European Cup Round-up:Munster's historic trek to Geneva in round five of the Heineken European Cup for their away tie against Bourgoin has been fixed for Sunday, January 14th in the Stade de Geneve, Switzerland, (kick-off 1pm Irish time). The switch of fixtures from Bourgoin's normal home of Stade Pierre Rajon means the 30,000-capacity Geneva stadium will become the 80th ground to host a European Cup tie and Switzerland will become the ninth country to stage a European Cup match.
ERC, the tournament organisers, yesterday announced the dates, kick-off times and initial television schedule for the round five fixtures in the new year, with Leinster taking the Saturday evening slot for their home tie against Edinburgh (kick-off 5.35pm) at Donnybrook.
Ulster, however, will be a tad disappointed that their home tie against Llanelli has been moved from their customary Friday night slot to a less atmospheric 1.35pm on the Saturday as well. As in all of the six rounds, each of the three games involving the Irish provinces will be televised live by Sky Sports.
Closer to hand, Munster will attempt to break more new ground when seeking an all-time tournament record of a dozen European Cup wins in succession when hosting Cardiff in their return pool four meeting at Thomond Park on Saturday.
That, though, is a minor consideration compared to making it four wins out of four as they seek to retain their crown and defend a 30-match winning run on home soil dating back to their only home defeat, against the same opponents, by 37-32 in Musgrave Park in October 1997.
If it is true that revenge is a dish best served cold, then the intervening nine years won't have taken away the sense of owing Cardiff another one. But most of all, as their captain Paul O'Connell revealed after Sunday's win in Cardiff, with each impending game at their heretofore impregnable Thomond Park fortress they live in fear of losing that proud record.
"It does motivate us in a perverse kind of way," he conceded of the pressure, as well as the confidence, it generates. "Our home record is something we are very aware of. We talk about it before matches and none of us wants to be in the team that finally loses a Heineken Cup tie at the ground. Of course we know it is going to happen sometime as records are merely there to be broken. It puts pressure on us and there is certainly a bit of a fear factor involved."
Aside from longer-term casualties Anthony Foley, Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery and Mick O'Driscoll, there is a possibility that Barry Murphy, John Kelly and/or Anthony Horgan might come into consideration this week, with coach Declan Kidney admitting that Murphy looks to have the best chance.
Ulster coach Mark McCall has echoed the sentiments of his captain, Simon Best, in conceding that qualification for the knock-out stages may be beyond the 1999 champions for the eighth season in a row after Saturday's defeat away to London Irish left them propping up pool five.
"We knew that if we didn't win at the Madejski we were effectively out of the competition," said Mark McCall. "But we are a proud bunch and we want to win all three remaining games. People will be saying our season is over but we have still got the Magners League title to defend and three big European games to win. We have to focus on Friday night because at the Madejski I do not know why we took so long to get going. We rode the early storm and then got ourselves back into the game but we had started very poorly and in the end it was hugely disappointing for everyone."
Meanwhile, tickets for the Connacht v Munster Magners Celtic League game on New Year's Eve are available from the Connacht Rugby Branch office on College Road or through 091 561568. Tickets for the enclosed stand are all sold with only main stand tickets left. The prices are: Adult - €15; Student/OAP - €10; Schoolkids - €5; under seven - free.
European Cup 2006/2007 (All kick-offs Irish time); round five 5, Friday, January 12th, 2007: Pool 2 - Agen v Gloucester Rugby, 7.30pm (Canal+/Sky Sports); Pool 6 - Biarritz Olympique v Overmach Rugby Parma, 6.0pm; Saturday, January 13th, 2007. Pool 1 - London Wasps v Perpignan, 3.30pm (Sky Sports/FR2); Pool 1 - Benetton Treviso v Castres Olympique, 2.0pm; Pool 2 - Leinster v Edinburgh, 5.35pm (Sky Sports/Sport+/RTÉ, delayed); Pool 3 - Rugby Calvisano v Sale Sharks 1pm; Pool 4 - Leicester Tigers v Cardiff Blues, 3pm, Sport+, delayed/S4C, highlights; Pool 5 - Ulster Rugby v Llanelli Scarlets 1.35pm (Sky Sports); Pool 5 - London Irish v Toulouse, 1.35pm (Canal+/Sky Sports, highlights); Sunday, January 14th, 2007 Pool 3 - Ospreys v Stade Français, Paris, 3pm, (Sky Sports/FR2); Pool 4 - Bourgoin v Munster, 1pm Sport+/Sky Sports/RTÉ, delayed); Pool 6 - Border Reivers v Northampton Saints, 2pm.
