Thomond Park’s reputation as a fortress for Munster has suffered a battering in recent years but a new nadir will be reached if they are shocked by Zebre at the Limerick venue this Saturday (5.30pm) evening.
Munster have lost their last three games at Thomond Park but have never lost four in a row in the professional era.
It’s unlikely to happen and Clayton McMillan’s men, who have just one win from their last six games in all competitions, should get their URC campaign back on track against an understrength Zebre side who have lost their last nine league games in a row.
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Zebre’s surprise 43-22 win in Parma 18 months ago, their only success in 21 meetings with Munster, played a part in Graham Rowntree’s term in charge coming to an end but a week that has seen the confirmation that senior coach Mike Prendergast will leave at the end of the season is unlikely to end with another shock result against the Italians.
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McMillan knows they need to get back to winning ways at Thomond Park and says they have worked hard since their loss away to leaders Glasgow Warriors last time out.
“The last three weeks have given us the opportunity to sharpen the sword in a few areas and we’re hopeful that will be evident in the way that we perform on the weekend,” said the New Zealander.
“Right from the beginning we really wanted to make our home games difficult for any visiting team. We haven’t quite met that mark, even though the home games we’ve lost have been by very small margins so it hasn’t been far away but, nevertheless, we want to be much better.
“If we’re good enough to get a result then we’re sure there will be a lot of positive spin-offs from it that will serve us well for the rest of the season.”
The likes of centre Tom Farrell, loosehead Michael Milne and lock Edwin Edogbo have returned from the Ireland camp to feature in this game, while under-20 outhalf Tom Wood is selected on the bench and could make his second appearance for Munster after making his debut against Glasgow.
Munster: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, D Kelly, S Daly; JJ Hanrahan, P Patterson; M Milne, N Scannell, M Ala’alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; G Coombes, J O’Donoghue, B Gleeson. Replacements: L Barron, J Wycherley, J Ryan, E Edogbo, A Kendellen, E Coughlan, T Wood, S O’Brien.
