McMillan has bags of experience..he can make Reds a Euro force again

EVERYONE talks about the Munster legacy in Europe.

- GARRY DOYLE

But the way they refer to it now is the way football fans talk about Ajax's legacy. Or Benfica's. Or Nottingham Forest's. Glorious, haunting - but belonging to the past.

Because here are the facts. In the true glory years - the 2000s - Munster were a European force. Two Heineken Cups. Another two finals. Five further semifinals in an 11-season arc between 2000 and 2010.

Then came the slide - failing to progress from their European Cup pool in 2011 was followed by a quarterfinal, then two semifinals as Ronan O'Gara and Paul O'Connell raged against the dying of the light.

There was a three-year slump. After that three consecutive semifinals, first under a South-African influence - Rassie Erasmus, then Johann van Graan.

But since that 2019 semifinal, Munster's record has been sobering. Two quarterfinals in six years, three Round-of-16 exits and a pool-stage elimination.

That is not the stuff of legends. That is not the stuff of dynasties.

By any honest measure, the legacy is at risk. Munster may mock Leinster's ability to find new ways to choke, yet deep down they would take any of the Blues' four losing finals since 2018.