The European Cup holders have been here many times before, but Gerry Thornleysets the scene anyway

HOW MANY of their previous 10 pool matches in England have Munster won? Ask even those who've soldiered through them and they're surprised to hear they've actually won as many as four.

It's not actually a strike rate, albeit it shows how difficult it is to win away in the Heineken Cup against frontline teams. Perhaps the most relevant comparison is with Toulouse, the other heavyweight ever-presents, whose record in the pool stages in England is nearly identical to Munster's: four wins, one draw and six defeats. The French outfit have also won a couple of away semi-finals in England along with a losing semi-final and final.

Similarly, when one takes into account Munster's knock-out record in England, it is even better, thanks to a quarter-final win in Leicester and last season's two knock-out wins.

The theory always went that Munster struggled against juggernaut English packs but in fact they have an identical win ratio from double the number of sorties to France.

"Away from home I'd say every team would have a negative record," Anthony Foley. "It should theoretically be easier going to England, being closer, but you're up against tough sides with a lot of pride playing at home . . . it's very hard to turn (them) over."

Back in the less halcyon days of yore, when the Irish provinces lagged behind their English and French brethren in terms of professionalism, conditioning, and recruitment, winning on French soil appeared the bigger obstacle.

Entering the fifth season of the competition, 1999-2000, Munster had lost four times in France, including a 60-19 defeat in Toulouse. They'd been to England once in that time, losing 48-40 to Harlequins - the only match for which Foley wasn't picked in the first dozen years of the Heineken Cup.

He had been dropped after a late finish in a Dublin night club when in the dastardly company of Mick Galwey and Peter Clohessy, and recalls in his recent autobiography, Axel, a Memoir, that only Lady Diana's death kept his nocturnal activities off the front page.

To give the game more spice, Keith Wood was in the opposition ranks.

"It was also the day I punched Woody's lights. I was the worst man in Europe, never mind Ireland," laughs Galwey. Why did he do it?

"He was being Woody."

"That game is remembered for Axel being dropped, me punching Woody, Lady Di's funeral the day before, Rhys Ellison's debut and Quinny (Alan Quinlan) launching his career with a marvellous try from about 40 metres. He'd come from being a good AIL player to one that had to be watched in Europe. He had a dummy and pace back then," laughs Galwey.

A late Laurent Cabanne try ended hopes of a memorable comeback but there were plenty of positives.

"That was also the game when it became clear that, for the first time, we got an overseas player who made a difference," says Galwey. "Rhys Ellison destroyed Will Carling in a tackle and all of a sudden we realised we had somebody from the outside who was willing to put in the effort."

The story goes that Ellison, annoyed with a team-mate for talking aloud about Harlequins' qualities that night, boxed him and said: "They've two arms and two legs, just like us."

"Yeah, yeah, that rings a bell," says Galwey. "And that was his philosophy. He was a mean bastard and he gave us a bit of confidence that we needed."

Ii would be another two years before Munster returned to England when facing a star-studded Saracens team captained by Francois Pienaar, But Munster, energised by Wood's one-year return and the arrival of John Langford and Mike Mullins, arrived on the back of a clean sweep in the interpros.

Along with the emergence of John Hayes, David Wallace and Peter Stringer, the team showed 10 changes from that beaten by Harlequins.

The week before the competition started, Declan Kidney had asked the players what their ambitions were. A first win in France and a first win in England were mentioned, for in their previous 10 away games in Europe they had won just once, in Padova. But Wood declared he wanted to win the Cup. Some players have admitted to being stunned, Galwey included.

"I remember thinking 'that's easy for you to say, Fester, you haven't been here when we were getting hosed for the previous few years'. But in fairness to Fester . . . he was the one who put the idea in our head, and we nearly did win the Heineken Cup. We came within a kick of the ball of winning it. I'm not sure Fester believed it himself, but he started that belief. It was a huge turning point."

So too was Jason Holland's emergence and the arrival of Langford.

"Langford brought little things into our game," says Galwey. "Munster always had the passion and the determination, but he brought the little bit extra cuteness and skill. But it was a combination of a lot of good things and good people, especially Declan, who always had a way of preparing us differently for every match."

On the Tuesday before the Saracens match, Niall O'Donovan began the video presentation. After some minutes, Kidney put on a Fez - Saracens headgear - and began operating a remote-control train to imitate the mobile kicking tee at Vicarage Road.

The players tried to stifle giggles as O'Donovan and Kidney continued, and when they were finished, Kidney asked, "What happened on the video in the last two minutes?" No-one had managed to maintain focus on the video; but it was Kidney's way of preparing them for something most would never have experienced.

Munster won a memorable end-to-end contest by 35-34, thanks to a late Jeremy Staunton try off a wonderful left-to-right skip pass by Mike Mullins - who scored a try himself that day in a tour de force - and Galwey and Foley concede that Ronan O'Gara's winning conversion was a decidedly close shave by the top of the left post.

"The best way to win it, and all the better for the fact it was controversial," says Galwey, who also noted Munster's ability to see out the last 20 minutes strongly for the first time that season.

