Rassie Erasmus has his troops on red alert for ambush

Rassie Erasmus may not remember whether he played at Welford Road during his Springboks days but the Munster boss is canny enough to acknowledge his players cannot afford to turn up there today feeling in any way complacent.

Last Saturday’s 38-0 Champions Cup Pool 1 win over Leicester Tigers was as impressive for Munster as it was a damning indictment of their English visitors’ lack of intensity and coherence at Thomond Park.

Yet despite going down to a record European defeat and being blanked for the first time in this competition for 13 years, Leicester’s status as two-time Heineken Cup winners and perennial English title contenders as well their fortress of a home ground demands the sort of respect Erasmus gave them this week.