Starting at the Arms Park against Cardiff on Friday night, Munster have three regular season games left to make sure they finish in the top eight, thus ensuring Champions Cup rugby for next season. Currently in seventh place - level on 40 points with eight-placed Stormers, and with Ulster and Connacht among the teams chasing furiously behind - the Reds can leapfrog their opponents this week. With home games to come against Ulster and Benetton, Munster will fancy themselves to get the victories they still need. And, after winning in La Rochelle before bowing out to Bordeaux in the Champions Cup, Coombes is adamant that the Reds' target is to regain the crown they won in 2023. “I don’t think we’re out of the competition yet, are we? We are still going to challenge for the title if we can," declared Gavin Coombes. “We’ve got to get in the top eight. When we won it we came fifth and (then) won away every game, so why can’t we do that again? “We’ve beaten a very good La Rochelle team in Europe and Bordeaux, we saw glimpses of where we put them to the sword, so I think to say we’re a long way off it is completely wrong. "I believe in this group and we have been off it on a few occasions during the season and a few games - but when we’ve been on it we’ve had some great days and some great performances. “There’s a lot of belief in this group that we have the talent to challenge for the league and that’s definitely what we’re speaking about.” The 27-year-old back row also stressed that no-one at Munster has time to feel sorry for themselves as they gear up for three cup finals. The Reds claim to have moved on from last Saturday's debacle when they were wrongly forced to play with 14 men for 13 minutes in the narrow home loss to the Bulls. That 16-13 reversal in Limerick leaves the province with little wriggle room to work with. “I think everyone realises this is a huge week so it’s not one where we can come in and feel sorry for ourselves and waste a day," said Coombes. "We’ve got a six-day turnaround, we’re playing Friday evening, we need everyone on it. “So I think everyone had it parked by the time we came in, we had a quick review and spoke about what we can work on - small moments where the game got away from us on Saturday. The mood in the camp is good and we’ll come in on Wednesday and have another good day and be all set for Friday.” As for the pressure that comes with having to win games to ensure European qualification, Coombes acknowledged that was there. But he added: "It’s in our own hands. We don’t have to rely on other people getting us results, we’re playing Cardiff who are ahead of us, Benetton and Ulster who are three points off us. “So it’s all on us, it’s not relying on anyone else - so that’s an exciting challenge, and it’s one we’re all looking forward to. We’ve been in that position for the last couple of weeks, where they’ve all been huge games. “I think we have a group that thrives in that kind of space and so the approach doesn’t change, the mindset doesn’t change, you have to go out and try and win every game.” Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.