The Old Dog for the Hard Road.

“It s a pretty intimidating place to play (Stade Pierre-Antoine) but the good thing is we have a very experienced squad. We ve been through this kind of situation before.” – Anthony Foley.

Munster captain Anthony Foley just fresh from a marvellous autumn international campaign is rearing to go for Munster in tonight s Heineken Cup clash with Castres Olympique. Foley doesn t think for one second that the high of the past weeks will distract either him or his international colleagues from the task ahead. That s not an issue at all we re really focussed on the game. Playing away from home is difficult enough but it s always very hard to win in France. So all our thoughts are geared to 80 minutes of rugby and trying to get the best out of ourselves for that game. It s a pretty intimidating place to play (Stade Pierre-Antoine) but the good thing is we have a very experienced squad. We ve been through this kind of situation before so its just a matter of sometimes drawing on that experience and to look forward to playing in this type of atmosphere because it s something you don t get every week.

I feel great. Can t wait to get out again. I think when you re winning the whole time you just really look forward to play. Being away from the lads for four weeks and seeing how they ve got the results makes you want to get back quicker.

I know last year it was a bit different when we were coming back in and the boys weren t winning so it was hard to come back in because you have to pick up the squad, try lift it and get results that way. This year we are coming back in and everybody is literally floating, everybody happy to be in the squad and there s a good buzz about the place. When we re away and the game isn t on the box, we are kept well informed of how they are getting on .

We ve been dying to get into the season. We had a ten week pre-season which was great for us and that has shown in the last few weeks. But during that period when the boys (Munster) were playing you were dying to be playing. Now that we re playing games nobody wants to be left out. Just look at our situation with our back-row, You don t want to be left out because you don t want anybody else getting a chance in your position. It could be a long rest you re getting.

Back to the game in Castres and the unique atmosphere of French stadia. Yeh, the atmosphere is something else. Its something that every player looks forward to. There s a great buzz in these games. I think every players feels the same. Once you get used to it and realise it s the norm over here every player looks forward to it .

Nor does Foley accept that either Munster or their opponents on Friday are the only contenders in Pool 4.

I think all the teams are still in the frame. I don t think you ll get a clear picture until the week after next when there s four games in and maybe then one team might be out of it but you don t know. We re in a group with a lot of quality sides, sides that are in form at the moment. It s one of these groups where anything can happen .