No team are 'stupid enough' not to expect big Munster performance 

MUNSTER MENTALITY: Munster players Tadhg Beirne, left, and Conor Murray. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Tadhg Beirne has warned La Rochelle that no team would be “stupid enough” to underestimate Munster’s ability to produce a world-beating performance as the two sides prepare to go toe-to-toe in France on Saturday evening.

The Munster captain respects La Rochelle’s recent European heritage, fostered by their head coach Ronan O’Gara, who has delivered two Champions Cup successes in the last three seasons to add to the Heineken Cup double success he enjoyed with his home province in 2006 and 08.

Yet Beirne tapped into his side’s own heritage when it comes to this competition as he prepared to lead his side out at Stade Marcel-Deflandre in front of an army of travelling Munster supporters.

"I don't think any team is stupid enough not to expect something from us,” the Munster skipper said.

“Most teams now know in this competition we can turn up at any point and it's going to be no different on Saturday. We know what we're capable of, I think this competition can bring out the best in this club and that's what we're going to need to do on Saturday, for sure, going over to somewhere like La Rochelle and it's a competition that they've come to absolutely love as well and it will be in their DNA going forward, I've no doubt.

“So it's going to be a battle for sure and one I'm very excited to be involved in. We know it's a big ask but we also know we're well capable of it.” 

Beirne said the squad was bracing for a top-level La Rochelle performance, despite their recent struggles in the Top 14, and he cited O’Gara’s influence as being fundamental to their efforts in the Champions Cup.

“They've been to three finals in four years and that's what Rog has brought to them a little bit. I've seen those pictures of them coming home with the Champions Cup a couple of years ago, it was pinch yourself stuff for them and that's what he's brought to the club.

“They'll be looking at this competition and thinking ‘this is the one we want to win’, they'll be certainly eyeing this game up from a couple of weeks out, I'm sure, and looking forward to it, much like ourselves.” 

The reasons for Munster’s good spirits lie in last Saturday’s URC derby victory at Connacht, a bonus-point win in front of more than 27,000 at Mayo’s MacHale Park that suggested the men in red have rediscovered their mojo, despite the sending off of centre Alex Nankivell on 25 minutes, after struggles in the absence of their frontline players during the Six Nations and due to injuries.

"It was a huge win for us,” Beirne said. “We put a massive emphasis on it, last week we focused on not thinking about this week, that this was in the distant future and all our eggs were in that Connacht week because we knew how important it was for the league table and how important it was for our own confidence in terms of going forward towards the end of the season.

“So if we had lost that game it would have been a big dent in our confidence, so we put a big emphasis on it and then going down to 14 men, the character that we were able to show was huge. I thought the performance, particularly with the conditions and game management by (Jack) Crowley, Craig (Casey) and Murr (Conor Murray), was second to none and I think that will all stand to us going forward. 

"But at the same time we're not stupid, we're playing a different beast this week and we have to respect that too.”