O'Driscoll confirms place as ERC elite

And when they beat the Ospreys in the quarter-finals at Thomond Park, Mick O'Driscoll became their latest player to join the ERC Elite Award '50 Cap' club.

Munster are now two players short of a full Elite XV as O'Driscoll became their 13th player to reach the 50 game landmark.

There may have been seven appearances over two seasons for Perpignan mixed into his collection, but the versatile Irish international forward goes back as far as the 1998/99 season in the tournament.

He made his debut alongside the then Munster skipper Mick Galwey against Neath on 26 September, 1998, in a game that was won comfortably by the home side 34-10 at Musgrave Park.

Joining him in the starting line-up on his debut were current team mates John Hayes and Alan Quinlan, while David Wallace came on as a replacement. Now O'Driscoll has followed all three onto the Elite 50 Cap list and is hoping for a few more appearances this season.

It was Munster stalwart Anthony Foley who became the first player to reach 50 games in the Heineken Cup and receive the first ERC Elite 50 Cap. He reached that milestone in the 'Miracle Match' against Gloucester in Round 6 of the 2002/03 tournament at Thomond Park.

Since then, Foley has been followed into the exclusive club by John Hayes, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer, David Wallace, Marcus Horan, John Kelly, Alan Quinlan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Anthony Horgan, Shaun Payne, Frankie Sheahan.

Not only that, current skipper Paul O'Connell will play his 48th game this weekend and Denis Leamy, Jerry Flannery and Ian Dowling are rising up the appearances rankings rapidly as well.



ERC Elite 50 Club

86 - Anthony Foley (Munster), John Hayes (Munster)
82 - Ronan O'Gara (Munster)
81 - Fabien Pelous (Dax 5, Toulouse 76)
79 - Peter Stringer (Munster)
70 - David Wallace (Munster), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues 53, Pontypridd 17)
69 - Martin Corry (Leicester), Marcus Horan (Munster)
68 - Shane Horgan (Leinster), Stephen Jones (Scarlets 65, Clermont 3)
67 - John Kelly (Munster), Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster)
66 - Chris Wyatt (Llanelli Scarlets 60, Bourgoin 6), Alan Quinlan (Munster)
64 - Yannick Bru (Toulouse), Girvan Dempsey (Leinster)
61 - Shane Byrne (Leinster 55, Saracens 6), Reggie Corrigan (Leinster), Vernon Cooper (Scarlets), Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), Ben Kay (Leicester), Jean Bouilhou (Toulouse)
60 - Christian Labit (Toulouse 58, Northampton Saints 2), Dafydd James (Scarlets 30, Pontypridd 14, Bridgend 4, C Warriors 6, Quins 6),
59 - Graham Rowntree (Leicester), Nicolas Brusque (Biarritz 45, Pau 14), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français), Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster)
58 - Simon Shaw (Wasps), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster)
57 - Victor Costello (Leinster), Trevor Brennan (Toulouse 35, Leinster 22), David Humphreys (Ulster), Gareth Thomas (Cardiff Blues 27, Toulouse 18, Celtic Warriors 6, Bridgend 6)
56 - Anthony Horgan (Munster), Justin Fitzpatrick (Ulster)
55 - Robin McBryde (Scarlets), Shaun Payne (Munster 33, Swansea 22), Frankie Sheahan (Munster), David Auradou (Stade Français), Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse 51, Brive 3), Ian Gough (Ospreys 14, Pontypridd 11, Newport 14, NG Dragons 16)
54 - Denis Hickie (Leinster), Garan Evans (Scarlets), Philippe Bidabe (Biarritz), Leo Cullen (Leinster 40, Leicester 13), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse 48, Colomiers 5)
53 - Austin Healey (Leicester), Alex King (Wasps 50, Clermont 3), Leon Lloyd (Leicester 50, Gloucester 3), Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh 47, Gloucester 6)
52 - Eric Miller (Leinster 34, Leicester 12, Ulster 6), Pieter de Villiers (Stade Français), Simon Easterby (Scarlets)
51 - Martin Johnson (Leicester), John Davies (Scarlets), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Julien Peyrelongue (Biarritz), Joe Worsley (Wasps), William Servat (Toulouse)
50 - Gary Longwell (Ulster), Serge Betsen (Biarritz 44, Wasps 6), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Mick O'Driscoll (Munster 43, Perpignan 7)