Dowling on guard as French rival looms large

VILIMONI DELASAU, Montauban winger, 1.90m (6’3”), 102kg (16st); the name may not mean much to you but rest-assured that the big speedster from the Pacific Islands has featured strongly in the thinking of Ian Dowling this week.

He has faced Delasau before: last year in Thomond Park when the giant Fijian 7s expert was with Clermont-Auvergne, but that was somewhat different.

On that occasion the inexperienced French club sent over a mostly second-string side to Limerick ! and were duly hammered 36-13. Neither Dowling nor Vilimoni got on the scoresheet, but Delz (the Fijian’s nickname) did see yellow, which led directly to Munster’s first try, Ronan O’Gara taking advantage of a loss of concentration in the Clermont ranks as they protested the sin-binning to give Shaun Payne an easy touchdown in the corner.