Sherry pleased with Munster young guns

MUNSTER hooker Mike Sherry believes the side’s success in qualifying for the quarter-finals of this season’s Heineken Cup is ‘huge’ in terms of the team’s development.

Two-time Heineken Cup winners Munster secured a quarter-final meeting with Aviva Premiership tabletoppers Harlequins at The Stoop on the weekend of April 6-7, thanks to their bonus point win over Racing Metro at Thomond Park on Sunday. Munster will face either Clermont Auvergne or Montpellier in the semi-final if they overcome ‘Quins.

Sherry, who was called into the Irish training squad this week, said he hoped the victory would repay the support of their coaching staff and the province’s fans.

Sherry said: “This is huge. There has obviously been a lot of talk about our gameplan and what we are doing. But we just said that if we batten down the hatches and just play rugby the gameplan is there to cater for whatever way we want to play. We owed Rob (Penney) and coaches, the fans - their support has been incredible - I can’t describe what it was like to play in that atmosphere. I hope we never lose that. I think we repaid them a small bit.

“It was something like 10 years and a day since the Miracle Match with Gloucester. That was in our minds, that we had to do something special to create a bit of Munster history ourselves. Everyone knows about Munster in Europe, but they don’t know about this group of players coming in. We really wanted to announce ourselves. We have to take the mantle on now.

“I see Quinny (Alan Quinlan) and Fla (Jerry Flannery) on a regular basis. The likes of Paulie (O’Connell), Rog (Ronan O’Gara) Donners (Donncha O’Callaghan) and Marcus (Horan) are still around. You talk to them about what they have done before, they work they have done to build up what Munster is. For us to add another layer onto that is hugely important for us. We are really proud of what we do.

“You look at a fella like Tommy O’Donnell, who is filling Wally’s (David Wallace) shoes - I know Sean Dougall did it brilliantly earlier on in the season before getting injured - but Tommy is playing unbelievable stuff.

“Any time he gets the ball you are expecting him to make a 50 metre break at the moment.

“He is an example of a fella who has really taking his chance and is buying into the idea that its his jersey at the moment.”

Sherry believes Harlequins will prove formidable opponents in April’s quarter-final showdown between the sides. Munster’s ticket allocation for the game will be distributed through the province’s rugby clubs and the Munster Rugby Supporters Club.

Sherry said: “It is going to be an incredibly hard match. I think they have won something like their last eight games. They are very good, I have seen them play a lot this year. They have a lot of potential Lions and a lot of England internationals. That will be a huge challenge.”