European Cup News: It will be of immense relief to Munster and their supporters in their current time of difficulty that Paul O'Connell and Ronan O'Gara have overcome minor injuries and will be fit for the holders' opening defence of the Heineken European Cup away to two-time winners Leicester at Welford Road on Sunday.
O'Gara trained yesterday without any undue reaction to the shoulder injury which forced his departure in the early stages of Munster's Magners Celtic League defeat at home to Edinburgh last Friday night.
Although O'Connell sat out training due to the hip muscle injury which prevented him from playing in the Edinburgh match, according to a Munster spokesperson this was merely because "it was deemed prudent to give him a day off."
And despite Munster's worryingly poor form, O'Gara maintains that Munster's desire to retain the European Cup is as strong as it was to finally win it.
"We worked bloody hard to win this tournament and we don't want to be the nearly men when people talk about great sides in the Heineken Cup," said O'Gara, who is the tournament's leading points scorer of all time with 764 points in 59 matches, according to the official ERC newswire released yesterday.
"There is absolutely no way we are going to take our foot off the pedal now that we have finally won the title. We want to go on from here - you can only be called a great side when you win this tournament on more than one occasion. We respect how difficult it is to win the Heineken Cup, you need a bit of luck and the real key is to stay injury-free.
"But we have a great bunch of lads at Munster and some very fine players," added O'Gara.
"Paul O'Connell has taken over as captain and he will bring a great attitude to the job because he is a great performer who sets very high standards."
Munster's daunting trek to Welford Road revives memories of their loss in Sale last season and at Gloucester in 2002-'03, while Leicester will still be smarting from Munster's memorable quarter-final win there four seasons ago - itself revenge of sorts for the second of Leicester's back-to-back successes the year before. All told, Munster have won four and lost five European Cup games at English Premiership grounds.
"Playing Leicester is going to be hugely difficult - it will be a massive challenge. They have been the driving force for the last 10 years in England and European rugby circles," said O'Gara.
"Welford Road is a very tight ground with a small pitch. But the atmosphere is electric and these are the sort of games everyone looks forward to."
