Munster's Heineken Cup hopes have been dashed by they remain in the hunt for the Amlin Challenge Cup
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Writing in his column for the Irish Times, London Irish's Bob Casey sees no reason for Munster to hit the panic button.
"Only great teams can sustain the consistency of success that Munster have achieved over the last decade. Great clubs find a way to come back when playing personnel changes.That is the challenge facing Munster now.
"Every team goes through down cycles. Just look at the Six Nations. England were the dominant force for a long time, then France and then Ireland had their time. In the English Premier League, Chelsea, and Arsenal before them, took command before inevitably struggling when senior players departed. The trick is to realise and accept you are not as good as you were the previous season and plan for the future. It is about minimising the down period. It requires about two years of planning and development.
"Munster are doing just that. They are out of the Heineken Cup but into the Amlin Challenge Cup. A European trophy remains an aspiration. And they are top of the Magners League. Not bad for a team supposedly on an irreversible downward spiral.
"There remains a great honesty about their leaders. We saw this in the post-match interviews of Ronan O’Gara and Paul O’Connell in Toulon. A clever combination of recruitment and promotion of the next generation (those who are ready, that is) is crucial to regenerating a team as quickly as possible."
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