Tonga rugby players must be ardently hoping that they never again encounter the conditions prevailing at Thomond Park last night.

Munster props James Cronin and Brian Scott, Connacht second-row Quinn Roux and Leinster’s Jordi Murphy make their first starts in the famous colours of the Barbarians who face Tonga at Thomond Park tonight (7.30pm).

The venue is unfamiliar, some of the faces new and the job descriptions changed, but Anthony Foley has demanded some timeworn rugby essentials from his Munster players against London Irish this evening in Waterford (7.30pm).