Zebo 'can't wait to rip into Toulon'

Simon Zebo says Munster have to empty the tanks this weekend and give their best performance of the season.

Zebo 'can't wait to rip into Toulon'

Simon Zebo says Munster have to empty the tanks this weekend and give their best performance of the season.

Munster are preparing for their trip to the south of France to face Toulon in the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup.

The past two weeks haven’t exactly shown that Munster are capable of toppling the current champions.

The province lost to Glasgow at Thomond Park before beating Connacht at the Sportsground in what was a pretty mediocre performance.

Zebo says they will have to go a few levels up on Sunday.

He said: “We will need to go to a special place internally as players if we want to match these guys because it’s going to be a daunting enough place to go to but everybody is excited and we can’t wait to rip into them.”

With the last two Pro 12 performances in mind, Zebo has played down talk of a lack of vision or concentration within the squad as they head for a final pit-stop before the final in Cardiff.

“The Heineken Cup is the best club competition in the world and it does have an extra bit of bite to a league game despite it being one of our goals at the start of the season.”

“Now that it’s Heineken week, excitement levels are massive and it’s going to be one of those special occasions.”

Munster this season have already been to France and won, back in the pool stages against Perpignan, last season they were a whisker away from beating the beaten finalists Clermont, lets not forget they also put 47 points on Toulouse at Thomond Park in the quarter finals.

Zebo says their fortune against French clubs has given them a lot of confidence but insists they will not be taking anything for granted.

He says, “It gives us confidence that we have gone there and put in good performances and it was the bounce of a ball that beat us last year.”

“We just want to be on the right side of that this year and hopefully give ourselves the chance of winning it at the end.”

“It’s going to be a proper 80 minute game and it’s something the group won’t be as new to as it was last year so we just need that big performance at the start as opposed to 20 minutes in when we played last year.”

With Leinster bowing out of the tournament with loss to the current Champions in the quarter finals, the French side became easy favourites but Zebo has warned, write Munster off at your peril.

“Both sides will have watched that last game, our coaches and players have researched and we will look to pick up some things that worked or didn’t work and hopefully use that to the best of our advantage.”

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