Munster relishing titanic challenge in Champions Cup knockout round

Few sides are more synonymous with European rugby than Irish giant Munster.

The reigning URC Champions have two titles to their name with their latest coming in 2008, despite the length of time since their last title the men in red have remained key challengers year-in year-out.

A member of both of their title-winning teams, current defence coach Dennis Leamy is as well-placed to talk about what it takes to pull off a big result against the odds.

During his playing days the no-nonsense backrow faced just about every top side from European Rugby’s top leagues, among them were England’s Northampton Saints.

The current Gallagher Premiership leaders will enter Sunday’s clash with Munster as hot favourites.

“It’s Europe, it’s Munster in England against the Premiership leaders. Written off. It’s Munster.

“You sense it. Not to overplay that, it’s important not to overplay that. That’s not what we’re about in terms of that siege mentality.”

Focusing on their opponents for the weekend, Leamy was full of praise for the saints, who pulled off a remarkable win at Thomond Park earlier in the season.

“Northampton have earned the right to be favourites; they’ve earned the right to be spoken about the way they play the game.

“You look at the English internationals they have; Alex Mitchell will probably return and he’s a fantastic player for them, makes them tick. Look at a player like Fin Smith, he’s probably going to be a Lion or certainly an English player for a number of years. [Courtney] Lawes, [Louis] Ludlam, [Curtis] Langdon. They’re really, really good players.”

Calling on recent experiences will be crucial to Munster last week, who completed a remarkable late-season turnaround to land the URC title in impressive fashion.

“So it’s a big task, and that’s why people will make them favourites. They say Munster has a difficult job to do. We’ve got to fall back on our abilities. We’ve had the ability to go on the road.

“We’ve won in Glasgow, Dublin, Cape Town last year. We’ve gone to Toulon [and won]. We’re good enough to go to Northampton and put in a performance. If that’s good enough on the day, it’s absolutely brilliant.