Downey: This team is going to take risks

There will be serious reflection but Munster coach Rob Penney has no real time available to spend thinking on what went right and wrong in Munster’s Rabo defeat to arch-rivals Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

For him, of far more importance is to shape the destiny of the team this weekend as they travel to Paris for another examination of their credentials. The big difference is that this time it will be in a far more important European context.

For many years now Munster have been able to put such setbacks behind them, safe in the knowledge that a game against the Heineken Cup champions, even if it ends in defeat, is as good a dress rehearsal as they’re likely to get.