No major gulf between us and European elite, insists Mike Sherry

Munster may have lost home and away to English form side Leicester Tigers but Mike Sherry insists there is no major gulf in class between his team and Europe’s top dogs.

The fit-again hooker was left bitterly frustrated by a fourth consecutive loss for the province when Munster were beaten 17-6 by the Tigers at Welford Road on Sunday, a result that leaves the two-times Heineken Cup champions on the brink of Champions Cup elimination heading to Paris on January 9 for their rearranged Pool 4 clash with Stade Francais.

Yet Sherry believes Munster were architects of their own downfall in the English East Midlands, enjoying parity in terms of possession and at the set-piece, and looking dangerous in the final third of the field only to squander try-scoring opportunities time and again.