O'Connell keeps head below the storm of hype

LEINSTER v MUNSTER:IF THEIR talismanic captain is anything to go by, Munster are taking this one in their stride. Players from both camps subsequently admitted that the extraordinary hype in the build-up to the Heineken Cup semi-final of three years ago left them thoroughly drained, and while the expectation and focus which goes with a world record 82,300 Croke Park sell-out is hardly small fry, you sense that both camps have learned from the experience.

Munster appeared to take that semi-final of three years ago much more in their stride than Leinster but in any event, as Paul O’Connell said yesterday, Munster are a different team these days. The Lions captain also says he has learned to cope with the hype better, and not having been round to his parents house this past week – what with one thing or another – he hasn’t had a chance to read any papers.

“With experience, I’ve learned to get away from it (the hype). There is a big buzz around Limerick but you can learn to avoid it. With the Grand Slam games and the big home quarter-final we’re kind of used to it now. How do you avoid it? I suppose I just don’t pay as much attention to it any more. Everyone wants to wish you the best of luck, but because we’ve had so many big games with Ireland and so many big games with Munster, you probably become a bit used to it. It doesn’t frighten you when it ups a gear week to week, like it did with the Ospreys game.”

Echoing the sentiments expressed by Brian O’Driscoll earlier this season, O’Connell admitted: “When I was younger, I didn’t put much store in experience, but experience is massive. It’s only when you get older that you realise how important it is.

“It will be great for us to have been here and won, but it is a semi-final. It’s a big game to most guys, and most of the Leinster players will have played in big games and won. It’s nothing new to them.”

One former Leinster player maintains that it’s going a little too far to liken epic Munster-Leinster matches to brothers fighting, but O’Connell was more inclined to use the analogy.

Discussing the uniqueness of this match-up, the Munster captain said: “I was asked why is it such a big rivalry, and that’s why it is; because we know each other so well and because we’re friends. When I was growing up, the guy I hated to lose to was my brother. And that’s the way it is now: because of what we’ve achieved we’ll be friends for life, and those are the guys you hate to lose to most. I’m sure they are saying the same thing.”

There might be a perception out there that Leinster can be a little mentally brittle, although you’d have thought that the nature of their sleeves-rolled-up quarter-final win away to Harlequins would have dispelled that one, but in any event it’s not one O’Connell shares. Asked what it was that he respected most about Leinster, he said: “They are mentally very strong. They had a fabulous performance against Harlequins; I had a lot of respect for the win away from home against a very confident side.”

Also, no doubt mindful of the dozen or so turnovers Leinster forced at the breakdown in their Magners League clash in Thomond Park three weeks ago, he added: “Their stuff around the breakdown is top class. Normally with teams you target one guy who is very strong around the breakdown; they have five or six, who are brilliant at slowing down ball, poaching ball, getting penalties. It’s something we have to be very aware of.”

O’Connell acknowledges Munster are in a good place at the moment, after nine successive wins, but you sense the memory of that stunning 37-11 defeat lingers longer than any of the intervening victories. Nothing concentrates the Munster mindset quite like the fear of another defeat like that.

“We keep a cap on over-confidence because we know we can be as bad as any side in the Magners League or Heineken Cup on any given day if our heads aren’t right. We know that, we’ve seen it happen this year against Ulster twice and against Connacht, and Montauban at home.

“We know how bad we can be when the head isn’t on. It’s something we keep reminding ourselves about and it’s something that Dumper (Tony McGahan) keeps reminding us about and he stays on top of us about it. We know how good we can be on our day, but on our day there’s a lot of hard work goes into it, a lot of concentration, and we never take that for granted either.”

“One thing we’ve been good at is realising is it’s all about ‘on the day’,” said O’Connell. “It’s a cup match; it’s knockout rugby; it’s something we were raised in. And we know no matter how big a team is, an underdog or a favourite, it’s all down to the day and the performance, and what you bring. That’s what we’ve been reminding ourselves of all this week.”