Munster braced for Blues backlash

The return to home comforts at Cardiff Arms Park tonight is no guarantee to help the Blues end a dismal run of defeats by Munster, but director of rugby Phil Davies remains hopeful the visitors might find it hard to grind out a result there.

The once mighty Welsh side have been taking a hammering of late, losing successively to Toulon, Ulster, Glasgow Warriors and Leinster, and they have gone down to Munster in their previous four outings. The sting in the tail for Munster is that they haven’t won at this particular ground since November of 2005.

As both sides take stock of what stars are available to them based on demands to their respective national requirements, Munster have been boosted by the availability of Ronan O’Gara, who will be asked to prove his fitness following a recent hamstring strain.