With Carl out, Munster can make hay

THE stars could well be aligning for another great Munster away day in France.

The return of Paul O'Connell to, and disappearance of Carl Hayman from, the team declarations made yesterday certainly lend credence to the theory.

There will be much debate over Munster’s selections decisions, which also include starts for Peter Stringer over Tomás O'Leary at scrum-half and John Hayes at tighthead prop rather than Tony Buckley yet O'Connell's inclusion and Hayman's omission carry great psychological importance, certainly as far as Munster are concerned.

The Irish province have been working on the premise that this penultimate Heineken Cup Pool Three encounter against the group leaders at Stade Mayol is a win or bust affair. That's not strictly true as a losing bonus point would keep them on life support heading into round six but with captain O'Connell set to start his first European fixture since last January's home tie with Northampton Saints, he has carried with him the message that there is no next week.

Palpable, too, has been the lift the leader of Lions has given Munster while the removal of Hayman's spectre from the scene will only cheer a much-maligned Irish pack further.

The former All Black tighthead was widely touted to have been rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of getting stuck into a Munster front row hammered into submission by the Ospreys in round four. Having sat out Toulon’s 15-12 Top 14 defeat at Racing Metro last Sunday with a neck injury he was recalled to the French team’s 26-man squad on Thursday.

Less than 24 hours later, Toulon director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre decided either Hayman was not sufficiently healed or is simply not required to see off the two-time champions as he decided the New Zealander was the non-European qualified player to miss out from the matchday 23. Only two such “foreign” players are permitted under European Rugby Cup rules and Saint-Andre has opted to start Argentina duo Felipe Contepomi and Juan Fernandez Lobbe.

Contepomi will play at inside centre, on fly-half Jonny Wilkinson's shoulder, in order to give the Toulon gameplan some variation, while Fernandez Lobbe's inclusion keeps together a mobile back row with George Smith and Joe Van Niekerk.

The scrum will again be a key focal point, given Munster's travails in the defeat at Ospreys in December and Hayman's omission, regardless of the merits of his understudy Davit Kubriashvili and the rest of the Toulon pack, will be a much-needed boost to the front row of Wian du Preez, Damien Varley and Hayes, preferred to Buckley, who will start on the bench having suffered from a virus last weekend.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has also paid attention to his side's tendency to start games lethargically of late, the most recent Magners League wins, over Connacht, Ulster and Glasgow Warriors all coming courtesy of second-half turnarounds.

Munster's ability to finish games with strong defensive efforts will also stand to McGahan's men in Toulon tomorrow, where they will also need to keep the right side of English refereee Dave Pearson if they are to keep Wilkinson, aside from his love of a drop-goal attempt, out of penalty range.

“In the attacking zone, they like to draw penalties and they do tighten things up, and they like to go through the phases and try to put sides away. But anything back from 60 to the try-line, anything loose with regard to a kick |or a turnover etc, or any sort of loose ball, they really like to play. And they’ve really scored some very nice tries, they’ve got some excellent finishers, they’ve got a really strong, athletic back-row. If they go with Lobbe, Smith and van Niekerk they’re as fast and as skilful as backs, so it certainly gives them a good complement to play from away from the try-line but also get close and play tight.”

History books suggest the biggest away win in Toulon to date was Nelson's similarly attritional blockade of the French fleet in 1805. Stade Mayol overlooks the very harbour that the British naval hero kept Napoleon's navy hemmed into and it may take similarly qualities and tests of character for Munster to achieve their objective.

“We are willing to work for each other,” Donncha O'Callaghan said as he bristled with intent this week. “But it’s grand saying that here now, Sunday is the test of it.

“Sunday is the test of our character more than us as players. It’s an overall test of what you are as a man.”

O'Callaghan expects every man to do his duty, then. The way things are shaping up down here on the Mediterranean, Munster could well deliver.