World Cup winner Damian de Allende keen to add PRO14 medal to collection

This Friday evening’s knockout clash with Leinster behind closed doors at Aviva Stadium is an early vindication of the world-class centre’s decision to move to Munster

Damian de Allende of Munster makes a break during the Guinness PRO14 match against Connacht at the weekend. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Just two games into his Munster career, Damian de Allende is heading into a Guinness PRO14 semi-final, exactly the reason the South African World Cup winner joined the province earlier this summer.

With a Japan 2019 winner’s medal on his CV following the Springbok’s final victory over England in Yokohama on November 2, and at the peak of his powers, de Allende, 28 might have had his pick of clubs to join on a big-money deal to play alongside fellow galacticos.

Yet he had already pledged his signature to Munster head coach and fellow South African Johann van Graan, convinced that the men in red ticked all the boxes for him in terms of ambition, culture, and environment.

This Friday evening’s knockout clash with Leinster behind closed doors at Aviva Stadium is an early vindication of the world-class centre’s decision. 

Leinster may be favourites but Munster are once again within touching distance of a first trophy since 2011 and the former Stormer who joined from Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights in the summer, is certain he is in the right place to add to his own personal medal collection.

"Definitely. No matter where I play I always strive to win tournaments and championships. I signed for Munster because I feel that they have the credentials and the coaching staff and the players and heart. From what I've seen on TV, obviously I've only played two games here, but I feel they have that team environment that they actually want to achieve.

"You could go to another squad where they have all the stars and the names in their team but it's like they don't want that success or they're not working for that success.

I feel, even before the two games, there's a real energy and desire not just to get to a semi-final or final but to actually win semi-finals and finals. And not just once or twice, but consistently in Pro14 and Champions Cup as well.

"Friday night is going to be a very tough encounter but hopefully we will pitch up. It's a short turnaround (from last Sunday’s win over Connacht) but we know it's just a mental thing.

"We haven't played a lot of rugby over the last six months so there are going to be sore bodies, I think still on Thursday night.

"But if we get the right mindset and we pitch up on Friday night knowing we've got one opportunity and forgetting about everything in the past and not worrying about the final, just staying in the moment for 80 minutes and hopefully we can walk off with big smiles on our faces on Friday night."

The Cape Town native who played for his hometown Stormers for six seasons in Super Rugby, made his Munster debut against Leinster as Irish rugby restarted on August 22 and has shown he can adapt quickly to the different demands of Northern Hemisphere rugby assessing his performances against the Blues and Connacht as “pretty decent”.

"That first game against Leinster was quite tough, especially on the body. Having not played for so long, to come up against Leinster, a world-class team, probably the number one or two team in the world at club level, was quite challenging.

"It was a good test for us as a team going forward. Obviously, we had quite a few new guys coming in as well that got a run, so we held up quite well in that first game and last week was a bit better in terms of the result we got, but also it was very good for the semi-final.

Connacht were very physical on the field and they brought a lot of energy and it felt like we needed a tough game like that leading up to this Friday night.