Winner.

He’s only played two games for the province but World Cup-winning Springbok Damian de Allende is quickly becoming a fan favourite at Munster.

Fellow big-name summer arrival RG Snyman had his debut cut short against Leinster but de Allende has played huge roles in both that game and Sunday’s win over Connacht and already looks to be an excellent signing for the men down south.

Signing a player of de Allende’s calibre was always going to be exciting for Munster and now he’s made it clear he’s not just here to collect what is presumably a very large paycheck, he’s here to win trophies.

Speaking to the media today via a Teams call, de Allende said he believes Munster have the “credentials” to get back to winning days and pick up some much-needed silverware.

“For me, personally, no matter where I play I always strive to win tournaments and championships,” de Allende said

“I signed for Munster because I feel that they have the credentials and the coaching staff and the players and heart. From what I’ve seen on TV, obviously I’ve only played two games here, but I feel they have that team environment that they actually want to achieve.

“You could go to another squad where they have all the stars and the names in their team but it’s like they don’t want that success or they’re not working for that success.

“I feel, even before the two games, there’s a real energy and desire not just to get to a semi-final or final but to actually win semi-finals and finals. And not just once or twice, but consistently in the PRO14 and Champions Cup as well.

“Friday night is going to be a very tough encounter but hopefully we will pitch up. It’s a short turnaround but we know it’s just a mental thing. We haven’t played a lot of rugby over the last six months so there are going to be sore bodies still on Thursday night.

“But if we get the right mindset and we pitch up on Friday night knowing we’ve got one opportunity and forgetting about everything in the past and not worrying about the final, just staying in the moment for 80 minutes, hopefully we can walk off with big smiles on our faces on Friday night.”

In de Allende’s first game for Munster, he came up against Ireland midfield duo Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw, and he thinks they are two “world-class centre.”

“They’re both world-class centres and both have been very good at international level as well,” de Allende added.

“Leinster were very good, they put in some nice kicks behind us, they have very nice skills, so we know we can’t get caught at the breakdown.

“Sometimes you are committing too many guys, especially in our defensive line, so we know if we commit too many guys and we’re short on defence, they’ll exploit us very easily and they did so in that first game, so we need to be quite aware of that.

“They’re also very physical and very fast, both have very good feet, so we’ll have to be switched on with all cylinders to try and tame them as much as we can.”

Roll on Friday night. It’s going to be an absolute belter.