Ryan: Its's not about the past

Gloucester coach Dean Ryan insists events of last season will count for little as the Cherry and Whites prepare for tomorrow’s crunch Pool Five showdown with Munster.

The two sides were matched in the same group during the last Heineken Cup campaign and although Gloucester ran out convincing 35-16 winners at Kingsholm, they were blitzed 33-6 in Limerick as the Irishmen swept into the quarter-finals.

A year later and their fierce rivalry is set to be ignited once again as fans are served up a mouth-watering double header with tomorrow’s clash in Gloucester followed by the return at Thomond Park seven days later.

But Ryan believes the departure of several players over the summer, combined with a lengthy injury list, has hampered Gloucester’s European prospects this year – although he insists his team are still relishing the challenge before them.

“Everyone around the periphery will be making a whole lot more of last season than we are. We are a different side from last year with more outgoings than incomings,” said Ryan, whose side top Pool Five by a single point with Munster in second.

“This is only the third week that we have had everyone together as a squad so perhaps our preparations could have been better.

“But from the moment the pools were announced everyone knew that these two matches were likely go a long way to dictating the way things would develop in Pool Five and the back-to-back games with Munster represent huge challenges.

“We have the utmost respect for Munster and it should be a cracking occasion. These are the sort of games with which you want to be involved and Gloucester against Munster is hard to rival.”

Munster director of rugby Alan Gaffney echoed Ryan’s sentiment that last season will have little bearing on the next eight days and revealed that his side’s preparations have also been hampered by absentees.

“They gave us a good shellacking at Kingsholm and we did much the same to them at Thomond Park but those games are history.

“They are gone and we are giving no thought to them – we are starting afresh,” he said. “Most teams have been affected by international calls but perhaps not everyone is aware that we were without 13 of our leading players for the last three weeks.

“They were involved in two Irish training camps and also had a week break, only coming back to us last Thursday for a Friday game. That is how things fall but now we are focusing on Gloucester.”

Edinburgh hold a comfortable four-point cushion at the top of Pool Two but that advantage could be slashed tonight when Leeds travel to Meadowbank.

Scotland have yet to provide a team to the knockout stages in the seven years their sides have competed in the tournament, leaving high-flying Edinburgh to chase a piece of Heineken Cup history.

“It is extremely tough to qualify for the last eight in this tournament,” said coach Frank Hadden.

“But we know we have put ourselves in a position to go through and that is our sole aim over the next month – to be the first Scottish side to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

“I am getting a lot of pleasure out of watching the style of game we are producing – Scottish rugby is not renowned for passing skills and that is what we have been working on.”

Leeds boss Phil Davies is calling for a improvement from his side after they collapsed to successive Zurich Premiership defeats to Leicester and Saracens over the Christmas period.

“This game has a real cup atmosphere to it with us playing each other in consecutive weeks and we will be looking to make the most of this first game before we meet again next Sunday at Headingley,” said the Welshman.

“In the context of the group, it is important we get something out of the game. However, before we can worry about the table we must make sure our performance is back to our own high standard.”

In tonight’s other matches, Sale travel to Leinster while Pool Four leaders Llanelli host Agen.