Donal Lenihan: Munster remain deluded about their status in Europe

New Champions Cup format was supposed to to introduced at the quarter final stage last season but had to be abandoned due to Covid. It’s now being trialled a round earlier and should prove fascinating

TRY: Munster’s Damian De Allende celebrates with Joey Carbery after scoring a try last Saturday against Leinster. The hosts still lost 34-19. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

I’m not sure why but, for whatever reason, the love affair we’ve enjoyed with the Heineken Champions Cup in this country over the last two decades has waned a little. Perhaps it was the lack of travel over the last two seasons as the tournament was played out in soulless surroundings in empty arenas.

Trips to Toulouse, Clermont, Bordeaux and Paris always offer so much more than the games themselves even if the match day experience in places like the Ernest Wallon in Toulouse, Clermont's Stade Marcel Michelin, the Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux and the incomparable indoor surroundings of Racing 92’s La Defense Arena served to make those trips memorable, irrespective of the result.