National training camps have hindered Munster, says Williams
Last year, it was their first game of the campaign and on coach Alan Gaffney's admission, they weren't as well prepared as they might have been.
However, skipper Jim Williams says, "This time we've had the interruptions because of the national camps and they haven't helped our cause at all.
Still, the squad is a lot stronger and we've got a lot more experience and we know what to expect.
Having seen them on television isn't the same as going out there and playing them. Gloucester were playing a lot better last season than they have been this year and, sometimes, I think they are better away from home."
Williams has been a powerful influence since he arrived in 2000 and assumed the captaincy from Mick Galwey at the start of last season. Thirty-five last month, he still leads both by word and example, never shirking his duties as captain while giving every ounce of his energy as a player. Not surprisingly, discipline figures high in Williams' order of priorities.
"The teams know each other fairly well and I think it's going to come down to discipline and who makes the most of their opportunities. . .
Duncan McRae made a good field goal at the week-end. If you give away field position, you give away easy points, and neither side can afford to do that."
As 'Seamus' spoke, the wind howled and the rain lashed, conjuring up memories of the dreadful conditions prevailing in Athlone for last Friday's Celtic League clash with Connacht. It finished 3-0 to Munster and Williams is hoping against hope that there won't be a repeat on this occasion.
"Both teams will want a dry ball and dry pitch. If it's like this, it will be about kicking for field position and getting down there and putting pressure on the other side. I don't think we want conditions like that. But the weather is going to be vitally important for the style of rugby that is played. So hopefully it will be dry."
Jim Williams, like Gaffney, is a good friend of fellow Aussie Duncan McRae the Gloucester out-half notorious for punching Ronan O'Gara several times during the Lions tour in 2001. He doesn't make any apologies for McRae's incredible outburst of violence, but maintains: "I shouldn't think the incident will play any part in the matches, especially where the players are concerned. The game is far too big for that and the teams professional enough not to worry about that kind of thing. That is more external, people looking from the outside in, but not for the players."
Williams, as befits a former member of the Australian army, likes nothing more than a battle, a challenge, whether it's at the home of the opposition or wherever.
"The similarities between the two set-ups are uncanny. Kingsholm can be a very intimidating place, as we found out last year, very loud, very noisy, very vocal the same as a Thomond Park crowd. I think it's something we weren't prepared for when we got there last time and the way Gloucester came at us, but I think we're a little wiser this year," he said.
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