sportsground, Pat Lam’s men are full of confidence.

Connacht have eight wins from nine in all competitions this term, as well as a 28-12 pre-season victory at the Limerick venue, and are in good shape.

Munster had last week off as their Champions Cup tie with Stade Francais was cancelled, following the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Munster have also had a fast start to their season with seven wins from eight games, despite having to do without their international contingent.

Likewise Connacht were without star centre Robbie Henshaw, and prop Nathan White. But Muldoon knows the odds are stacked against them to deliver.

“Munster had a week off last weekend, we’re a bit behind. We’ve to clear up a few injuries, they had a couple last week and have had time to get right.

“We just go down and do our stuff right and hopefully we come out with a good result. History tells us that won’t be the case, so everything’s stacked against us.

“There’s a lot of pressure on us to show are we the real deal or are we getting better every year. We believe we can put it up to any team.

“When we look back at videos, we don’t look at the opposition and what they’ve done, it’s what we’ve done wrong to put ourselves there.

“And I think that’s the real mental change, a psychological change that we’ve had over the last couple of years.

“When someone asks the question, what has Pat brought to us? There hasn’t been an awful big change around, just a couple of lads coming in and a lot of young lads coming up.

“But they’ve been bled into the system over the last 18 months to two years and they know what’s expected.

“It’s not left to one or two individuals to get on top of them, so there’s a good leadership group growing there as well.”