Leinster's Jonny Sexton threw a spanner in the works for Saracens back in October
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Gerry Thornley believes that Munster could do with taking a leaf out of Leinster's book this weekend as the Heineken Cup reaches the sharp end in The Irish Times.
"Leinster and Munster head into their final two similarly tricky, defining Heineken Cup pool games – banana skins at home to faltering English Premiership opposition and rather more daunting treks away to nouveau riche French teams. They do so on the back of scratchy home wins dominated by pedantic Welsh referees, while indebted to their frontline Irish outhalves and place-kickers. Perhaps, the similarities end there.
"Whereas Munster are much better placed in the Magners League, that is secondary to the holy grail that is the Heineken Cup – pretty much to all Irish players, supporters and media alike. Thus, Leinster can secure qualification by beating Saracens at the RDS on Saturday, though as Saracens showed in round four when picking up their first win away to Racing, there is little likelihood of them rolling over. This is especially so given the history of the first meeting when Leinster won at Wembley in one of the tournament’s finest displays to date, although it may be a little diluted by Brendan Venter’s return to South Africa yesterday bearing in mind another of his rather lop-sided post-match loser’s rant which contained the bizarre claim that rugby would die."
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