Cardiff Blues face as tough a test as anyone with their back-to-back clashes with Heineken Cup champions Munster and accept they will be in a must win contest at the Arms Park on Sunday afternoon...
Despite the Blues' first away win in France when they beat Bourgoin in Round 1, a home defeat by Leicester Tigers leaves Blues captain Xavier Rush and his team-mates with no room for another home slip-up.
"We have got a massive hurdle to clear," said former All Black back row forward Rush.
"Munster proved they were the best side in Europe last season by beating Biarritz in the final and they have won their opening two matches in this season's competition so they are very much a form side.
"Their top players were in good shape in the autumn internationals series so as a team they will be a very hard prospect for us on Sunday.
"What is clear for anyone to see is that Munster are a very committed side and fly half Ronan O'Gara directs their game plan and he is a key man for them."
The Blues and Munster have met three times in the Heineken Cup and, although the score stands 3-0 to the Welsh team, they last went head-to-head in the tournament way back in 1998.
The Blues won 48-18 at home in 1996 / 1997 and then 43-23 at home the following season before notching up a 37-32 away win.
Now Cardiff and Munster resume Heineken Cup rivalry after an eight-year break with the Blues going into the testing double-header having safely booked their EDF Energy Cup semi-final place with a 31-7 victory over London Irish.
But Rush accepts the huge size of the challenges ahead over the next two weekends in Cardiff and Limerick.
"We are through to the knock-out stages of one tournament, so that is a great morale booster, but playing back-to-back matches against the Heineken Cup champions is a massive challenge," he said.
"I was pretty pleased with the way we focused on the game against London Irish and I was particularly pleased with our first 40 minutes as by the end of the first half we basically already had the right result.
"As to what we have to do against Munster we have to worry about ourselves and not the opposition - we have been our own biggest headache by not following through with our own game plan clearly enough.
"After our win at Bourgoin at least we picked up a losing bonus point in our defeat by Leicester Tigers and we are still in there with a shout of qualifying and it is all in our own hands.
"The tournament is still in its early stages and we have extremely hard away games at Leicester and Munster to come later on but they are great matches for us - to test ourselves against some of the best teams in Europe.
"We have certainly enjoyed the Heineken Cup matches so far this year and, with a bit of success as well, it has been good."