A fortnight later, they broke their duck in France, against Colomiers - who had beaten them in a quarter-final the season before - en route to the final, where they lost to Northampton.

"But Munster had turned two major corners in the space of a week or two, and it was all down to confidence and a bit of self-belief, and a bit of luck along the way," says Galwey.

Even so, the following season Munster travelled to the Rec a week after thumping Bath 31-9 at Thomond Park and were beaten 18-5.

"We'd done a number on them the week before and we went to the Rec in a confident frame of mind," admits Foley. "But they were a different team at home . . . and we were well beaten. It was just one of those days."

But even the bad days in England served a purpose, and there was none worse on English soil than their 35-11 defeat to Gloucester in October 2002.

"They played a three-pod system and we struggled defensively," says Foley. "We learned an awful lot from that game, probably more than any other in Europe. We had to defend for long stretches before we eventually cracked and we learned we had to put more pressure on the ball defensively."

It was Galwey's last Heineken Cup start. "I remember being taken off near the end. I'd done my bit, as much as I could have done, but I remember sitting on the bench that day alongside Alan Gaffney of all people, and I remember Peter Stringer sneaking over for a try at the end and knowing at the time that could be a very important score."

Foley verifies that Galwey said as much in the dressingroom afterwards.

"It meant we needed a miracle to get through," says Foley whimsically, which is of course what they got in the return match when Munster had to win by four tries and 27 points.

"And no matter what anybody says, nobody knew what we needed to get through," maintains Galwey. "It was a case of Munster having to win that match . . . and the Gloucester crowd saying they were looking forward to coming to Thomond Park, which is probably the biggest mistake any team has ever made in Europe. That's like telling the Romans you were looking forward to coming to the Colosseum."

Beaten by Leicester in the final in Cardiff that season, Munster travelled to Welford Road in the quarter-finals the following season with the Tigers seeking a third successive crown.

"Strings finished off one fabulous try and at the end we mauled them from the halfway line to ten metres from their line," recalls Foley. "It showed we were really maturing as a pack."

After another defeat in Kingsholm and an eminently forgettable win over Harlequins in Twickenham, the most pertinent case history with tomorrow in mind was the trek to Stockport in October 2005 when an unfamiliar line-up - featuring Gary Connolly and Anton Pitout among the threequarters and a Euro debut at scrumhalf for Tomás O'Leary - lost to Sale.

"It was a bruising battle up front," recalls Foley. "We lost Frankie (Sheahan) and Quinny for a very long period of time . . . Frankie did his neck and Quinny did his knee. Frankie was sinbinned and they scored when the ball shot out of our seven-man scrum and near the end Freddie (Pucciariello) got turned over and Jason Robinson beat us to the touchdown.

"They were happy to win the ball at two and maul it, and bang the corners. Hodgson kicked the leather off the ball that night and made us play from deep. It's a very tight pitch and a short pitch. Our mindset was that they were going to run it and we were kinda taken by surprise. It put us on the back foot and we reckoned it was a knock-out tournament from then on, we had to win every game."

That they did, of course, culminating in the unforgettable final with Biarritz.

Returning as champions to Welford Road supposedly in near disarray at the start of the following campaign, when comments by O'Gara about the relative strengths of Irish and English players had been seized upon by the English media, they dug deep and O'Gara landed a penalty from his own half with virtually the last kick to seal a 21-19 win.

Thus, Munster have two wins from two visits to the mightiest of English fortresses, Welford Road, yet Leicester remain the only team to have won at Thomond Park, which merely shows what good teams can do to each other.

One other thought. Just as three seasons ago after losing in Sale, last year Munster recovered from losing their opener away to Wasps to go on and win the trophy again. That 24-23 defeat to Wasps is Munster's only loss on their last four visits to England.

The events of last weekend have contrived to ensure that tomorrow's trek to Edgeley Park is as daunting as any game they've faced in England, but they're old hands at it now too.

"The one thing I'll say is that Montauban have done them a favour," says Galwey, ". . . if there's anything to focus Munster it's a bad performance by themselves and a huge performance by the opposition. . . I reckon Munster will come out very strong and I'll be very surprised if they're beaten."

Munster's Heineken Cup record in England

1997-98

Lost to NEC Harlequins 40-48

1999-00

Beat Saracens 35-34; (final) lost 8-9 to Northampton (London)

2000-01

Lost to Bath 5-18

2001-02

Beat NEC Harlequins 24-8

2002-03

Lost to Gloucester 16-35;

(q/f) beat Leicester Tigers 20-7

2003-04

Lost to Gloucester 11-22

2004-05

Beat NEC Harlequins 18-10

2005-06

Lost to Sale Sharks 13-27

2006-07

Beat Leicester Tigers 21-19

2007-08

Lost to Wasps 23-24; (q/f)

beat Gloucester 16-3; (s/f)

beat Saracens 18-16

Pool stages

Played 10, Won 4, Lost 6

Overall

Played 14, Won 7, Lost 7