EVEN BY by the rich standards of the Heineken Cup, and in arguably the venue which has seen more extraordinary feats than any other, a first-ever meeting between Munster and Ulster has a fairly seismic feel to it.
Stephen Ferris having been selected, Ulster travel to the Limerick fortress with perhaps the best team they’ve had in the professional era, a team very much on an upward curve looking to smash down the barrier that protects the Munster-Leinster duopoly. Individually and collectively, they are ravenously hungry.
Awaiting them are a Munster team who welcome back Paul O’Connell, as well as Conor Murray and Donnacha Ryan, a Munster team somewhat in transition but who, nevertheless, have rediscovered their Heineken Cup mojo judging by their remarkable act of escapology against Northampton which inspired a six-wins-from-six return in the pool stages with the final flourish of a 50-pointer against Northampton. Collectively, as ever, they add up to more than the sum of their individual parts.
Tony McGahan gives hooker Mike Sherry and flanker Tommy O’Donnell their first Heineken Cup starts in, of all games, this one. Eight Munster players have made their full debuts in the competition this season (six of them start tomorrow).
Sherry’s time would have come sooner but for injury. With his pace and accurate darts, he has made big impacts off the bench in the last couple of games, as has O’Donnell with his dynamism and ball-carrying, something Munster have been lacking a little without David Wallace, who does make the bench.
But the key for them, is the return of O’Connell, a vocal leader and on-field rallying point for the troops around him. He will make their lineout more assured and everyone’s work-rate and concentration will increase. Added to that will be Ryan’s own lineout expertise, ball-carrying and tackle count.
Add Conor Murray’s physicality around the fringes, excellent defence and sniping, and Munster ought to be almost unrecognisable from the team beaten by Leinster a week ago.
Buoyed by a smattering of high-class imports with World Cup-winning mentality, and with a wave of indigenous players in or hitting their prime, Ulster are the coming force in Irish rugby. Quarter-finalists last season, memories of the way they dissected Leicester in the pool stages showed their all-round class, and they proved their away-day, big-game mentality by extending Clermont all the way in the final round of pool games. But they are entering a new, more rarified air today.
Ulster’s attacking game has unearthed some real variation and potency, with the length and accuracy of Ian Humprheys’ passing on the gain line putting outside runners into gaps, but so much of this hinges on them getting over the gain line – which is where this ferociously physical game is liable to be won or lost. To that end, Ferris is critical, but so, too, is Humphreys’ and Ulster’s accuracy in performing the basics well.
After last season’s blip, Munster’s own attack, like their game overall, has come up several notches in the cup this season. This game is classic cup rugby. Munster players have it in their DNA, going back to the halcyon days of the AIL and before. And in Ronan O’Gara they have the master strategist, the man to pick and locate the gaps, to keep the scoreboard ticking.
MUNSTER: F Jones; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, M Sherry, B Botha, D Ryan, P O’Connell [capt], P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, T O’Leary, I Keatley, J Murphy.
ULSTER: S Terblanche; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller [capt], D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg. Replacements: N Brady, P McAllister, A Macklin, L Stevenson, W Faloon, P Marshall, N Spence, A D’Arcy.
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Betting (Paddy Power): 1/3 Munster, 20/1 Draw, 5/2 Ulster. Handicap odds (Ulster + 6pts) 10/11 Munster, 16/1 Draw, 10/11 Ulster.
Forecast: Munster to win.
