The older you get the more you realise how hard it can be to reach big finals BILLY EYES DECIDER

HE was a Munster player when the province last conquered Europe but this time it’s personal for Billy Holland.

The long-serving lock made his Reds debut way back in September 2007.

But with Paul O’connell, Donnacha O’callaghan and Mick O’driscoll the senior men, the newboy from Cork had no onfield act, hand or part in the Heineken Cup triumph over Toulouse that was celebrated the following May in Cardiff.

It’s been a long wait for the player and for the province since then to get back to that final stage.

Now 32, Holland is praying that barren spell ends with victory over Racing 92 in Bordeaux on Sunday.

“Keith Earls (inset) is the only man involved who has played in a European final,” he pointed out.

“It would mean the world to me. I suppose the older you get the more you realise how difficult it is to get to this stage of a competition.

“In the week that’s in it, you’re not going to try and get too emotional, too caught up in how great the euphoria would be.

“From a personal point of view, I have dreams of winning a European Cup but you cannot sit there and dream about it.

“You have to focus on the technical side of things to help get us that step further than we were there last year.”

Holland believes

Munster are a better side than they were this time 12 months ago, when holders Saracens smothered the Reds at the Aviva Stadium in their last four Champions Cup clash.

But the veteran second row says that Sunday’s outcome will confirm if that’s the case. “I personally feel we’re in a better place,” he stated. “I think we’ve added a few strings to our bow this season – maybe we were a little bit one-dimensional at times.

“From an experience point of view, how many guys of the 23 have played in a European semi? Not many last year but there are now another 20 fellas who have experience and the pressures of it. “You’d like to think you’re further down the line but the proof is in the pudding.

“We’ll know more on the Sunday night if we are a better team than we were this time last year or are we still a little bit off it.”

So what will make the difference this year?

Holland smiles at his inquisitor. “That’s the million dollar question, if you knew that you would be sitting up there,” he laughed. “This group of players was involved in a semi-final and PRO14 final last year and the PRO12 final against Glasgow a few years ago.

“We’ve got to take learnings from that – we’ve got to take our chances.

“In a PRO14 game an opportunity might be a four v two. In a European semi-final, an opportunity is is a two v two.

“You don’t get the gaping holes and they are hopefully things we have learned from last year. Opportunities are so much smaller and so much harder to come by.

“Think back to Saracens, for 65 minutes of the game we were 6-3 down.

“They scored a penalty from a scrum and then a few minutes later they got a try and the momentum shifted.

“We didn’t have the power or the fitness to come back from it.

“Against Saracens we sat back a little bit too much and hopefully we’ve learned from that and can go a step further.”