Horan’s back with a Munster focus

WHEN Marcus Horan trotted onto Musgrave Park last Saturday evening, it was the first time in six months that the Clonara man was in Munster’s starting 15. Even when he recovered from a broken hand, it took a couple of games before the Heineken Cup winner won back his place in Munster’s front row.

“I had a few games with the club but I was a long time getting back. I thought I wouldn’t get a game at all with Munster. It was just an awkward time of the season I suppose, trying to get a game. I had two nights on the bench; one in Thomond Park (against Edinburgh) and then away in Aironi. So it was nice to get a start then at home,” Horan told The Clare Champion.
He was disappointed though not to get more game time in Cork last weekend.
“Ultimately, I only played 50 minutes last Saturday night. You’d like to play for a bit longer but these things happen with the squad system that we have now. I can’t control that. I just have to play what’s put in front of me and I think it went well last Saturday. I was very happy with how the scrums went and I was very happy with my work around the field. I just need to build on that. It’s a team sport but I’m trying to be a small bit selfish about it as well and look after my own game and see where I can improve. Ultimately, my aim is to try and climb up that ladder again but I don’t have any eyes on the international squad at the moment. I’ve got to control my steps and take it bit by bit,” Horan maintained.
He says his focus is purely on regaining his place in the Munster pack on a full-time basis. The province defeated the Dragons 38-17 in Musgrave Park and currently top the Magners League table. Munster have five games to play before the Magners semi-final, while they are due to play Brive in the Almin Cup quarter-final on April 9.
“I’m in a situation now where I need to push for a place with Munster first,” Horan reflected. “These things always lead onto other things. Ireland are at a stage in the Six Nations now where there’s two games left and it would be very presumptuous to think that I’d be pushing for a place. You never say never but just the way the games are falling now, Munster are on a break for two weeks and when you’re not playing games, it’s very hard to put your name in the hat,” he suggested.
This April, Munster will be playing European rugby, just not in the Heineken Cup.
“It’s a new challenge for us really,” the double Heineken Cup winner reflected. “Obviously, the boys were very disappointed in Thomond Park against London Irish with the realisation that we were out of it. But I thought in the last 20 minutes of that game the boys performed extremely well and hopefully, it was a turning point. Obviously, we suffered huge disappointment this season losing out the way we did. But we’re in a European Cup competition. It’s a situation Munster have never been in before but it’s also a competition we’ve never won before and guys would love to put that on their mantle piece,” he said. 
Horan insists that although Munster have had a disappointing season, heads are not down and they have plenty to play for.
“I don’t think there’s an issue there with regard to the team but there’s a perception out there that things are different in the Munster camp. But we’re flying high in the Magners League. I think everyone in the squad is looking at this as a new challenge. Come the end of the season, we could be sitting pretty with trophies to look at. That’s always the aim. There’s a lot of teams who haven’t a chance of winning anything this year,” he noted.