Edinburgh v Munster: Munster face into three huge games in as many weeks that will define their season. It's a torrid schedule for a team lately perceived as struggling.
Declan Kidney's charges are doughty battlers though, and recent criticism is guaranteed to have raised their dander.
Yet even their fierce pride may not be enough to sustain them through trips to Edinburgh and Castres and the visit to Limerick of arguably the second-best team in Europe at present, Sale Sharks.
Munster need to bring something more tangible to the arena than fire and brimstone. The defeat against Leinster at the RDS last Saturday is still smarting. Munster's arch-rivals did play the better rugby for much of the time but the losers fell by their own hand; twice in the dying moments they forged good opportunities only to succumb to error.
It's perhaps simplistic to distil the match into those two moments but in marching through Europe in previous seasons Munster spurned few such chances. They'll also reflect on their failure to punch home territorial dominance, especially when they worked their favoured gambit: the close-in lineout drive.
For bad measure, certain players have taken scathing criticism. Ronan O'Gara is going to have to buy a flak jacket. He hasn't been at his best but the problems are more wide-ranging. The last day Munster offered a garbled gameplan. The forwards struggled and the backs lacked the cutting edge to compensate.
Kidney's decision to play O'Gara is a gamble insofar as the outhalf has looked a little jaded - and the eye injury incurred last weekend might have suggested a night off. It's not the player's way and so the coach has endorsed that desire to play.
Barry Murphy acquitted himself well the last day and deserves his place. The midfield shuffle sees Trevor Halstead coming in at inside centre, with Gary Connolly dropping to the bench.
Anthony Horgan fell off a tackle badly the last day. No one will be more annoyed than the wing and he'll have his chance to vent that anger against Castres. But for now Shannon's Ian Dowling is given a rare chance.
Denis Leamy is rested, Stephen Keogh coming in at blindside flanker, but otherwise the pack can be considered seriously front-line. The only notable absentee is the province's form secondrow, Mick O'Driscoll, who is named among the replacements.
Edinburgh have made a couple of changes, notably Francisco Leonelli's introduction for the injured Simon Webster and that of former All Black and UCD prop Dave Hewett in the front row. Interim coach Todd Blackadder has seen the Edinburgh club not alone thrive in the Celtic League but also produce some decent performances in Europe.
Scottish teams are no longer a soft touch. The home side have plenty of pace in the three-quarters and with no little footballing ability in the person of Chris Paterson and the one-time nemesis of Irish schools rugby Peter Jorgensen - a member of an Australian Schools team that won at Thomond Park some years ago.
Jorgensen was the star of those Aussie schoolboys, scoring a try in that match as well as the other internationals. He chose to go to rugby league before eventually finding his way back to union.
There are plenty of athletes in the Edinburgh pack, including Simon Taylor. Their set-pieces are pretty decent, as befits a team second in the table.
Munster have not become a bad team overnight, and while they haven't been at their imperious best recently it's worth remembering they top the Celtic League table, a position they earned on merit.
Winning tonight would be a huge fillip for the European assignments ahead. To achieve that, the pack - and O'Gara - will have to dominate.
Edinburgh are unbeaten at home this season and the confidence that engenders might just see them through this match: the home side by a score or two.
EDINBURGH: H Southwell; C Paterson (capt), M Di Rollo, P Jorgensen, F Leonelli; P Godman, M Blair; D Hewett, D Hall, C Smith; A Kellock, S Murray; A Hogg, S Cross, S Taylor. Replacements: A Kelly, A Dickinson, A Strokosch, A MacDonald, R Lawson, M Dewey, M Pyke.
MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, B Murphy, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; S Keogh, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: F Pucciariello, D Fogarty, T Hogan, M O'Driscoll, T O'Leary, J Manning, G Connolly.
Referee: Hugh Watkins (Wales).
Recent head-to-heads: November 2003 (CL), Meadowbank: Edinburgh 20 Munster 9; April 2004 (CL), Musgrave Park: Munster 17 Edinburgh 28; November 2004 (CL), Murrayfield: Edinburgh 0 Munster 11; April 2005 (CL), Thomond Park: Munster 30 Edinburgh 20; April 2005 (CC), Thomond Park: Munster 24 Edinburgh 14.
Leading scorers: Edinburgh - Chris Paterson 88. Munster - Ronan O'Gara 63.
Leading try scorers: Edinburgh - Rob Dewey 4. Munster - Anthony Horgan 3.
