Winning The Heineken Cup – The Inside Story

It suddenly hit me what I was about to experience, because the injury had been the only thing in my head all week. Missing that day, when I d been involved all season, would have broken my heart.

On the Bookshelves now, the story (extracts below) of Munster’s march to the Heineken Cup, as told by the players themselves to Alan English with photographs by Billy Stickland.

And to mark the occasion of the launch of Our Road To Glory, Munster players will be in Easons in Cork and O’Mahoney’s in Limerick this Saturday (12.30) to autograph copies of the book.

David Wallace Marcus Horan and Shaun Payne will be joined by a couple of their colleagues at the Limerick store on O’Connell St while Donncha O’Callaghan and Ronan O’Gara will be among those in Easons (Patricks Street)

“The bus journey to the stadium was very special. We hit the city centre and we saw a sea of red in front of us. There were guys with their fists in the air and tears in their eyes. Grown men crying right in front of us. It suddenly hit me what I was about to experience, because the injury had been the only thing in my head all week. Missing that day, when I d been involved all season, would have broken my heart.” – Marcus Horan

WE drove through the gates and I thought, Okay just forget about it now. There were no more people on the side of the road shouting. It was just us now. Without anyone saying it, I think everyone else felt the same. David Wallace.

Everyone was ready. At the team meeting earlier, Axel and John Kelly said some powerful things. Then Paulie spoke. I don t think there s much point in anyone talking after him. He always gets me right for a game. He talked about honesty. He talked about guys in the room being 100 per centers. He said the guys who were,nt lucky enough to tog out were 100 per centers too. He said that was the difference between us and other teams. I knew that he was right and I knew that everything he said he was going to back up on the pitch. That was huge for me. Donncha O Callaghan

I was thinking, I don t want to wake up in the morning and look at myself and say I could have given more. There was so much on the line for us, we d been through so much over the years. It s one thing letting yourself down, but if you let down someone else you know you ll never forgive yourself. There was a real sense of that feeling in the huddle. We were going to go out and give everything we had inside us. We were going out there to win. Peter Stringer.

That night we had our team meeting and Anthony Foley spoke. Munster means everything to him. I could probably count on one hand the fellas I d be prepared to die for and he d be one of them. There are a few like that who are special I suppose. Ronan O Gara.