Peter Clohessy played in two Heineken Cup Finals and came out on the losing side in both, but the Claw is still inextricably linked with Munster and with the competition to this day.
Think of the great Munster players never fortunate enough to have won a Heineken Cup and Peter Clohessy will be one of the first players that springs to mind; his long-time team-mate Mick Galwey another.
But while he had no silverware to back it up, Clohessy made a long-lasting impact on the competition, having been part of the side that played in the very first Heineken Cup game in Swansea in 1995.
The Claw was 29 then, and with rugby beginning its first steps into professionalism following the Rugby World Cup, he could have stepped aside and left it to the younger fellas, although he was hardly claiming the bus pass at that stage himself.
He stuck with it, and with good reason, as Clohessy’s often unheralded ability to play at both loosehead and tighthead led to a spell with the Queensland Reds in 1997, the same year he was called up to represent the Lions on the famous tour of South Africa – the last time they won – but unfortunately he had to withdraw due to a back injury.
Back with Munster for the start of the 1997 season, Claw established himself as a pillar of the front row as the province started to make a name for themselves as major European heavyweights in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Claw was never afraid to get down and dirty
In 2000, with Clohessy forming a fearsome front row trio along with Keith Wood and John ‘The Bull Hayes’, Munster reached the final, but on a day when a young Ronan O’Gara had an off day with the boot, they went down 9-8 to Northampton in a close-run affair despite having led by 8-3 at one stage.
Wood was gone the following season, but Clohessy continued to soldier on in the front row, playing in all eight of Munster’s games in the competition as they topped their pool, toppled Biarritz in the quarter-final but went down by a single point to Stade Francais in the semi-final.
Claw came back for one last hurrah in 2002 and it looked as if an elusive winner’s medal would be the perfect way to sign off on an illustrious Munster career, but unfortunately Leicester Tigers and Neil Back’s right hand ensured otherwise on the biggest stage.
Mention Clohessy’s name and it won’t be long before two things come up: His reputation as a hard man – let’s just say he gave as good as he got – and his fondness for devilment in both the Munster and Ireland camps.
But he was a helluva rugby player too. As they might say in the Claw’s part of the world, the man was a ligind.
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