O’Connell: We’d love to beat our friends

Munster captain Paul O’Connell has compared taking on Leinster in the Heineken Cup to competing against his own brother when he was growing up in Limerick.

“When I was growing up the guy I hated to lose to most was my brother and we’re all very close as friends,” he said.

“After what we’ve achieved with Ireland we’ll be friends for life but they are also the guys you hate to lose to most. I’m sure they are saying the same thing.”

Though Munster have nine successive wins under their belt going into Saturday’s clash and are hotly tipped to win, O’Connell said: “We keep a cap on overconfidence because we know we can be as bad as any side in the Magners League or the Heineken Cup on any given day if our heads aren’t right. We’ve seen it happen twice against Ulster and against Connacht and a good few other times like Montauban at home.”

Munster reported a clean bill of health yesterday with Mike Prendergast joining the squad in place of the injured Tomás O’Leary.

Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.