Up for it!

THE HOST city is awash in red, the Sale Sharks fans have arrived, the weather forecast is favourable.

Just about everything is ready for the mother and father of all Heineken Cup games between Munster and Sale Sharks at Thomond Park this evening.

The mathematics are quite simple. Munster will top Pool 1 and clinch a home quarter-final if they win and score four tries while preventing the Sharks from claiming a bonus point. If Munster succeed but without a bonus point, then they will claim an away draw in the quarter-finals. If they lose, they’re out. If Sale claim even a single point, it is they who will top the pool and look forward to playing on the ground of their choice (probably the City of Manchester Stadium) in the knockout stages.

The respective coaches, Declan Kidney of Munster and Kingsley Jones of the Sharks announced their sides yesterday. As expected, Munster will start with the XV that did them proud in Castres last week but a broken arm rules Jeremy Manning out of the replacement panel, which will be reduced from nine to seven this morning.

Sale, however, have made seven changes, one positional, from the side that started against the Newport Gwent Dragons last Sunday. Skipper Jason Robinson moves to full-back in place of Daniel Larrachea with his place on the wing going to Oriol Ripol. Sililo Martens takes over at scrum-half from Richard Wigglesworth. Half the pack has been altered with Andy Titterell (hooker), Stuart Turner (tight head prop), Ignacio Fernandez (second-row) and Jason White (blindside flanker) preferred to Frenchman Sebastian Bruno, Ben Coutts, Dean Schofield and Nathan Bonner-Evans. If anybody doubted the depth of Sale’s squad...

It is their third season in the Heineken Cup and they are novices at this kind of thing compared with Munster. However, they have six Lions in their team. Accordingly, they may be able to adapt to the Thomond Park atmosphere better than most and will be seeking to turn Munster’s unbeaten record at the venue to their advantage. It is a major incentive for any visiting side to bring a run of 27 straight wins to an end and in this regard, it will also help their sense of wellbeing that they have already qualified for the knockout stages.

“We have travelled knowing that we have already qualified for the quarter-finals but of course we want to have a home tie in the next round”, said the club’s director of rugby Pierre Saint Andre. “To achieve this, we must get at least one point but this is impossible to plan for so we have been working hard preparing the players and so we are going to try and win the game. Whatever happens, it will be a great experience for us.”

Certainly, the home fans won’t have it all their own way with so many Sharks in their midst and as Declan Kidney stresses, they can only play their part if the team gives them something to cheer. The players are up it, with full-back Shaun Payne confessing: “This is the whole season for me and I can’t contemplate losing.”

It’s the kind of attitude that all Munster people want to see carried into the game. A combination of self-belief, a continuation of the form displayed against Castres and the Thomond Park factor should see the desired result achieved. I for one certainly wouldn’t rule out the kind of result that would see the Red Army making the short trip to Lansdowne Road for the quarter-final instead of a rather more intimidating journey to Toulouse or Biarritz.

They have the big match players to make it happen too. Kidney has been trying his utmost to keep the lid on all the expectation but it’s not easy. An eighth successive quarter-final place is coveted by players and fans alike and given Sale’s stature as the finest side in England, he suspects this could be the greatest challenge ever faced by Munster at Thomond Park. Things have started to go right over the past few weeks with a good Celtic League win in Edinburgh followed by the exhilarating display against a poorly prepared Castres side.

“We’re up against a team in form, one that has already qualified and so doesn’t have to get anything out of this match” says Kidney. “Of course, they would like to do so but that freedom allows them to focus on the game without looking for anything extra. In all sports, you like to take on the best and that’s what we’ll be doing. Only the result will indicate whether we’re good enough to meet the challenge but we will give it all we’ve got, then see what that brings.”