John O'Sullivangets a mid-season report on the European champions from team manager Shaun Payne

TODAY MUNSTER will attempt a feat that has previously eluded them in this their 14th Heineken Cup campaign when they take on Montauban in the Stade de Sapiac. On three occasions their final pool match has taken them to France but they have yet to register a victory.

In their first foray into Europe in 1995 they lost 19-12 to Castres at the now defunct Stade Antoine Beguere, the following season they were thumped 60-19 by Toulouse at Stade Les Septs Deniers while in January 2002 Castres Olympique, as they became known, triumphed 21-13 in the Stade Pierre Antoine.

Redressing a historical peccadillo won’t be the primary concern in France this afternoon but Munster rarely let an opportunity pass to chisel their name on tournament milestones. Statistical whimsy aside, the Irish province will be motivated by a more tangible reward, namely chasing a victory that will in all likelihood earn them a home quarter-final, thereby facilitating their quest for successive Heineken Cup titles.

Last weekend’s display against the Sale Sharks suggests they are in fine fettle to accomplish that goal. Their deconstruction of the English Premiership club in the final quarter of the contest embellished arguably their most complete performance of the season, although some would champion their 18-0 success over Leinster at the RDS.

Coach Tony McGahan and the players will leave the debate to others, preferring to address more pertinent issues, starting today with Montauban. The French club may lack the august rugby bloodlines of a Toulouse or a Stade Francais but as they demonstrated on their debut in the tournament at Thomond Park last October, they refused to be cowed by reputation. Munster were European champions; Montauban were unfazed.

The Irish province eked out a 19-17 victory, drawing on their mental and physical resolve to avert what threatened to be for large tranches of the match a sensational upset. That game in some respects offers a microcosm of Munster’s season to date. While there has been criticism of some performances it is difficult to quibble with results, the matches against Connacht and Ulster notwithstanding.

Most wins may not have been embroidered with sweeping brushstrokes of rugby artistry but success in sport is not fundamentally gauged by abstract values. Tracing the background to this season in terms of a new coaching team and the attendant teething issues in establishing a new regime merely underlines largely how well the backroom team and players have meshed to keep going forward.

Shaun Payne has finally managed to detach himself from the responsibility of playing to his new duties as team manager. The transition may occasionally inspire a wistful glance to the playing pitch on match days but that moment passes. He’s enjoying the new remit. He’s also perfectly placed to offer a mid-season report on the European champions.

“I’m very happy with how things have panned out so far. If you told me at the start of the season that we would be top of the Magners League and have qualified out of our pool by round five of matches in the Heineken Cup I would have jumped all over that guarantee without question.

“Obviously there are certain variables. In some matches we have played very well in others very poorly and I suppose the key is to find that consistency of performance. Results are what we play for and while you’d always aspire to play great rugby, the bottom line determines whether a team is successful: that bottom line is results.

“We have managed this while changing coaching and playing structures and systems. There have been high points in terms of playing very well – the Leinster and Sale games for example – but perhaps less obvious were the games against Clermont, who I think are the best French team in the competition.”

The catalyst for Munster’s recent excellence was the manner in which the management and players addressed the bitter disappointment of a brace of “derby” defeats to Connacht and Ulster. They did so verbally initially and then translated that commitment to training. Winning at the Liberty Stadium suggested that they had successfully recalibrated their patterns.

Beating the Ospreys-lite was one thing but the litmus test was always going to be the Sale match. In trying to determine how Munster could go from one extreme to another in terms of performance, leaving aside changes in personnel between the four aforementioned matches, the obvious answer appeared to lie in the mindset going into each game.

History has shown that Munster become energised by marquee collisions in European rugby but occasionally struggle when faced with what appears a more mundane assignment. Payne rejects the notion that they may have subconsciously underestimated Connacht and Ulster. “There are no excuses and I wouldn’t accept the suggestion that we didn’t prepare thoroughly or weren’t properly focused.

“When you play local derbies there is a pride that goes with playing against fellas that you know really well. You do not want to lose those matches. We had a massive sense of purpose going into those games. After losing to Connacht we set out to play as well as we could against Ulster. I still can not explain the result, other than paying tribute to Ulster for what was an excellent performance.”

Payne does accept though that there is a palpably different feeling in the week leading up to an important game. Munster have maintained a phenomenal ability to retain that singularity of purpose in Europe, an appetite undiminished by over a decade of success. He laughs: “I have been here a long time and I still don’t understand it. You can feel it though in the week of a big match, on the training ground, in team meetings. Cup rugby is Munster’s forte. The intensity builds and no mistakes are tolerated. You might arrive 10 minutes early for training normally; suddenly guys are there half an hour before time.

“The core of the squad is made up of local guys and they seem to feed off the enthusiasm of friends and family in the build-up to those matches. That sense of community, the bonds forged in underage rugby and solidified over the last 10 years are part of what fills the Munster jersey.

“The Ulster defeat hurt; really stung. Pride was dented but the importance was to channel things in the right direction and put it to good use. That was apparent in the wins over the Ospreys and Sale.”

Montauban is another important staging post on Munster’s immediate itinerary, one which they hope will include a home quarter-final. Payne admits: “Its sounds clichéd but we’re expecting a tough game against a team that has acquitted itself really well in Europe.

“At home they have beaten Sale and run an excellent Clermont team very close in losing and the indications are that they will field a very strong team for today’s game. As they showed in Thomond Park they possess a strong pack, good halfbacks and a great team work ethic.

“We know we have to reduce our error count, the turnovers and be ruthless when the opportunities arise. Their stadium mightn’t be quite as hostile as others in France but it doesn’t mean that Montauban will be any less determined. A crowd doesn’t make the main difference between winning and losing. As a player loud and noisy is exciting but you also get great satisfaction in quietening a crowd.

“A victory would give us a chance of playing our next competitive European game at Thomond Park. That is a massive incentive.”

That and the opportunity to tick another box, marked winning a final pool match in France, on their Heineken Cup to-do list.