Munster warm up for Ospreys

Whatever about the gathering Munster bandwagon, which will this weekend take them into a Guinness Pro12 semi-final at home to Ospreys, its origins lie in the sands of Lanzarote and a February warm-weather training camp.

Dumped unceremoniously out of the Champions Cup after a humbling 33-10 defeat at Saracens in January, the province looked all at sea, their campaign all but over with four months of the league still to play.

Yet head coach Anthony Foley, his coaches and players had other ideas and a six-day trip to Club La Santa got Munster’s season back on track. One defeat in nine Pro12 games since their return is testament to that and the men in red rounded off their regular season schedule with an eight-try hammering of Newport Gwent Dragons in Cork to claim second place in the table and book an all-important home semi at Thomond Park this Saturday.