Mason expecting no Thomond cheer

THE lone Irishman on the Treviso squad is expecting little ‘home’ support against Munster in the Heineken Cup tomorrow.

Simon Mason is more concerned with getting the support of the Italian club’s coach Craig Green.

Former Irish international Mason (three caps in 1996) does not, however, expect his Irish-based family to make any vocal impact on the expected crowd of 14,000 at Thomond Park tomorrow. Although Mason, formerly of Ulster, has the satisfaction of winning a European Cup medal in 1999 he does not believe Treviso can do much more than gently rock the Munster boat. “We have to be realistic and one of the biggest problems for Italian teams, including ourselves, is the standard of competition at home is not always of the highest quality.