Coach on derby: it’s Munster v Six Nations champions

Munster head coach Rob Penney has raised the stakes ahead of the province’s RaboDirect Pro12 showdown with league leaders Leinster by saying his team will be facing the “Six Nations champions” at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

With a nod to the 17 Leinster players among the 29 deployed by Ireland coach Joe Schmidt as the national side landed its first silverware since 2009 in Paris nine days ago, Penney fed into perceived notions among some Munster supporters of a blue bias at Test level, with just four from their province selected.

He upped the ante last week ahead of his side’s return to league action against Treviso and returned to the theme following Saturday night’s 14-3 victory over the Italians, which left the Reds second in the table, two points behind Leinster.

As the old foes now gear up for their latest head-to-head next weekend, Penney said: “It’s going to be really, really challenging. They have a group there who have been conditioned to Test matches. We have a group that have played no rugby basically for three weeks.

“The odds are stacked and you would expect the team that has had the ability to be conditioned to Test match rugby to be fresh and excited about the opportunity to put the blue jersey on at home.

“So it will be challenging. There is no doubt about it. It is basically Munster playing the Six Nations champions. That is the reality of the situation.”

Yet Penney, who was forced to omit Ireland captain Paul O’Connell from his side for the Treviso game due to a “shoulder niggle” but is optimistic of his availability to face Leinster, warned his players against making the Ireland selection issue their over-riding motivation to succeed in Dublin next Saturday night.

“I reckon that’s a really dangerous path to go down. That is exactly what we don’t want to happen. If we go out there to try to win individual battles we will get spanked,” the Munster boss said.

“The game will be a massive occasion and we just have to make sure we are disciplined and that we are playing for each other. We have to put all the individual battles to one side because that is going to be a distraction we don’t need. We’ve got to make sure that collectively we are on the same page and that we are working hard for each other and Munster.”

O’Connell had wanted to play against Treviso but had to settle for a half-time cameo at a rainy Thomond Park on Saturday night as he and fellow championship participants Conor Murray and Tommy O’Donnell paraded the RBS 6 Nations trophy before Munster’s supporters, Peter O’Mahony the one absentee from the triumphant quartet.

All four are expected to be back in the line-up to face Leinster, though with Penney saying O’Connell’s withdrawal from Saturday’s game had been “very much precautionary” and that had Munster been facing their interprovincial rivals rather than Treviso he would have “probably” played.

Having successfully reintegrated wing Keith Earls, who scored the opening try, back-rower Paddy Butler and hooker Damien Varley for the first time since January, Penney’s only injury concern was tighthead prop John Ryan, who suffered a concussion in the eighth minute.