Munster set their sights on joining an elite club

HEINEKEN CUP SEMI-FINALS: Gerry Thornleytalks to several Munster players keen to cement their place among the elite teams to have won the Heineken Cup twice

MUNSTER ALWAYS have a cause, an additional source of motivation to add to the mere task of trying to win the Heineken Cup. Reaching their Holy Grail for the first time was one thing; now it's about cementing their place among the elite group of teams to have achieved the feat twice.

No team has given this tournament more, or gained more from it. A seventh semi-final on Sunday, when seeking to reach a fourth final, is proof of that, so to be in the same illustrious company as Toulouse, Wasps and Leicester is, by rights, where Munster should be.

Even in the dressingroom after the victorious 2006 final in the Millennium Stadium, as Jerry Flannery recalled earlier this week, "the point was made to the squad that this couldn't be the end of the journey. The challenge to this team has always been to develop, to add more to our game and try and be as successful as teams like Wasps, Leicester and Toulouse."

Such is their enduring consistency, Munster could never be tagged one-hit wonders, but it would rankle with them if they were never to win it again.

Flannery (one of 13 of Sunday's squad who played some or all of the 2006 final) admits: "It would be a really depressing thought, and one of my biggest fears, that 2006 was the peak of my Munster career. I'd like to think that it was something that spurs you on, that the little bit extra experience of winning in a final makes you a stronger player and a stronger team, and that we can go on and be more successful."

And if coach Declan Kidney was keen to underline to the assembled media on Wednesday that Munster had never beaten an English side in the semi-finals or final (in three attempts) you can be sure he wasn't shy about reminding his players of this from Monday morning. It also serves to guard against any hint of complacency or getting ahead of themselves.

"There's a lot of new players who have come into the Munster squad in the last few years, so for a lot of us there's been no particular monkey on our backs with English sides," says Flannery. "It's just another challenge. It's like when we came into the quarter-final against Gloucester. Declan sets us little targets and sort of challenges, and the fact that so few away teams had won in quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

"For this week it's that we've never beaten an English team in the semis or a final."

Identifying strengths and real threats from Saracens' game is not difficult either. "Our scrum coach, Paul McCarthy, has done a lot of analysis of them, and he says their scrum is as good as he's seen since he's been involved with Munster," reveals Flannery.

For Marcus Horan, as ever, that is a challenge to relish, not fear; all the more so given "people's preconceived ideas" about the Munster/Ireland scrum.

"Especially for me. I don't think I've ever come across a prop that I've been bigger than or heavier than," Horan says, with a self-deprecating smile.

"For me it's a great challenge and I do relish it. But when things go right, and you get one or two scrums that go really well, it's a great lift for the team because of where we're coming from.

"If we can frighten teams like that, with things that they're not expecting, it makes a huge difference to the game."

Like Flannery, Ian Dowling was a rookie in 2006 who's had some hiccups since before regaining his place recently with perhaps the best rugby of his career so far.

"This year, I haven't really got caught up in the hype. I'm managing to stay relaxed, and treat every game the same, so I'm not too hyped up.

"Two years ago was an absolute rollercoaster ride for me. I'd just come in from Shannon, I'd had no experience of professionalism at any sort of level, be it academy or anything like that. I was in awe of some of the lads I was playing with. This year I feel I've taken my game to a new level, whereas last year I maybe plateaued."

Overlooked for Ireland's As in last summer's Churchill Cup, Dowling said he felt his career could go one of two ways.

"I could struggle to get a contract this year, or else it could spur me on to take my game to the next level. I just needed to take a break from the game so I went to Australia for a month with mates from Kilkenny and travelled down the east coast. It was probably the best thing I ever did. Then, the day I got back everything was set to go."

Boosted by the arrival of Doug Howlett and the Kiwi midfield, Dowling says he sounds out the all-time record All Black for advice, although his arrival also concentrated the mind given the increased competition for places in the outside three.

"Some times you can get into a comfort zone, which is fairly dangerous, But when Dougie arrives, the bar goes to a new level and it's absolutely brilliant. You have to step up to that mark because if you don't there's enough players there to take your place."

He also endorses Flannery's view that it might be even more meaningful to be European champions a second time. "You look at players like John Kelly and Anthony Foley, they're legends of Munster rugby. John has already finished up and Anthony's due to finish up this season. I think it would be a fitting tribute to them if we could somehow pull this one out of the bag and send them off with a second Heineken Cup winner's medal."

Another cause.