Munster’s plans for next season have taken further shape after the IRFU approved its bid to re-sign former Springbok tighthead prop BJ Botha.

Ulster’s big Springbok lock Franco van der Merwe knows the score. With second-row partners dropping like flies, he knows he will have to step up to the plate in what will be his first taste of European rugby when Neil Doak’s men head to Welford Road to face the Leicester Tigers.