Back row strength may swing it for Leinster

THE media and the marketing departments will try to hype this one up, but for every player who has ever been involved in it this game sells itself.

The Munster versus Leinster rivalry is now as big if not bigger than anything on offer in either England or France as these sides have won four of the last six Heineken Cups between them. While neither side has been at their best this season, understandable given how many players from both teams were in New Zealand, it will provide an indicator about each team’s season ahead.

Munster’s failure to make the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup for the first time was mainly put down to having a weak set piece and lacking the direct ball carrier in the centre that Trevor Halstead offered.