Munster The Standard Bearers.

Former Leinster coach Michael Cheika makes no bones about the fact that Munster were his role models as he fashioned Leinster into the force they are.

“I'm not embarrassed to say Munster were always out target.” he says in an interview with Peter Bills in today's Irish Independent. “Obviously we wanted to be our own team, we didn't necessarily want to be like them in style. But they were the standard bearers in Ireland and that was our first target, to try to become the best team in Ireland before we could think about becoming the best team in Europe.”

“Munster were such difficult opponents and still are in every game.” he continued. “They really want to beat you especially in the derby matches and in those games, desire is probably bigger than the technical viewpoint.

And in explaining how to create the type of crowd passion so famously lacking in Leinster supporters prior to his arrival, Cheika said, ” Leinster were always associated with flashy football and we didn't want to change that. But we just wanted to add a bit of steel, to give our people what they want, which is a team that believes in itself.

“Munster do that all the time; they have a great identity, that earthy sort of feel about them.

“I loved the games against them and I was very respectful of their pedigree, their history.”