Examining the runes of previous contests and taking solace from the fact that the away side – the 2002 Heineken Cup final at the Millennium stadium doesn’t count for these purposes – has won on each occasion, including last weekend, will be a fleeting fillip for today’s visitors.
That sequence must come to an end and the Leicester Tigers will be pretty keen to ensure it’ll be tomorrow.
Last weekend's game, won handsomely on the scoreboard 31-19 by the Tigers, was a curious affair. Munster gifted points to the English club, who gleefully hightailed it out of Limerick with the spoils. It doesn't camouflage how hard the Tigers worked, making over 230 tackles, more than twice what they would average in an English Premiership match.
Gremlins
From that statistic alone Munster can identify the gremlins in performance; they enjoyed plenty of possession but didn’t maximise the return. There is one other statistic worth noting: the Irish province averages 60 tackles per game, the fewest of any team in the tournament.
Leicester's director of rugby Richard Cockerill was chuffed with the grit, cohesion and workrate of his team in Thomond Park. "Some times it not all about shape, it's about rolling your sleeves up and wanting to do it for each other.
“We did that really well in the second half when they had scored eight quick points and we had someone in the bin. To wrestle that momentum back and extend the lead again was fantastic and showed some maturity from the group.”
Cockerill has tweaked the composition of his team. Australian Peter Betham is named at outside centre, Matt Smith shuffling in one place to number 12, while Freddie Burns takes over at outhalf for the injured Owen Williams. The presence of captain, Ed Slater, normally a secondrow, at blindside flanker offers an inkling of Leicester’s gameplan.
Three changes
His Munster counterpart
Anthony Foley
has made three changes, all in the pack. BJ Botha’s concussion means
John Ryan
starts at tighthead prop, with Uruguayan Mario Sagario coming into the match-day
Champions Cup
squad for the first time.
There is a further change in the frontrow, where Mike Sherry replaces Niall Scannell; the latter drops to the bench, as does Dave Foley, whose place goes to Australian Mark Chisholm.
The visitors will have to be sharper in the way they use the ball and be disciplined at the breakdown. Jerome Garces is one of the best referees in the sport and he's generally pretty consistent in his interpretations.
Munster of old would have relished the challenge, bristling and aggressive and bearding the home supporters with their hard-nosed play.
Foley will expect everyone to step up because that’s what will be needed, but in particular his halfbacks must control the game and not waste a morsel of possession.
The game is a benchmarking process for this current crop of Munster players and they will know a great deal more about themselves and the group by the time Sunday night falls.
The past might have no bearing on the future.
