The final week of the Irish provincial season. A few months ago, who would have thought Munster would be the last of the four Irish still standing?
It's been a remarkable few months for Graham Rowntree's side, who have overcome a disastrous start to the campaign - as well as a late-season wobble - to book their place in the Grand Final of the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
Having lost five of their first seven games, expectations for the debut season of this coaching ticket were quickly revised, and while they sparked into life as winter hit, it looked like a pair of heavy defeats to Glasgow and Sharks would pour cold water over any late-season run.
But in true Munster fashion, they've produced their best when backed into a corner. A win and a draw in South Africa in the final rounds of the URC saw them clinch fifth place and a Champions Cup spot, before they inflicted a first home defeat of the season on both Glasgow and Leinster in the play-offs to return to the final, and leave themselves one win away from winning a first trophy in 12 years.
'Nobody believes in us' has long been one of sport's greatest motivators, and Munster are milking every last drop out of it, and rightly so.
The deck has been stacked against them for a couple of months now; their last home game was way back on 25 March, and Saturday's decider against the Stormers in Cape Town will be their third trip down to South Africa in less than two months. After the season they've had, you get the feeling they'd hop on a flight to Jupiter if it meant a crack at silverware.
When Munster held off Leinster to win the Celtic League decider back in 2011, we didn't think we'd be waiting more than decade to see them lift their next trophy, but the last 12 years have seen the province come up short in the decider three times, with six different teams getting their hands on the pot in that time.
2015 - Nakarawa inspires Glasgow to a first title
Having lost the previous year's semi-final to the Warriors, Munster were out for revenge when the pair met in the decider of 2015, with the province having an element of a 'home' crowd, with the game played at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.
Before the game, the narrative was around two second rows; Paul O'Connell, who would be making his final appearance for the province ahead of his move to Toulon following the World Cup, while Glasgow captain Ali Kellock was also playing his last game for the Scots, capping it off by lifting the trophy.
It was a different lock on the Glasgow side who stole the show though, with Leone Nakarawa lighting up the final. Munster could barely lay a finger on the Fijian lock during the first half, and even when they did it was his offloading game that sent Rob Harley and DTH van der Merwe over for two early tries to give the Scottish side a 14-3 lead after 25 minutes.
After Stuart Hogg set up Henry Pyrgos for a third Glasgow try, Australian centre Andrew Smith gave Munster a lifeline with a try just before half-time, but the comeback never materialised, the province badly missing injured pair Conor Murray and Peter O'Mahony as a late Finn Russell try put the final seal on an a deserved Glasgow win.
"You don't mind losing, but you want to play well, you want to throw everything at the opposition, and whatever happens then happens," O'Connell said after the game.
"I just don't think we did that, particularly in the first half."
2017 - Red-hot Scarlets Beirne Munster at the Aviva
Having regressed in the 2015/16 campaign, a reshuffle in the coaching structure in the summer of 2016 saw Rassie Erasmus drafted in as director of rugby to work with head coach Anthony Foley.
The hunt for silverware was put into perspective a few months later though when Foley died suddenly on the eve of a Champions Cup game away to Racing 92.
Driven on by the memory of Axel, Munster went on an incredible run that season, defying what had been relatively modest pre-season expectations. An impressive Champions Cup run was ended by a great Saracens side in the semi-finals, while they finished top of the table in the Pro12, before comfortably beating the Ospreys at home, setting up a final against the Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium.
The Scarlets arrived into the final as a big underdog, even after pulling off a sensational win away to Leinster the previous week in the semi-finals, and they continued that sensational form to pull off a famous 46-22 win.
Just like their defeat in 2015, Munster were blitzed in the opening half-hour, with the Scarlets scoring four tries to lead 29-3, one of those coming from Tadhg Beirne, who would return to Ireland and join Munster the following summer.
Both sides scored a pair of second-half tries as the game became fast and loose in the final 10 minutes, but Munster could never get back within touching distance.
It had been a long, arduous season for Munster on so many levels, and there's no doubt that the emotion of the previous eight months caught up with them on the week of that final, while the game also marked a final Munster appearance for Donnacha Ryan, as he prepared to depart for Racing 92.
Despite the loss, the future seemed promising for Munster under Rassie Erasmus, who at the time appeared to have turned down an approach to return to South Africa, in favour of staying with Munster. The rest is history.
2021 - Leinster fend off Munster in forgettable final
Having had to endure semi-final defeats to Leinster in each of the previous three seasons, there was quiet confidence around Munster's chances of ending their 10-year wait for silverware when they took on their neighbours in the final of the 2021 Pro14.
The 2020/21 Pro14 had been a complicated mess due to Covid-19's influence, but that wouldn't have put an asterisk in the record books had Munster lifted the trophy.
Both sides had finished top of their respective conferences in the regular season to set up the final, and while Leinster finished the campaign with a better points total, and had won the previous meeting of the sides at Thomond Park, there was a sense that Munster were gaining real momentum as they came up the RDS, which would be neutralised somewhat by being behind closed doors.
It proved to be one of the most disappointing results and performances of the Johann van Graan era. Leinster may have only won by 16-6, but Munster barely fired a shot over the 80 minutes, and were carried by a relentless Gavin Coombes who stood up when others went missing.
When the sides were level at 6-6 at the break, it felt like the game was there for the taking for Munster, but when Jack Conan scored the game's only try after half-time Leinster took command, and while they only won by 10 points, they never looked in danger of giving up their title.
The frustration for Munster was exacerbated by the fact that a week later they went down swinging against Toulouse in the Champions Cup, trading blow for blow in a 40-33 thriller at Thomond Park.
As Paul O'Connell said above following that 2015 final against Glasgow, you can accept defeat when you throw everything at the opposition, and Munster didn't do it that day.
Given the way Munster approached their semi-final against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium two weeks ago, similar conservatism doesn't seem likely this weekend.
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