Top table.

Keith Wood reckons Munster are still one of the best sides in Europe despite two more semi-final defeats this season, but thinks they’re still a way off the ‘top table’.

The southern province have looked convincing for the best part of the season, but when it came to taking on the the likes of ‘top’ teams in Leinster and Saracens – the huge gap between them and Munster was worryingly evident.

“It’s good enough for an awful lot, but I don’t know that they are necessarily good enough for the top table,” Wood told Off The Ball.

“For me, where Munster get exposed is against three or four teams in Europe. That is all. They are good enough to play against them if every single thing goes right.”

In terms of the squad Wood say it’s evident that Munster don’t have the same “strength in depth” as the big teams, and says they need to “find the money” and perhaps go out and get a “couple of huge signings” if that’s what they need to do to get back to the top.

“The strength in depth that Munster have towards the end of the season is not the same as the teams that they are playing against.”

“It is how they traverse things in the meantime that is important. Will they need to go out and get a couple of huge signings? Van Graan is saying that is not happening, but if that’s what they need to do, then they have to find the money to pay them and make things happen.”