MUNSTER COACH Tony McGahan said there is no danger of complacency as they prepare to maintain their winning run in Pool One of the Heineken Cup against Scarlets on Sunday.

McGahan said that having had to battle hard to come out the right side of three tight results and not having had “an easy minute” all season, they were under no illusions about the task they face at Thomond Park.

“We are as fearful now as we were going into round one with Northampton,” said McGahan. “We know things can get turned either way and we can undo all the good work and all the fight that we contributed over the last three games. We know where it is at for this weekend.

“I don’t know if we have the ability to look too far ahead, and nor should we. There is a lot of fear for this game because we recognise what Scarlets can do and bring. We know that they would like to have been better than they were on Saturday from their own execution, but I think that was down a lot to us as well.

“We know we need to push on too as you can only live by wits and getting through things so many times. We are looking for our best performance from the weekend on what we have done so far this season. We are looking to get that out this Sunday and I think we will probably need to get a result.”

He wants his side to get an early stranglehold on the game, having had to come from behind to win all three pool games this season, falling 8-0 away to Scarlets last weekend before kicking into gear.

“It is one that we don’t want to happen. Our first 20 minutes was poor on all fronts. I don’t know if that was a great mindset, but there was an inaccuracy about what we delivered,” added McGahan.

“We were a bit frantic there at points in time, I said we are far from where we need to be or what we need to be to get through this pool and those are the things we need to eliminate.

“But our start to the game is critical and it will be again this weekend at home. The Scarlets have to win this one. If we can get the crowd behind us and put that element of doubt in the opposition, it will go a long way towards making that next 60 minutes after that a little bit easier; we haven’t had an easy 80 minutes so far this season. Actually, I don’t think we had an easy minute! We have looked at that this week and we need to make sure we are getting this really solid platform and are not allowing sides up. To be 8-0 away from home with a Scarlets side like that we were extremely fortunate about the way we got the result in the end.”

He said Keith Earls would be in the reckoning for inclusion in Sunday’s squad and that a decision would be taken after training today.

“He came back training last Thursday for his first session and was training again yesterday. With such an injury list at the moment, to get an international player and British and Irish Lions player of his calibre back in training and back in the mix is terrific news for us.

“We’ll have to wait and see, he has been out for four of five weeks now. We’d have like to have played him in an A game at the weekend but that wasn’t possible. He has just two sessions under his belt at the moment so we’ll have to we’ll wait and see. But he certainly has a chance.”

Hayes will finally hang up Munster boots in coming weeks

JOHN HAYES will finally retire from playing with Munster in the coming weeks.

Munster coach Tony McGahan dismissed any notions the 38-year old will stay on until the end of the season having already postponed his retirement plans.

Hayes was due to retire at the end of the World Cup but was persuaded to stay on for a few months after injuries to Peter Borlase and Darragh Hurley left Munster thin in the prop department.

Borlase returned to action when he came off the bench for Munster A at the weekend and McGahan yesterday confirmed the long-serving Hayes would soon be hanging up his boots.

“John will be finishing up in the next few weeks, there isn’t a definite date but there will be something forthcoming in the next period,” said McGahan.

The Bruff clubman was the first Irish player to reach a century of caps and has 107 caps to his name. Hayes has made 221 appearances for Munster, winning two Heineken Cup crowns and two Magners League titles along with a Celtic Cup.

He was the first player to play 100 games in the Heineken Cup and on Sunday could play his 104th, having been included in a 29-man squad announced yesterday.

His last appearance for Munster could come on St Stephen’s Day against Connacht at Thomond Park but McGahan said a definite date had not yet been decided.