Reds believe Metro can be derailed

Tackling one of the most expensively compiled sides in France without a third of your first choice team in the intimidating surrounds of the Stade de France in this afternoon’s opening game of the new Heineken Cup campaign may well seem a bridge too far for a Munster team in transition.

However, those closest to the team don’t see it like that, and the squad as a whole have been imbued with fresh confidence since Rob Penney and Simon Mannix’s arrival. The New Zealanders preach a new style of football while all the time ensuring a more expansive approach is linked to a common sense approach, all the more so when deep in their own territory.

There may seem little reason for Munster to hope for a crucial away victory against such talented opposition, all the more so because of the enforced absence of Wian du Preez, Donncha O’Callaghan, James Coughlan, Niall Ronan and Keith Earls.

The loss of Coughlan and Ronan could yet prove costly, although the return of Donnacha Ryan at number six and the capacity of Peter O’Mahony to use his undoubted talents to cope with the demands of the number eight jersey will certainly help to lessen the potential damage.

Sean Dougall’s selection on the openside flank may be due as much to a certain lack of alternatives as to any deep belief that he is the man to plug the gap left by the retirement of the great David Wallace. Obviously, Denis Leamy will also be badly missed in this crucial area but that’s the reality facing Penney and Mannix and they are perfectly confident they can successfully plug the gaps, not just this afternoon but also throughout the campaign.

Doug Howlett, who has now assumed the captaincy from a chain of Munster greats such as Mick Galwey, Anthony Foley, Jim Williams and Paul O’Connell, is quietly confident Mannix’s knowledge of how Racing Metro tick will be of inestimable benefit. Mannix spent three and a half seasons at the Parisian club.

“Racing are pretty unpredictable, but pretty dangerous, said Howlett. “It is going to be a huge occasion for us playing at Stade de France. We have talked about the game and we will be concentrating pretty much on our own game in the build-up.”

Both teams lost their last two matches, Munster 30-21 at Leinster while Racing, seventh in the Top 14, will be determined to bounce back after their 16-12 home defeat to Montpellier last weekend. Whereas the new Munster set up seems to have gelled seamlessly, the same cannot be said for Racing, who replaced former French scrum-half Pierre Berbizier as coach this season with Argentinian Gonzalo Quesada. But all indications are that he is just keeping the seat warm for Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers, currently in charge of Castres.

It is difficult to see how a professional team put in such an uncertain situation can be expected to produce their best in a game of this afternoon’s importance. Just as Munster have produced something like a rabbit out of a hat with the selection of O’Connell, you wonder how former England out-half Olly Barkley will fare in his first start for Racing.

They do, of course, boast a number of big name forwards such as the powerful Italian prop Andrea Lo Cicero, French hooker Dimitri Szarzewski and a couple of powerful South Africans, Francois Van der Merwe in the second-row and skipper Jacques Cronje at number seven. The centre partnership of Italian Mirco Bergomasco (usually a wing) and the multiple capped Frenchman Fabien Estebanez will also need watching, although on the face of it they may not pose the kind of midfield threat French sides are noted for.

If Racing have a few internal doubts, much the same applies to Munster, although Penney seems satisfied he is not taking a chance in playing O’Connell in his first game of the season in such a major fixture. “We’ve always maintained that he’d be back when he felt he was ready. I think it’s great for us. It was a gradual process. In the interests of the player it had to be.”

There is no harder man on a rugby field than O’Connell. Whether asking him to perform even close to his mighty best this afternoon must, however, he seen as something of a risk. Much the same applies to the preference of the younger David Kilcoyne ahead of Marcus Horan at loose-head prop and Ian Keatley, a relative novice in the berth, in front of Denis Hurley at full-back.

There are a lot of questions to be answered on both sides but the fervent hope has to be that Munster’s greater experience of these occasions will prove decisive, all the more so because Racing have more or less forsaken home advantage in switching the game to the massive Stade de France. Even then though, you have to suspect Penney wouldn’t be averse to leaving Paris with a losing bonus point in the bag.