'No matter whether you win or lose, you make us all proud to pull on the red jersey and we're in with you in every ruck, scrum and line-out." wrote John Reidy (Shannon) in his good wish message. That was a sample of the hundreds of messages of goodwill sent to the Munster team ahead of the semi-final clash with Castres. And they came from young and old from every corner of the globe,You can only do your best and if you do and lose you're still winners in my eyes wrote Galvin Khara (13) from Passage West.

The fax machine in the team hotel had been churning out messages of good wishes such as these.The support for Munster came from James A O'Malley in New York City; Brian McSwiney in Singapore; John Long, Jakarta in Indonesia; Danny Wallace, Slough in England and Colm Moyhihan, down under in Perth Australia who urged Show them what true Munster pride and heart is like.

Closer to home, Stuart Fox, a Leinster supporter wrote, "You've made a lot of people very proud and you deserve a result in the next two games. - Make it Happen." or "Best of luck to our Munster cousins. Looking forward to cheering you on in Cardiff." - Tom Lillis, Moffett, Reynolds & O'Sullivan, Clarendon St in Dublin.In wishing them good luck, a Clontarf supporter quoted Aristotle, We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act but a habit'.- Go for it Munster

And the amount of support from Leinster sources was staggering. It ranged from Terenure RFC, Sean O'Neill in Kilternan (De La Salle RFC), Ben Underwood (Blackrock College) to the colleges of Clongowes Wood in Clane, Alexandra College in Milltown and the team and Management at Leinster Branch IRFU.

A small sample of the others include ones from,

Cork City Council, Cork Motor Club, Kerry Ambulance Service, Southern Board, Aer Rianta; Phyllis at the Castletroy Physio Centre; the captain and crew of the LE Eithne; Dr Mick McCarthy and the one that drew a wry smile when brought to the notice of Munster Chief Executive Garrett Fitzgerald, Very best of luck from everyone at an abandoned Cork Munster Branch office

Fitzgerald had orchestrated a campaign whereby pre-paid, envelopes were distributed for people to return to the Branch office and the last batch arrived with Ian Fleming on Friday to add to the hundreds already posted. Best of luck in the match. You can do it - Joanne McCarthy, Douglas in Cork wrote. We will be playing number 16. See you all on Sat night said Sean from Carrick-on-Suir. Boys in Red you are costing me a fortune.But you're worth it. James Slater c/o Thomond RFC while pensioner John Fleming wrote simply, Thanks for everything.