Kidney hoping Shannon run-outs stand to Lawlor
Lawlor has been thrown in at the deep end at full-back to replace Shaun Payne, who has failed to recover from a viral infection, and it is his first competitive start of the season out of position at that.
But Lawlor, at Kidney's request, has played the same role for Shannon in three recent games, and he also slotted in when Munster A met Connacht A a few weeks back.
Kidney realised a month ago that Munster were vulnerable at number 15 with Christian Cullen a long-term injury victim. Payne has slotted in seamlessly, but the coach was desperate to find cover and that now comes in the form of Lawlor.
In the Celtic League tie against Ulster, Kidney went with Jeremy Manning before replacing him with Lawlor, who was the better of the two.
Kidney remarked: "We have had to call on players to switch positions before and take on the challenge. Mossie is a quality player and I'm confident he will make a go of it."
John Kelly, injured for the Celtic League game last week, is back on the wing to replace Anthon Pitout and, understandably, Marcus Horan returns to start instead of Frankie Roche.
Kidney is optimistic, but knows that Munster will need to play much better than last week: "People have written off the Dragons, but they proved they have scoring power in the opening game away to Castres. They have injury problems, too, but retain enough quality players to make our lives very difficult."
One of those will surely be captain and number eight Michael Owen, one of six Welsh internationals in the side, a man who eclipsed Munster's Anthony Foley by making it to the Lions tour of New Zealand.
If Munster have an advantage in international representatives, it's only slight 11 to eight.
Welsh winger Kevin Morgan was ruled out for the Dragons yesterday. The injury crisis prompted coach Paul Turner to suggest that, whatever the outcome today, his side had virtually no chance of survival in this group.
"I'm not saying we are not up for the Munster game because we are. But I have to be realistic. We've lost our first two matches and still have to travel to both Sale and Munster. Really, when you look at that, it's an impossible situation to be in."
"We admire what Munster, probably with similar resources, have done in Europe. They do what they do very well. They're not a flash side, but engage a hard work ethic, rely on their forwards to grind opponents down and on O'Gara to get them into positions from where they can attack. They have perfected a style of play that's very difficult to combat," he added.
Kidney noted yesterday: "It appears Newport are playing down their chances. We will take no notice of that because we know what Welsh teams are capable of. They have already beaten Leicester in the Powergen Cup and any team capable of that must be shown the utmost respect.
"We have a job to do and we have to stay focused; it's one game at a time, different opponents from week to week, and we have to prepare properly, physically and mentally, for each one. It doesn't matter who we play, we have got to recognise that there are no easy matches in this competition, and I believe we have taken that on board."
Kidney added: "In GAA terms, we have used up our back door option by losing to Sale. From today on, every game is a championship one, every game is almost like a final. We have got to win this match and we have got to keep winning right up to the end of the group stages. If we lose, it becomes a lottery and everything will be out of our hands. We just cannot afford to leave ourselves in that position."
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