Eddie Butler believes that the 2009 Heineken Cup is Munster's to lose, in The Guardian.
"The Heineken Cup used to be a fairly simple business once the hectic stages of qualifications from the pools were over. Two questions presented themselves: who was going to win it and whose turn was it, perhaps while answering that first question, to beat Munster?
"Actually, Munster were also-rans for the first four years. But in 2000 they made it to the Twickenham final, where they lost to Northampton, and since then they have been fixtures in the last eight, losing only two quarter-finals, to Biarritz in 2005 and the Scarlets in 2007.
"They lost two semi-finals "away" in France (without being in the home ground of their opponents) by a single point, 16-15 to Stade Français in 2001, and 13-12 to Toulouse in 2003. The other semi they lost was at Lansdowne Road, perhaps the most dramatic game over 80 minutes in the history of the competition, 37-32 to Wasps.
"Another final was lost, to Leicester in the "hand of Back" game in Cardiff in 2002. Munster's trail of near-misses didn't quite stretch back into the monochrome depths of Ireland's 1948 grand slam, but every year fairly broke a few more hearts down in Limerick and Cork and all points in between."
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