Time to get back to basics

The venue is unfamiliar, some of the faces new and the job descriptions changed, but Anthony Foley has demanded some timeworn rugby essentials from his Munster players against London Irish this evening in Waterford (7.30pm).

Foley takes charge of his first home game since succeeding Rob Penney as Munster head coach in the unusual surrounds of the Regional Sports Centre, the first time the province has played a senior home game outside of Cork or Limerick in the professional era, save for a handful of European knockout games at Lansdowne Road.

He will use his final pre-season friendly to reintroduce some of his Emerging Ireland tourists from the summer and blood new signings Robin Copeland and Andrew Smith in this now annual fixture with the Premiership outfit. Yet, most of all, Foley will want to see his players rebound from last Saturday’s 45-8 hammering at Gloucester.