Munster seek perfect record

HOOKER Damien Varley is hopeful Munster can buck a trend by becoming the first side ever to remain unbeaten on route to lifting the Heineken Cup in May.

History shows that no club since the inception of home and away games in the pool stages of the Heineken Cup in 1997-’98 has won Europe’s premier club rugby competition without losing a game.

Pool 1 table toppers Munster will qualify for the quarter-finals of this season’s competition with a bonus point victory over Castres Olympique before a sell-out attendance at Thomond Park this Saturday (3.40pm).

Damien Varley said: “Tradition is there to be broken, although we all know that winning nine straight games in Europe is very hard. Someone is going to do it and all we want to do is keep on winning.

“We know Castres will come with a point to prove after the way we beat them with a Ronan O’Gara drop goal in injury time and it will be the same when we go to face Northampton Saints (on Saturday week). We all know there are two tough games to come and, from a psychological point of view, we want to keep on winning to maintain our momentum.”

Varley revealed that the Munster players are determined to make up for last season when the province failed to make it through to the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for the first time in 13 seasons.

“Last season was very disappointing from a Heineken Cup perspective and at the start of the season we vowed to better ourselves and go on and win it this year,” 28-year-old Varley.

“We have won four out of four in our Pool to date and although we know we aren’t winning well we have at least put ourselves in a good position to qualify with two games to go.

“We’ve put a lot of work in up front this season and I think we are a real forced to be reckoned with at the set-pieces. The arrival of BJ Botha has added more strength up front and we are a physical side capable of putting real pressure on teams.”

And Varley insists that even though the familiar face of John Hayes will be missing form the Munster dressing room ahead of Saturday’s game as a result of his recent retirement, the Limerick prop’s values and experience will remain with the team as they seek to clinch a 13th Heineken Cup quarter-final appearance.

“It will seem a little strange not having John around the dressing room, but all teams evolve and move on. When we played against Northampton Saints in Round 1 it was the first time we hadn’t had an Anthony Foley, Alan Quinlan, John Hayes or David Wallace in the starting line-up,” Varley pointed out.

“John has been such a massive part of Munster rugby for the past 14 seasons, but that’s sport – guys move on.

“John has passed on a massive amount of knowledge and experience to the younger players and will continue to be an inspiration to all of us.

“He spoke to us in the dressing room after his final appearance against Connacht recently and told us what it had meant to him to wear the Munster jersey. His values will be carried on by those who remain.”