FORGET EMOTION & FULVILL AMBITION

Former Munster star suffered trophy heartbreak and tells Reds to concentrate on executing the game plan

- MICHAEL SCULLY

URC GRAND FINAL

NO STONE UNTURNED

Jean de Villiers tells his former club to prepare and leave nothing on the pitch

JEAN de VILLIERS says Munster must park their emotions if they are to become URC champions on Saturday evening.

At the end of Graham Rowntree's (inset, top) first year in charge, the Reds have a chance of winning silverware for the first time in 12 years when they face the Stormers in the Grand Final in Cape Town.

De Villiers knows what is going through the minds of so many of the Munster players. He himself only lifted trophies while playing for South Africa, so he endured fruitless stints at Western Force, the Stormers, Munster and Leicester Tigers.

His time with Munster came a year after the province's second Champions Cup triumph in 2008 and a year before their 2011 Magners League success.

"There will be emotion in all of this and sometimes you can be caught in the emotion in that you've been there so many times before," said the former centre.

"You haven't been able to get it over the line and then you start thinking about that and, 'why them...why didn't it happen for me?'